SHEEP. 245 



idly and carelessly in large flocks, and the sheep returned to their previous 

 pasturage, a number of applications has been found necessary. By using the 

 refuse stems of tobacco the process is not a very expensive one, even though 

 the wool be at its full length. Although it cannot then be performed as effect- 

 ually, it will at least suffice to check the disease until after shearing, when a 

 complete cure may be effected. The following are favorite remedies in England : 



1. "Dip the sheep in an infusion of arsenic, in the proportion of half a pound of arsenic 

 to twelve gallons of water. The sheep should previously be washed in soap and water. The 

 infusion must not be permitted to enter the mouth or nostrils." 



2. "Take common mercurial ointment, and for bad cases rub it down with three times its 

 ■weight of lard ; for ordinary cases, five times its weight of lard. Rub a little of this oint- 

 ment on the head of the sheep. Part the wool so as to expose the skin in a line from the 

 head to the tail, and then apply a little of the ointment with the finger the whole way. Make 

 a similar fuiTow and application ou each side, four inches from the first, and so on over the 

 whole body. The quantity of ointment, after being compounded with the lard, should not 

 exceed two ounces, and considerably less will generally' suffice. A lamb requires one-third 

 as much as a grown sheep. This will generally cure ; but if the sheep should continue to 

 rub itself, a lighter application of the same should be made in ten days." 



The large English sheep are here referred to. The Merinos Tvould not re- 

 quire much more than half the quantity stated. 



There are a few other cutaneous diseases M'hich are sometimes taken for scab 

 because they occasion a degree of itching and rubbing. In none of them are 

 the sores so conspicuous or the rubbing and stripping off of wool anything like 

 as extensive. All of them, so far as ascertained, yield readily to the effects of 

 an immersion in the decoction of tobacco. 



SMALL-POX. 



The first symptoms, as described by foreign writers, are dulness, loss of 

 appetite and strength, a staggering gait, and slight indication of fever. This 

 asts about four days, when eruption commences. Small violet-colored spots 

 appear in various places on the skin, and in the centre of each a pustule, which, 

 at the end, springs up. These pustules are most abundant on the inside of 

 the legs and the parts which are naked or covered only by hair. The dis- 

 eased animal is inclined to separate itself from the flock. Its back arches, its 

 ears di-oop, and its eyes are partly closed. Sometimes the febrile symptoms are 

 mitigated when the pustules become developed, but in severe cases the -whole 

 skin becomes inflamed, the pulse rapid, the mouth hot, the breath offensive, 

 and the head swollen. Rumination is suspended, the strength rapidly fails, 

 the pustules die away without forming much matter, fetid diarrhoea takes place, 

 and death rapidly ensues. The appearance of the disease, however, as well as 

 their order of recurrence are quite various. It is not important to describe 

 them any further here than is necessary to the identification of the malady. 

 It attacks sheep in all conditions and at all periods of the year, but lambs 

 sooner than grown sheep. In flocks which take it in the natural way from 

 half to three-quarters frequently perish. No treatment controls it to any con- 

 siderable extent, and that most generally adopted has consisted of little more 

 than good nursing, medicines calculated to throw out the eruptions, mild 

 aperients during the febrile stage, and tonics in its latter ones. Both vaccination 

 and inoculation have been resorted to, however, with nearly as much advan- 

 tage as human beings experience by these operations in escaping the natural 

 effects of small-pox. Inoculation is generally preferred on the continent of 

 Europe. But as it occasions trouble and expense, and, under common treat- 

 ment, some loss of life, it is rarely resorted to until the sheep have been ex- 

 posed to contagion, and, therefore, while it mitigates, it does not prevent a 

 very great evil. 



The appearance of this malady on the American continent would be an in- 

 calculable misfortune ; and that importer of sheep-pelts, wool, or the like, wlio 



