292 BLAIN CHOKING 



" Whatever may be the case with regard to cattle, 

 there is no doubt that the blain is often infectious among 

 sheep. The diseased sheep should immediately be removed 

 from the rest, and placed ^in a separate and somewhat 

 distant pasture. 



" The malady must first be attacked locally. If there are 

 any vesicles in the mouth they must be freely lanced. If any 

 tumors appear on the neck or face, and that evidently contain 

 a fluid, they must be opened. The ulcers must be bathed 

 with warm water at first, and until the matter is almost 

 evacuated then lotions of cold water, in each pint of which 

 one drachm of the chloride of lime has been dissolved, must 

 be diligently used. Aperients must be administered very 

 cautiously, and not at all, unless there is considerable consti- 

 pation. The strength of the animal must be supported by 

 any farinaceous food that it can be induced to take linseed 

 mashes bran mashes with oatmeal and the best succulent 

 vegetables, as carrots and mangel wurzel ; plenty of good, 

 thick gruel, if necessary, being horned down, and two drachms 

 of powdered gentian root and one of ginger, with four grains 

 of powdered cantharides, being given morning, noon and 

 night. Bleeding will be very proper in this disease before 

 the vesicles have broken, or the external tumors begun to 

 soften, and there is an evident and considerable degree of 

 fever ; but after the purulent, fetid matter has begun to 

 appear, it will only hasten the death of the animal." 



OBSTRUCTIONS OF THE GULLET. Sheep are much less 

 liable to become " choked " than cattle, but it occasionally 

 occurs when they are fed cut roots. The obstructing sub- 

 stance which is lodged in the esophagus or gullet, can 

 sometimes be felt from the outside, and moved upward or 

 downward by the pressure of the fingers. If this can not be 

 done the sheep should be placed on its rump between a man's 

 legs and held firmly with the head extended upward in a line 

 with the neck. Some oil should then be poured into the 

 throat, and a flexible probang very carefully inserted and 

 pressed down with sufficient force to carry the obstruction 

 before it into the stomach. I trust gutta-percha probangs for 

 this purpose will soon be prepared for sale. The best 

 implement now attainable on most farms is a strong, flexible, 

 elastic rod of hickory or elm, made perfectly smooth, and 

 not far from five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. A 



