CONSUMPTION. 327 



inflammation of the pleura or membrane lining the chest. It 

 is produced by the same causes as inflammation of the lungs, 

 with which it may be accompanied, and particularly by any 

 sudden changes that may chill the whole system. It often 

 occurs from this cause after sheep washing, when it is very 

 common to find a few sheep failing and in proportion to the 

 want of care exercised. It is not unusual, in examining the 

 bodies of sheep, to find the lungs in part adhering to the sides 

 of the chest, and the animal thus affected generally loses flesh. 

 This adhesion is the effect of pleurisy, and another and still 

 more dangerous result is water in the chest. 



" The symptoms of this disease are in many respects like 

 those of inflammation of the lungs, but it is attended occasion- 

 ally by severe pain and by a variation of the symptoms 

 generally, such as a harder and more defined pulse and more 

 warmth of the body. The treatment must consist of active 

 bleeding in the first instance ; and in this disease the sheep can 

 bear blood-letting to a greater extent than in most diseases. 

 The bleeding may be repeated if necessary, setons may be 

 inserted in the brisket, the bowels moderately relaxed, and in 

 other respects the same treatment observed as advised for 

 inflamed lungs." 



CONSUMPTION. This has never, so far as my knowledge 

 extends, appeared in American flocks. Mr. Youatt thus 

 describes it: "There is another and still more frequent and 

 equally fatal disease of the lungs, [with acute inflammation,] 

 but it assumes an insidious character, and is not recognized 

 until irreparable mischief is effected, viz., sub-acute, or 

 chronic inflammation of the lungs, and leading on to disor- 

 ganization of a peculiar character tubercles in the lungs, 

 and terminating in phthisis [consumption.] The sheep is 

 observed to cough he feeds well and he is in tolerable 

 condition if he does not improve quite so fast as his 

 companions, still he is not losing ground, and the farmer takes 

 little or no notice of his ailment. * * * He is driven to 

 the market and he is slaughtered, and the meat looks and 

 sells well ; but in what state are the lungs ? Let him who is 

 in the habit of observing the plucks of the sheep, as they hang 

 by the butcher's door, answer the question. He sees plenty 

 of sound lungs from oxen he sees the lungs of the calf in a 

 beautifully healthy state; but he does not see one lung in 

 three belonging to the sheep that is unscathed by disease 

 whose mottled surface does not betray inflammation of the 



