308 DYSENTERY. 



a laxative in the first instance. * * * In cases of simple 

 diarrhea the following astringent medicine will be found very 

 useful: Powdered chalk, one ounce; catechu, four drachms; 

 ginger, two drachms; opium, half drachm; to be mixed 

 carefully with half a pint of peppermint water, and two or 

 three tablespoonfuls given morning and night to a sheep, and 

 half this quantity to a lamb." 



The following remefly for diarrhea appears in Mr. Robert 

 Smith's prize essay On the Management of Sheep, already 

 several times cited. He says: "When the disease is 

 observed to be coming on, the animals should be instantly 

 changed to older or dry keeping. If the disease has advanced 

 unnoticed, they should be taken up, kept warm, supplied with 

 dry food, and given one ounce of castor oil in half a pint of 

 gruel ; if the animal has much pain or straining, add twenty 

 drops of laudanum, with rather more gruel ; if the discharge 

 still continues, and the bowels have been cleared by this dose, 

 it will be proper to check it by astringents. The following is 

 found to be an excellent medicine and rarely fails : Four 

 ounces logwood, one drachm of the extract of catechu, and 

 two drachms of cinnamon, mixed with three pints of water, 

 boiled for a quarter of an hour ; strain it off, then add sixty 

 drops of laudanum. Give a pint night and morning as long 

 as the flux continues." 



DYSENTEKY. Dysentery is caused by an inflammation of 

 the mucous or inner coat of the larger intestines, causing a. 

 preternatural increase in their secretions, and a morbid alter- 

 ation in the character of those secretions. It is frequently 

 consequent on that form of diarrhea which is caused by an 

 inflammation of the mucous coat of the smaller intestines. 

 The inflammation extends throughout the whole alimentary 

 canal, increases in virulence, and it becomes dysentery a 

 disease frequently dangerous and obstinate in its character, 

 but fortunately not common among sheep in the United 

 States. It differs from diarrhea in several readily observed 

 particulars. There is evident fever ; the appetite is capricious, 

 ordinarily very feeble ; the stools are as thin or even thinner 

 than in diarrhea, but much more slimy and sticky. As the 

 erosion of the intestines advances, the dung is tinged with 

 blood; its odor is intolerably offensive; and the animal 

 rapidly wastes away. The course of the disease extends 

 from a few days to several weeks. 



