106 SMALL I'OX IN SHKKF. 



too limited to sui^gest correct conclusions ; and they 

 lia\ e shewn a result so different, that, were we to found 

 an opinion of the merits of ovination on them alone, it 

 would not be in favour of the practice. The deaths 

 have been at the rate of 20 per cent. ; and even 

 greater losses have attended Mr. Ceely's experiments, 

 as he informs us that 4 sheep died out of 15 which he 

 inoculated*. Nevertheless, in the event of sheep-pox 

 becoming an established disease in this country, ovina- 

 tion must be adopted as one means to stay its ravages ; 

 and as we shall hereafter shew, vaccmation cannot be 

 used in its stead. 



If annual inoculation should be rendered necessary, 

 care must be taken not to operate on very young lambs, 

 as the malady proves fatal to them : it would be expe- 

 dient, therefore, to delay the operation until the animals 

 are three or four months old. The French veterinary 

 pathologist from whose writings we have so frequently 



* Since the above was in type, we have received the following 

 explicit statement from Mr. Ceely : — " The number of sheep which 

 I inoculated was 15 : of these there died 4. of which 2 were lambs, 

 1 an ill-conditioned Irish sheep, and the remaining 1 evidently had 

 the disease (from previous exposure) in a latent state when operated 

 on. In the maiority of my inoculations I took no pains to produce 

 mild cases; on the contrary, I wished, 



" 1st, — To multiply my observations of the disease with a full 

 eruption. 



" '2d, — To furnish pathological specimens. 



" 3d, — To prolong my succession of cases with a view to procure 

 virus for human ovination. 



" To produce a mild disease — the usual object of inoculation — was 

 quite a secondary consideration with me ; hence in several cases I 

 made from 6 to 20 punctures. In two cases (both of which recovered), 

 I inoculated the sheep with virus abstracted from the vesicles of a 

 dead sheep, on ihe/ourth and sixth day after death." 



