4 SMAl.L-roX IN SHKKP. 



like spots as broad as farthings, and there dieth many 

 slicepe thereof, for lacke of looking too betimes. 

 Therefore to handle often all your sheepe, and looke 

 all ouer their bodies, and see if ye find any sheep taken 

 therwith : ye shal by and by take him from his fe- 

 lovvs, and put him into some fresh pasture. And then 

 see and looke daily to the rest of the flock, and draw 

 them as ye shal see them infected therwith, and put 

 them in fresh pastures if they haue it, in somer when 

 there is no frostes, then it shalbe good to wash them 

 in water. Remedies also. Some do take ye iuice of 

 nightshade mixt with grease, and therwith anoint, or 

 garlick beaten togither with tar, and so anoint. Or 

 the iuice of pehtory of Spain, or of artichoke, mixt with 

 strong vinegar, and therewith wash it. Other reme- 

 dies shepheards haue the which I know not, but these 

 I thinke shalbe sufficient," (4to, London, 1587, p. 

 231-2). 



Iluscam, Gervase Markham, James Lambert, and 

 others, who wTote shortly after Clascal, either copy his 

 observations, or merely give their own recipes for the 

 cure of the complaint. Ellis in his Sure ShephercVs 

 Guide (page 324), speaking of the disorder, says, "My 

 next neighbour had one [sheep] that came out in 

 blotches from its horn to its mouth ; to cure it he 

 made use of tar." The malady here indicated might 

 be sheep-pox, or, what is more likely, an eruptive affec- 

 tion to which the ovine race are liable ; but arising 

 from ordinary causes, as exposure to inclement wea- 

 ther, &c. Thus Virgil sa5^s, 



" A scabby tetter on their pelts will stick. 

 When the raw rain has pierced them to the quick." 



Georgk- III, Drydens Translation, 1. 672, 



