90 SMALL-POX IN SHFKP. 



severity of" the disease, and to stay its destnictive con- 

 setiuences. This may be spoken of under two lieads, 

 medical and liygienic treatment, of which the latter is, 

 prol)ably, the most important. The first thing which 

 should be done is, to separate tlie infected from the 

 apparently healthy sheep, and to place the latter at 

 such a distance as to prevent tlie lial)ility of their being 

 contaminated l)y subsequent infection. Under no cir- 

 cumstances should this precaution be neglected ; for 

 various degrees of susceptibihty to receive the poison 

 exist among the animals, and consequently many may 

 thus be saved an attack. These sheep should also be 

 inspected daily, and any of them which shew the slight- 

 est symptom of ill health should forthwith be taken 

 away. We cannot give a better proof of the advantage 

 of such a proceeding than by adverting to the out- 

 break on Mr. Statham's farm, where, notwithstanding 

 that all the sheep lived together for nearly a fortnight 

 after the disease occurred, 43 out of 256 escaped en- 

 tirely by the rigid adoption of the above method. 



We also recommend that the animals wdiich give no 

 evidence of illness, should be supplied with such food 

 as is best calculated to keep the system in health and 

 vigour : the selection of the diet must, however, depend 

 on the season of the year, and on the plan of husbandry 

 which is carried out by the cultivator of the land. If 

 the sheep can be placed on natural or artificial grasses, 

 provided they are not too luxuriant, or gi'omng on a 

 wet or badly drained soil, so much the better ; if not, 

 tuberous roots, such as turnips, mangold-wau-zel, &c., 

 must be given to them in moderate quantities. They 

 ought also to be allowed, in the latter case, a fair pro- 

 portion of cut hay of the best quality, with a little corn ; 



