242 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



a nursing ewe to lie in the wet and cold in the pasture or the 

 yards. In the summer time, when lambs are taken from the ewes 

 and sent to market, a ewe may become gargeted, and if neglected, 

 may become a victim to myriads of maggots which will breed in the 

 festering udder. Ewes are thus lost occasionally. It is obvious that 

 prevention will be most effective. When garget has occurred, the 

 Treatment is to give a purgative and diuretic to reduce the flow 

 of milk and any fever that may exist. This may be the following : 



Epsom Salts 2 ounces. 



Nitrate of Potash. 2 drams. 



Ginger 1 " 



to be given in water, and repeated in twenty-four hours. The 

 udder should be bathed in warm water, and a solution of carbon- 

 ate of soda be injected into the teats by a small metal syringe, and 

 afterwards milked out. The disease may result in the permanent 

 injury of the udder, or the closing of one or both of the teats, in 

 which case the ewe should be discarded as a breeder. 



Inversion of tlie Uterus may occur in cases of severe labor, 

 when the ewe is weak. The womb is turned inside out, and pro- 

 trudes from the body as a red bladder. From ignorance this is 

 sometimes cut off, and the ewe destroyed. The parts should be 

 gently washed in warm water and cleansed from all foreign mat- 

 ter. The ewe should then be held so that the hinder parts are 

 raised, and with a small hand well greased with sweet-oil, or pure 

 fresh lard, the womb should be returned, gently working it into 

 its natural position by the thumbs or fingers. The finger nails 

 should be closely pared, lest they may wound the tender parts. 

 A needle with a strong linen thread or fine catgut, should then be 

 passed through the skin upon both sides of the vagina, and tied 

 so as to form a loop across it which will prevent the uterus from 

 again protruding ; 20 to 30 drops of tincture of opium should be 

 given in some warm gruel, and the ewe left to rest upon a soft bed 

 in perfect quiet with her hind parts raised above the level of her 

 head, for several days. 



SPECIAL DISEASES, OPERATIONS, AND ACCIDENTS. 



Ophthalmia. This is a disease of the eye frequently caused by 

 cold, or by grazing in stubble fields, when the straws of the stub- 

 ble will occasionally wound the eyes. It is perceived at once by 

 the tenderness and redness of the organ, a flow of tears, and a 

 discharge of pus from the corner of the eye. It is readily cured 



