LOUPING ILL, OE HYDRO-RACHITIS IN SHEEP. 503 



Or, 



5 Ext. ergot liq. (Ph. Britt.) 3ii 



Z^. 5 to 16 drops to be given thrice daily, 

 Nux vomica and strychnine are unfortunately often used 

 indiscriminately in the treatment of all forms of paralysis. 

 They must on no account be given in the affection now 

 under consideration. 



LOUPING ILL, OB HYDRO-RACHITIS IN SHEEP. 



This disease is met with in many of the grazing districts 

 in Scotland, prevailing in certain localities, and separated 

 only by some arbitrary line from others immediately ad- 

 jacent, where the malady is frequently almost entirely un- 

 known. A remarkable instance of this is met with in the 

 counties of Selkirk and Peebles, where, in the farms of the 

 north side of the Tweed, the disease is very destructive in 

 the spring and summer months, while on the south side of 

 the river it is of extremely rare occurrence. 



Professor Murray, of Cirencester, who investigated this 

 disease in the summer of 1862, mentions that on the onset 

 of the disease, " the animal falls down and struggles con- 

 vulsively, paralysis has not yet set in, but the functions of the 

 nervous system are disordered, the limbs are no longer 

 subject to the control of the will, but plunge about con- 

 vulsively." This is followed by a rapidly advancing para- 

 lysis of the limbs affected, which are most commonly the 

 hind. The animal staggers with the fore or hind limbs, or 

 towards the affected side, but soon loses all control over the 

 diseased extremities, and is compelled to maintain a recum- 

 bent position. Being unable to move about in search of 

 its food, the animal becomes weak and emaciated, and dies 

 in a period varying from a few days, in the acute cases, to 

 several months in the chronic. Coincidently with the onset 



