as affecting Domesticated Animals. 53 



tore, and have very rarely found it productive of sufficient amount 

 of good to warrant our recommendation of it. It is true that if 

 the sheep are examined directly after coming out of the bath, the 

 ticks, from their half-drowned condition, will appear to be dead 

 or nearly so ; but on the drying of the wool most o'f them will 

 i^vive and become as active as ever. 



A common sulphur bath is generally composed of soft soap, 

 \^ lb. ; carbonate of potash, ^ lb. ; and sulphur vivum, 2^ lbs. ; 

 boiled together for about half an hour in 20 gallons of water. 

 A small portion of the sulphur is dissolved by this process, but 

 nearly the whole of it is still suspended in the fluid. The un- 

 dissolved portion quickly sinks to the bottom, and consequently 

 a mixture of this kind requires to be often stirred up. The 

 quantity named will be sufficient for 20 sheep. 



As before stated, it is absolutely necessary that the sheep be 

 kept in the bath for four or five minutes, which makes the pro- 

 cess a very tedious one Avhere many have to be dipped in the day. 

 It is also important that the mixture be used warm, or it will be 

 even less effective. A sulphuretted bath is valuable, however, in 

 long existing cases of scab, as it cleanses the skin, tends to break 

 up the crusts which exist, and also to destroy some of the acari. 

 Nevertheless, even under these circumstances, it is to be regarded 

 as preparatory to the employment of more potent remedies for 

 the cure of this affection. The addition of sulphur to an arsenical 

 compound may be an advantage in some exceptional cases of 

 parasites, but as a rule the arsenical preparation is sufficiently 

 powerful of itself not to need any addition of the kind. 



Carbolic Acid Compounds. — Baths for sheep-dipping, in which 

 alkaline carbolates with tarry matters form the chief anti- 

 parasitic agents, are of modern introduction. These compounds, 

 although they may not so quickly destroy ticks as some of the 

 arsenical mixtures, bid fair, nevertheless, to supersede them, and 

 also many others of the older preparations, for the reason that 

 they are innocuous to the sheep themselves, and at the same time 

 very efficacious in the destruction of parasites in general. Some 

 <jf the carbolic acid compounds possess a value also far beyond 

 better known and more common agents, viz., that of protecting the 

 sheep for a considerable time against the attack of flesh-flies. 

 This prophylactic power depends chiefly on the peculiarity of 

 their odour, which is similar to that of tar, and is long retained 

 in the wool. Sheep dipped in these mixtures will be found to 

 be feeding, and resting in comfort ; while others, not so treated, 

 will be incessantly tormented with flies : an advantage so obvious 

 that it would alone suffice to recommend these compositions 

 to the favourable notice of the flock-master. Some persons 

 take objection to them in consequence of the tarry matter im- 



