DYSENTERY. 309 



I have seen but a few well-defined cases of dysentery, and 

 in the half-dozen instances which have occurred in my own 

 flock, I have usually administered a couple of purges of linseed 

 oil, followed by chalk and milk as in diarrhea (only doubling 

 the dose of chalk,) and a few drops of laudanum, say twenty 

 or thirty with ginger and gentian. According to my 

 recollection, about one-third of the cases have proved fatal, 

 but they have usually been old and feeble sheep. * 



Mr. Youatt prescribes bleeding as indispensable, cathar- 

 tics, mashes, gruel, etc. He adds : 



" Two doses of physic having been administered, the 

 practitioner will probably have recourse to astringents. The 

 sheep's cordial will probably supply him with the best ; and 

 to this, tonics may soon begin to be added an additional 

 quantity of ginger may enter into the composition of the 

 cordial, and gentian powder will be a useful auxiliary. With 

 this as an excellent stimulus to cause the sphincter of the 

 anus to contract, and also the mouths of the innumerable 

 secretory and exhalent vessels which open on the inner surface 

 of the intestine a half grain of strychnine may be com. 

 bined. Smaller doses should be given for three or four days.'' 



The following remarks on dysentery and its treatment, 

 occur in Mr. Robert Smith's prize essay: "If the disease 

 has only just commenced, bleeding is highly necessary ; but 

 if advanced, great caution should be observed, and the pulse 

 attended to, to avoid lowering the system too much. To effect 

 a cure, a reaction or perfect change in the system is neces- 

 sary, and may be best produced by exciting the action of the 

 skin. To effect this the animal should be immersed in a tub 

 of hot water for fifteen minutes, then given one ounce of 

 castor oil, with thirty drops of laudanum, in a little gruel, 

 taking care that the animal be kept warm by wrapping, and 

 placed in a warm shed. As the animal recovers, give gruel 

 freely, with a more moderate dose of the above ; when the 

 appetite returns, give mixed feed, such as hay and vegetables. 

 During this disease care should be taken not to pull the 

 wool, as it frequently falls off j a change of pasture, and not 



* This is also from Sheep Husbandry in the South, with a change of a few lines. 

 Since it was written, I have had sheep die where one symptom of the fatal malady 

 was dysentery. I have ceased to administer more than one purge and the sheep 

 which I have had thus affected have been in such a situation that I dared not resort to 

 bleeding notwithstanding the universal tide of modern authority in that direction, 

 when it can be resorted to in an early stage of the disease. What I have mentioned 

 as " hunger-rot " on page 304, frequently closes with dysentery ; but the poverty and 

 debility have reached an advanced stage before that sets in, so that dysentery can 

 not be considered the primary disease. 



