BRAXY IN SHEEP. 301 



the prevention of the disease is a matter of great doubt ; 

 nevertheless, the intelligent farmer, made conversant with 

 the true and several causes of the disorder, may overcome 

 some of the prejudices, and adopt means calculated to save 

 an enormous per-centage of his stock. 



There is no question more important for the sheep-owner 

 of Scotland than the prevention of braxy, and it would be of 

 great advantage to obtain satisfactory answers to the follow- 

 ing problems: How best to shelter hill stock? How, when 

 occasion requires, food can be most conveniently and econo- 

 mically changed, or diminished in quantity? and lastly, How 

 the neutral salts, such as nitre, may be combined with food 

 and given to animals when braxy appears with unusual 

 severity amongst them? The practical farmer must lend his 

 aid to the veterinarian in order to furnish a satisfactory solu- 

 tion to questions propounded, such as the above, for his own 

 especial benefit. 



On the subject, Mr Matthewson says: " The treatment 

 of all diseases in this animal is difficult, from the circumstance 

 that, before the symptoms can be noticed, the disease is gene- 

 rally too far advanced. The sheep is naturally gregarious, 

 and, though affected with disease, it will cling to the flock as 

 long as it can. In pastoral districts, too, the charge of one 

 shepherd is spread over a wide extent of land, so that, unless 

 they segregate from the rest of the flock, he is unlikely to 

 notice them. 



" The course usually followed by the shepherd, when he 

 discovers an animal affected with braxy, is to give it a brisk 

 run down-hill, then pull out his pocket-knife, and bleed 

 from the jugular vein. The quantity usually abstracted is a 

 teacupful, or perhaps a little more. Sometimes the blood is 

 so thick and plastic, that very little will run from the in- 

 cision, though very often it is of no inconsiderable dimen- 



