MEDICAL TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 4S0 



" on the surface, too much of it otherwise came in contact with 

 " the sheep. Not attending to this at first, two or three of the 

 " sheep were thrown into great agony, a-id appeared to be on the 

 " point of dying. I had each sheep caught and its scabs scoured 

 " off by two men, who rubbed them with stiff shoe-brushes dipped 

 " in a suds of tobacco-water and soft soap. The two men then 

 " dipped the sheep all over in the large kettle of tobacco-water, 

 " rubbing and kneading the sore spots with their hands while im- 

 " mersed in the fluid. The decoction was so strong that many of 

 " the sheep appeared to be sickened either by immersion or by its 

 " fumes ; and one of the men who dipped, though a tobacco- 

 " chewer, vomited, and became so sick that his place had to be 

 " supplied by another. The effect on the sheep was almost magi- 

 " cal. The sores rapidly healed, the sheep gained in condition, 

 " the new wool immediately started, and I never had a more per- 

 '■'■ fectly healthy flock on my farm." 



Randall also gives several other methods of treatment which are 

 in vogue in England, some of which are better adapted than is the 

 tobacco-water for use with sheep carrying long fleeces. 



The Grub-in-the-head is the grub of the gadfly of the sheep, 

 [CEstrus ovis.) The egg is deposited within the nostrils of the 

 sheep, where it is immediately hatched by the warmth and moist- 

 ure ; and the larvae crawl up the nose to the sinuses, where they 

 attach themselves to the membrane and remain until the next 

 year, feeding upon the mucus. Randall thinks that many of the 

 ills that sheep flesh is heir^to are erroneously attributed to the 

 effect of this grub, concerning which he says : — 



" I have had a singularly limited experience with any diseases 

 '' which could reasonably be attributed to the presence of these 

 " parasites, and therefore do not feel myself at all well qualified to 

 "judge of their actual effects on the sheep. That want of expe- 

 " rience is a strong proof of itself that resulting maladies are not 

 " as frequent by any means as is popularly supposed. And know- 

 " ing, as I do, that other and wholly dissimilar diseases are habitu- 

 " ally termed 'grub-in-the-head,' I can entertain no doubt that the 

 " extent of the injuries thus inflicted is enormously exaggerated. 



