204 



SHEEP— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



slight but sufficiently distinct motion, 

 when put into warm water, showed that 

 it was alive. 



Both these operations occasionally suc- 

 ceeded, but the instances of failure were 

 so numerous, that the farmer's interest 

 still required that he should kill every 

 sheep, unless a favorite, or very valuable 

 one, as soon as he was evidently sturdied, 

 and before he had wasted and become 

 unfit for the market. 



There may, however, be some preven- 

 tion, although no cure ; and that preven- 

 tion consists in good and sufficient, and 

 upland pasture, yet in some untoward 

 seasons even this will not avail with 

 unhealthy and weakly animals. Habitual 

 shelter from the sleet and snow of winter 

 is another and very important means of 

 prevention. The unfeeling abandonment 

 of the sheep to all the inclemency of the 

 coldest weather is the fruitful source of 

 the majority of the diseases, and of the 

 most fatal ones, to which these animals 

 are subject. 



This malady is sometimes accompanied 

 by palsy. Every continued pressure on 

 the brain is apt to produce loss of power 

 •over some of the limbs; but in this case 

 the palsy is variable ; it shifts from limb 

 to limb, and from side to side, and, unlike 

 simple palsy, is generally attended by 

 partial blindness, and by the greatest 

 degree of stupidity. 



We repeat it again, that no medicine 

 can be of the least avail in destroyi-g 

 the blob, as it is called in some parts of 

 the country ; but if either of the opera- 

 tions is tried, one of the purging drinks 

 may be useful in abating inflammation ; 

 and whether the skull is punctured or 

 trephined, a pitch plaster over the wound 

 will preserve the sheep from being tor- 

 tured by the flies. 



SHEEP, Inflammation of the Brain in. 

 This, although a frequent disease of the 

 sheep, and of the same part, and almost 

 as fatal as that which has been just 

 described, is accompanied by such differ- 

 ent symptoms, that it is scarcely possible 

 to confound them. Inflammation of the 

 brain generally attacks the healthiest 

 sheep, and of all ages, and more in hot 

 weather than in tne early part of spring. 

 There is no character of stupidity about 

 this affection, no disinclination to move, 

 no moving round and round without any 



determinate object; but the eyes arc- 

 protruding, bloodshot, and bright; and 

 there is an eager and ferocious, not a 

 depressed and anxious countenance. The 

 animal is in constant motion; he gallops 

 about, attacking his fellows, attacking the 

 shepherd, and sometimes quarrelling with 

 a post or tree ; he is laboring under wild 

 delirium, and this continues until he is 

 absolutely exhausted. He then stands 

 still, or lies down for a while panting 

 dreadfully, when he starts afresh, as de- 

 lirious and as ungovernable as before. 



The first and the grand remedy is 

 bleeding; and that from the jugular, 

 and copiously, and to be obtained as 

 quickly as possible. The guide as to 

 the quantity will be the dropping of the 

 animal. To bleeding, physicking will of 

 course succeed, and the sheep should be 

 removed into a less luxuriant pasture. 

 This also is one of the diseases that 

 should be attacked at its very commence- 

 ment. Violent inflammation c f the brain 

 and its membranes will very soon be 

 followed by serious disorganization ; and 

 if water once begins to be formed under 

 the membranes, or effused in the ven- 

 tricles, the case is hopeless. Here also 

 the attention of the farmer should be 

 directed to preventives. One case of 

 goggles may be accidental ; but if two or 

 three are seized with inflammation of the 

 brsvn, the farmer may be assured that 

 there is something wrong in his system 

 of management, and that which, in the 

 majority of cases, is the root of the evil, 

 is too rich pasture, probably succeeding 

 to spare feed. A dose of salts should, 

 therefore, be given to each sheep, and 

 the pasture of the whole should be 

 changed. 



SHEEP, Inflammation of the Lungs 

 in. — Is not unfrequently the result of a 

 common cold, not attended to, the dis- 

 ease extending itself to the lungs : it more 

 commonly appears in the spring of the 

 year ; its symptoms are dullness, hanging 

 of the ears, quick breathing, cough, and 

 discharge from the nostrils. The animal 

 should be bled freely from the neck — a 

 pint in general will not be too much for 

 a full grown animal to lose. After this a 

 dose of salts should be given, and should 

 be followed by the fever drink (see No. 

 68 Domestic Animals, Medicines for) 

 once a day. 



