THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



455 



often point pretty clearly to the seat of disease, and 

 the means of cure employed have not been alto- 

 gether unsuccessful. With sheep, however, I was 

 doomed to disappointment, and find it totally 

 otherwise. I had often heard, years before, farmers 

 and shepherds, men of experience, talk about, as 

 a well-known fact, of a sheep beinf? very diffi- 

 cult of cure ; but now 1 experienced it. I felt to- 

 tally baffled and disheartened. Sheep were brought 

 home unwell without showing any peculiar symp- 

 toms so as to firmly guide the judgment as to 

 what treatment to pursue. Purgatives, bleeding, 

 sedatives, stimulants, were too often used almost at 

 random, and too often unsuccessfully, the most 

 of cases terminating fatally ere the medical treat- 

 ment could have any effect, which, on post-mortem 

 examination, often showed little or no appearance 

 of great disorganisation internally to which could 

 reasonably be attributed the cause of death. The 

 gall rather gorged-looking )ierhaps, or the bladder 

 unnaturally full, gas-distended stomach, or spots 

 of slight inflammation here and there on the dif- 

 ferent viscera and glands, especially in feeding 

 sheep which have previously been doing well, are 

 generally the only signs of disease that can be seen 

 internally after death. 



Undeniably there are a few diseases affecting 

 sheep, however, which, Ijy plain and well-known 

 symptoms, give certain indication as to what is 

 wrong, such as diarrhcea in thin and improperly- 

 fed elder sheep and hoggs, intlamm.ation in ewes 

 after lambing, hydatid in the brain {alias sturdy- 

 turnsick), &c , which, by their course not being so 

 rapidly run, give the practitioner a little time to 

 attempt and effect a cure. And before saying 

 more as to the means of prevention, 1 vvill first 

 give here a few details as to how these have been 

 by me successfully treated. 



Diarrhcea. — This disease, so far as my ex- 

 perience goes, when not arising from the effects of 

 some other disease prevailing in the system, chiefly 

 affects lambs after being changed from grass to the 

 turnip-break, especially if then in poor condition. 

 Some seasons those affected soon again get well 

 without any treatment whatever ; while in others, 

 again, the attack is very virulent — so much so, that 

 if not promptly met and checked, it in a short time 

 proves fatal, impairing the appetite; the bowels 

 and digestive viscera generally getting into a state 

 of irritation so great as to almost wholly unfit 

 them for assimilating any of the food, it passing 

 off almost as when chewed in an unintermitting 

 purge ; abdomen getting very much tucked up ; 

 hollow sunken eye and weak staggering gait; 

 death seemingly being caused occasionally by pure 

 inanition, if dysentery does not first ensue to cut 

 off at an earlier stage. In the cure of this disease 

 I have used opium and castor-oil with success — 

 a scruple of the former to two or three ounces of 

 the latter, given once every other day, or oftener if 

 necessary, until the patient begins to show signs 

 of recovery. Sometimes the first dose proves 

 enough, and nothing more ought to be given than 

 is thought absolutely necessary, lest it do harm. 



In the first stage of diarrhoea I have seen the use 

 of scalded flour prove very beneficial in the way of 

 cure, made of a consistence that will allow of its 



being easily administered out of a bottle, and 

 given in quantities of about a choppin, or two 

 English pints, two or three times a-day ; but 

 when not found very early to take effect, no time 

 is lost in resorting to the opium and castor-oil. 



Hydatid in the Brain — Sturdy-turnsich. — This 

 is a disease affecting chiefly hoggs, too well known 

 to need here any description as to symptoms. 

 Those, I think, that are much exposed and poorly 

 fed are more predisposed to it ; but very probably 

 the cause or causes still remain in obscurity. A 

 certain cure of at least 50 per cent., however, has 

 now been discovered, and in limited use for several 

 years. It is effected by the use of a case of instru- 

 ments made specially for the purpose by several 

 instrument-makers in Edinburgh— Hilliard, in 

 Nicolson-street, is one; M'Kenzic, opposite the 

 College, in the same street, is another. The case 

 consists of an instrument, with a shield upon it, 

 for first i)erforating the skull ; a small trochar and 

 canula, which are next inserted, the former being 

 then withdrawn, and the latter left as a canal 

 through v/hich the water is extracted from the 

 brain by a syringe made to fit exactly into the 

 mouth of the canula. The operation is exceedingly 

 simple, and may be performed by any master or 

 ordinary shepherd who chooses to act exactly 

 according to the printed directions given along 

 with each case of instruments. Some talk of 

 curing 70 to 80 per cent., or more even. Very 

 probably the per-centage of cures depends very 

 much on the breed, strength, and condition of the 

 sheep practised upon. For my oivn part, I will, I 

 think, first and last, have attempted a cure on about 

 40 or 50 hoggs, once and twice crossed with the 

 Leicester from the Cheviot, and proved successful 

 in curing fully half of that number. The greatest 

 proportion of the cures were made when the disease 

 was not too far gone, before it had reduced the 

 patient to a very great extent, when the weather 

 was temperate — when kept quiet, and not allowed to 

 go out too soon after the operation. Perhaps the 

 most profitable '<vay of dealing with sturdy sheep 

 in good condition is to sell them at once to the 

 butcher for what they will bring; but amongst 

 ill-bred, thin-keeping stock, this invention of cure 

 must be of very great value, savmg many a hogg 

 which, if allowed to die, or killed at the time, from 

 its leanness, could be of little or no value, but 

 which, when cured, thrives, feeds, and sells as well 

 as any of the others. 



Inflammation after lambing is another very com- 

 mon and exceedingly fatal malady amongst ewes 

 in certain seasons, more especially if they have 

 been too full fed, causing lambs to grow unnatur- 

 ally large before parturition, thereby increasing 

 the danger to the mother, already predisposed by 

 high condition to become the victim of this dis- 

 ease. When the symptoms of its attack are given, 

 by heaving and after-throes coming on a few hours, 

 or it may be a few days, after lambing, a pail or 

 pitcher full of water— spring water, as cold as can 

 be had- is taken and poured over the loins and 

 hind-quarters of the patient by the use of a smaller 

 vessel, held as high as the arm can reach, to cause 

 a greater shock when the water descends. It is 

 wonderful to see its salutary effect. The ewe, 



