MEDICAL TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC A.NIMALS. 493 



" fold to fold the affected sheep loiters behind and staggers in her 

 "gait, the head is carried downward, and the eyelids partly closed. 

 " If parturition takes place during this stage of the disease, and the 

 " animal is kept warm and carefully nursed, recovery will fre- 

 " quently take place in two or three days ; if, on the contrary, no 

 " relief is afforded, symptoms of a typhoid character present them- 

 " selves ; the animal is found in one corner of the fold, the head 

 " down, and extremely uneasy, the body is frequently struck with 

 " the hind feet, a dark colored fetid discharge continues to flow 

 *' from the vagina, and there is great prostration of strength. A 

 " pair of lambs are now often expelled in a high state of putrefac- 

 " tion, and the ewe down and unable to rise, the head is crouching 

 " upon the ground, and there is extreme insensibility ; the skin 

 "may be punctured and the finger placed under the eyelids 

 " without giving any evidence of pain ; the animal now rapidly 

 " sinks and dies, often in three or four days from the commence- 

 " ment of the attack. Ewes that recover, suffer afterward for 

 " some time great weakness, and many parts of the body become 

 " denuded of wool. 



" Treatment. — The ewe immediately noticed ill should be 

 " removed from the flock to a warm fold apart from all other 

 " sheep, and be fed with oatmeal gruel, bruised oats, and cut hay, 

 " with a little linseed cake. If in two or three days the patient 

 " continues ill, is dull and weak, a dark colored fetid discharge 

 *' from the vagina, and apparently uneasy, an attempt to remove 

 " the lambs should be made. The lambs in a great majority of 

 " cases at this period are dead, and their decomposition, (that is, 

 " giving off putrid matter,) is a frequent cause of giddiness and 

 "stupor in the ewe. If the os uteri (the entrance into the uterus) 

 "is not sufficiently dilated to admit the hand of the operator, the 

 " vaginal cavity and os uteri should be smeared every three hours 

 " with the extract of belladonna, and medicine as follows given : — 



Calomel 8. grains 



Extract hyoscyamus i dram 



Oatmeal gruel 8 ounces 



" mix, and give two table-spoonfuls twice a day. 



