64 S.MALI, roX IN SHKEP. 



anotlior word on this point ; to confirm, however, the 

 correctness of our definition of the malady, we shall 

 now speak of its infectious properties. 



One instance, in our own knowledge, in which infec- 

 tion was the probable cause of the attack, occurred on 

 the premises of Mr. B. Weall, of Pinner. In the latter 

 part of September this gentleman, having a number of 

 variolous sheep, determined on administering medicine 

 to them, and for convenience they were driven into some 

 covered pens zvhich wei'e Uttered with straw : here they 

 remained only a sufficient time for each sheep to be 

 dosed, after which they were again turned into the pas- 

 tures. This practice was daily continued till they 

 began to recover. A few days subsequently to the dis- 

 continuance of the medicine some healthy sheep were 

 confined in these pens, and shortly afterwards became 

 affected. The following extract from a letter from 

 Mr. Weall, jun., will explain the particulars : — " The 

 sheep," says he, *' were placed in the pens for the pur- 

 pose of being marked, and they remained there about 

 an hour. No symptom of illness was observed for nearly 

 a fortnight, when many of the animals were attacked 

 xvith the small-pox. They had never been near to the in- 

 fected Merinos" 



The opinion of all the continental authorities W'hose 

 works we have perused is, that the malady is very infec- 

 tious ; and they speak of the danger of driving a healthy 

 flock on the same road which shortly before had been 

 travelled over by diseased sheep. Mr. Youatt, in an 

 article on clavelee, translated from the French, has 

 observed that, " if it broke out in a flock, it was almost 

 sure to be communicated, sooner or later, to all that 

 were within a few hundred yards of it. It might be 



