282 PRECAUTIONS IN DIPPING SHEEP 



stray. In this manner undoubtedly the serious mortality at 

 Burton can be explained. The sheep were rapidly dipped 

 at the rate of eighty per hour ; and, according to the usual 

 calculation, each sheep carries away in its fleece, even after 

 it has been reasonably drained, about a gallon of the fluid, 

 which, of Elliot's strength, would contain nearly 200 grains 

 or arsenic a quantity sufficient, if swallowed, to poison 

 several sheep. 



Sheep after dipping are turned out hungry, and at once 

 begin to eat ; while the drippings fall on the grass, which in 

 the Burton case, appears to have been still further contamin- 

 ated by rain, during the night following the dipping, freely 

 washing the solution out of the fleeces on to the pastures. 

 Here it was found in three sods, removed ten days after 

 and examined by Douglas Maclagan, who failed, however, to 

 find any arsenic in sods brought from an adjoining pasture, 

 where no dipped sheep had grazed. It is obvious how the 

 donkey, two oxen, and two horses shared the fate of the 

 sheep ; whilst the drippings, left in the yards before the flock 

 was turned out, would account for the alleged mortality 

 amongst the poultry. 



It is an error to suppose that sheep, pigs, or other animals 

 refuse to eat food over which arsenical dipping mixtures 

 with their nauseous soft soap and alkali have fallen. Horses, 

 pigs, and poultry sometimes die from gaining access to yards 

 where recently-dipped sheep have been confined. Two colts 

 were poisoned by eating vetches carelessly left in a yard 

 where some sheep had been placed to drip. 



The practical precautions suggested by such cases are : 

 Yards into which freshly-dipped sheep are to be turned 

 should previously be cleared of all green food, hay, and even 

 fresh litter ; if perfectly empty they are still safer. When 

 the dipping is finished, they should be cleaned, washed, and 

 swept, and any of the unused dipping solution at once poured 

 down the drains. Obviously, however, no such poison should 

 be run into drains emptying into pools or streams accessible 

 to live stock. Dipped sheep should remain, if possible, in an 

 airy, exposed place, as on a dry road, or in a large open yard. 

 Overcrowding should be avoided, and every facility given 

 for rapid drying, which is greatly expedited by fine, clear, 



