DISEASES OF THE BOWELS. 199 



giving two ounces of Epsom salts in a pint of warm water, and re- 

 peating the dose of water without the salts in an hour. Injections 

 of warm soap suds will help to remove the injurious matter from 

 the bowels. To prevent the danger of poisoning by carefully re- 

 moving all injurious plants from the pastures or fences around 

 them would be the obvious duty of the careful shepherd. The 

 large leaved Laurel, (Kalmia latifolid), is also eaten occasionally by 

 sheep. In England, the yew tree, which is common in hedges, 

 causes the loss of hundreds of sheep every year. Sheep should 

 not be allowed to feed on pastures which have been dressed with 

 gypsum, lime, soot, or any chemical fertilizer until after one or 

 two copious showers have washed the herbage clean. 



Inflammation of the Bowels. This disease, (the braxy of the 

 English shepherds), is not frequently met with in this country, 

 except as an adjunct to some complicated inflammatory blood dis- 

 ease. It, however, sometimes occurs as the result of continued in- 

 digestion, or the consequence of feeding upon dry, innutritions 

 pasture, combined with bad water in hot weather. The first 

 symptoms are weeping and redness of the eyes, weakness and 

 staggering, loss of appetite and rumination, inaction of the bowels, 

 swelling of the flanks, high fever, and diflScult breathing, a puck- 

 ered up appearance of the mouth and nostrils, which gives a pecu- 

 liar wo-begone and pained expression to the face ; a tight skin 

 and rapid emaciation. After death, the stomach is found filled 

 with putrid food, and distended with gas; the bowels are gangre- 

 nous and in a state of decomposition ; the liver is partly decom- 

 posed and filled with degenerated bile ; the spleen is gorged with 

 blood, softened, enlarged, and not unfrequently ruptured, ulcer- 

 ated, and exhibiting a seriously diseased condition. The latter ap- 

 pearance seems to identify this complicated and fatal disease with 

 the splenic apoplexy or Texan or Spanish fever of cattle. Death 

 is often very sudden, many sheeep left in apparent health at night, 

 being found dead in the morning ; at the most, two or three days 

 is the usual course of this disease. 



To prevent it, when circumstances favor its appearance, an abund- 

 ant supply of pure water and a change of pasture should be provid- 

 ed. Low grounds should be avoided, and everything done that can 

 ameliorate the circumstances of privation in which the flock may 

 be temporarily placed. It is not epizootic, and the removal of the 

 causes will prevent the spread of the disease. A supply of salt, 

 mixed with one per cent each of sulphate of iron, ginger, and gen- 

 tian, to be given every evening to the sheep on their return from 

 pasture, will be a useful preventive. The treatment should con- 



