1012 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



Skct. VIII. Of the Anatomy and Physiology of Sheep. 



6197. The general structure of the sheep resembles that of the ox very intimately. Sheep 

 however, like the ox, experience considerable variations in size, form, and qualities ; re- 

 sulting from the physical and moral agencies which they become exposed to, under vari- 

 ous climates : and also, as whether fostered by cultivation, or left to the natural operations 

 around them. These circumstances have operated on even the bony base of the machine, 

 as we see in the formations of the three homed breed (Ovis polycerta, Lin.), natives of the 

 north; in the spiral horned ( 0. s^rt^mceros, Lin.), which inhabit Wallachia ; and the long 

 horned(Ca;7ra ammon, Lin.), which arefoundinthe countries bordering the Mediterranean : 

 and which have been thought to be the parents of the present cultivated British sheep. 

 Cultivation weakens the otherwise inherent aptitude to retain f he original stamp of na- 

 ture ; and we find therefore, that by these means, the original form of the sheep has sub- 

 mitted to vast alterations. We see some of them wholly without horns ; we also find that 

 the bony structure is otherwise subjected to our command, by becoming much more slen- 

 der, though more compact. Accidents are also laid hold on by man to produce particu- 

 lar forms : thus a breed has been cultivated in America, called the ancon or otter breed, 

 remarkable for crooked and deformed legs ; which, by continued breeding from speci- 

 mens that presented this originally accidental deformity, is become now a fixed and per- 

 manent breed, valuable for their incapacity to wander or climb. (Dwight.) The dunky 

 or wry-faced breed, is another instance of accidental deformity cultivated into a per- 

 manent variety : as the monstrous rump of the Tartarian sheep, and the over- grown tails 

 of some breeds in Turkey, are similar instances in the softer parts of the body. 



6498. The skeleton of the sheep presents an assemblage of bones, which bears a general resemblance to 

 that of the ox in number and direction. Like him, the head naturally is surmounted by horns springing 

 from the frontal bones. Like him, his frontal sinuses are large and open, and thus liable to the entrance 

 of insects. The skull bones are wide and extended; his orbits are more lateral than central; and his fa- 

 cial angle is about 30 degrees. His vertebral column is the same as the ox, and his ribs also. The extre- 

 mities descend on the same construction, ending in a divided hoof. 



6499. The visceral and sqft parts are but little dissimilar likewise. His brain is as one two hundredth 

 to the whole body ; and his cerebellum to the brain generally, as 1 to 5. The pigment of the eye is of a 

 pale yellowish green, varying occasionally to a blue. The viscera of the chest correspond with the ox ; and 

 those of the belly also, the stomachs being the same, and the economy of rumination not differing. The 

 Uver, pancreas, and spleen are similar. The penis is taper, vesiculae seminales wanting, and prostates 

 two. 



6300. The wool of the sheep is but a crisped hair ; and indeed in some foreign varieties, the outer cover- 

 ing is of long hair like that of oxen ; while in others the hair and wool are mixed. 



Sect. IX. The Diseases of Sheep. 



6501. The diseases of sheep are numerous ; for these animals are now so highly culti- 

 vated that they may be regarded in some respects as artificial machines : and thus, as a 

 natural consequence, they are subjected to a variety of artificial defects or maladies. 



6502. The rot is a popular term among shepherds, and includes within its range dis- 

 eases widely diflTerent. We shall not therefore follow the custom of treating the dififerent 

 rots of sheep together ; but we shall allow them to fall in their natural order, according 

 to the plan pursued with the diseases of oxen. 



6503. The inflammatory and putrid fever, popularly known by the names higham striking, or blood 

 striking^ does not differ materially from the same disease in oxen and cows ; and is in sheep also some- 

 times epidemic ; appearing by panting, dulness, watery mucus from the nose and eyes ; and great redness 

 of all such parts as are usually white. 



6504. The red water. The inflammatory fever sometimes resolves itself into an universal secretion of 

 serum throughout all the cavities; in which case after a few days, the lymph tinged with blood will come 

 away from the nose and mouth in large quantities. Sometimes after death the bloody serum is found 

 suffused throughout the skin as in the blood striking of skins. 



6505. The claveau or sheep pax is also another variety of this disease, in which it takes on a pustular 

 form. About the third day small variolje appear : sometimes they are rather blotches than pustules. The 

 weakness is usually extreme, and the putridity great. This form of the disease is seldom seen with us ; but 

 is still known on the continent, where the pastures are very poor and low, and the general keep 

 meagre. 



6506. Thetreatment ofall these in nowise differs from that directed under the inflammatory putrid 

 fever of the ox. The doses of medicines being about a third of what is directed for them. 



6507. Malignant epidemic or murrain. Sometimes an epidemic prevails, which greatly resembles the 

 murrain of oxen : in appearances termination and treatment it resembles malignant epidemic of oxen. 

 (6249.) 



6508. Peripneumonia or inflamd lungs, rising of the lights, glanderous rot, hose, 8fc. These terms are 

 all modifications of an inflamed state of the viscera of the chest, caught by undue exposure, bad pas- 

 turage, and often from over-driving. The cough, the tremblings, the redness of the eyes and nostrils, 

 and the distillation of a fluid from them, with the heavings and hot breath, are all similar to those which 

 characterise the pneumonia or rising of the lights in oxen. We remember to have seen the disease 

 strongly marked in the February of 1808, on a farm in the neighborhood of Streatham; where eleven 

 sheep were attacked almost together, after a very stormy night. They were first affected with a loss of 

 appetite ; next with a fixed stedfast look, which was common to every one. After this, they reeled about, 

 fell backwards, and became convulsed. When seen, five were already dead, whose internal appearances 

 fully confirmed the nature of the disease. The rest recovered by bleeding and drenching, with drenches 

 composed of nitre and tartar emetic. Sometimes, the symptoms of pneumonia do not kill immediately, 

 but degenerate into an ulceration of the lungs ; which is then called the glanderous rot. This stage is 

 always fatal : the others may, by early attention, be combated by judicious treatment, as detailed under 

 the same disease in oxen. 



6509. A chronic cough in sheep, when not symptomatic of rot, is always cured by a change of pasturage, 

 particularly into a salt marsh. 



