SHEEP. 321 



facturers. About a million and a half bales of colonial 

 wool (Australian and Cape) are imported yearly, and as 

 the average price of a bale is j£'15, it makes a total of 

 over £20,000,000. 



There are various sales of wool in London, which 

 are held at the Wool Exchange in Coleman Street. 

 The wool is exposed for view in the extensive and well- 

 lighted wool warehouses of the London and St. 

 Katherine's Dock Company. The bales are well 

 arranged on extensive floors,, between which com- 

 munication is effected by slides, etc. The sales take 

 place at four o'clock in the afternoon of the day on 

 which they are viewed. The price of wool ranges from 

 4d. to 2s. per lb. 



A sort of soap has been extracted from the oily matter 

 in the wool. In Bradford and other towns the wool- 

 sorters are subject to a disease called wool-sorter's 

 disease, or anthrax (internal form). This is caused by 

 the particles of dust or bacilli being taken in by the 

 lungs, and attacking the intestines, and often proves 

 fatal. One of the chief preventives is a diet of animal 

 food and weak spirits and water ; beer and vegetables 

 should not be taken. The tumour should be treated, 

 and cut out at once by a surgeon. The coat should be 

 changed after sorting, and food should on no account 

 be touched with unwashed hands, 



Leeds is now the chief seat of the wool trade, but 

 some years ago the West of England was celebrated for 

 its cloth. 



The Sheep inhabits the greater part of the civilized 

 world. In 1891 there were 33,533,088 live Sheep and 

 Lambs in the United Kingdom. The losses by severe 

 weather are sometimes enormous : 8,000 to 10,000 

 were frozen in one winter on the Welsh hills. They are 



Y 



