248 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



vulsed with spasms ; the teeth are ground together, and the breath- 

 ing is quick and hard, and death generally results. The only defi- 

 nite directions that are likely to result favorably, are to prevent 

 the disease by watching the condition of the lamb after it is 

 weaned, and to provide such food as shall keep it in a thriving 

 condition. Poverty of blood being the direct cause, any treat- 

 ment that will avoid that condition will be helpful. A small 

 quantity of linseed-cake-rneal, bran, or ground oats, should be 

 given daily after weaning, and until the first winter is past. Lambs 

 of rapidly growing breeds cannot endure stinting in food, the de- 

 mands of their constitution must be supplied to its full capacity, 

 or the health suffers, and instead of becoming simply poor and 

 stunted, they become diseased. Disease thus induced cannot be 

 expected to submit to medicine, and the only natural remedy is 

 apt to be applied too late to be of service. 



Pale Disease, Husk, Verminous Bronchitis, This disease con- 

 sists in the presence of worms in the air-passages of lambs. These 

 produce great irritation and violent coughing. The interruption 

 thus resulting to the aeration of the blood in the lungs, causes gen- 

 eral disturbance of the system. The appetite fails, the condition 

 rapidly falls off, and anamia, "pale disease," or "the bloodless 

 condition," takes place, beneath which the lambs rapidly sink. 

 How the worms, iu large numbers, find their way into the air-pas- 

 sages of so young animals, is a query which as yet cannot be satis- 

 factorily solved. They are there, however, and that fact must be 

 sufficient for the shepherd. These worms are a species of strongy- 

 lus or thread worm, closely akin to the fatal " gape-worm " (also 

 a strongylus), which destroys so many young chickens. It is the 

 same species which inhabits the lungs and bronchial tubes of the 

 sheep. The lamb being less robust, is carried off with greater ease 

 by these attacks, than the full-grown sheep. Prevention is the 

 best remedy. Lambs should not be allowed to follow sheep 

 upon the same pasture, nor to pasture upon meadows that have 

 been top-dressed with manure from the sheep stable or yards. No 

 medicine can reach the lungs, except through the blood, and but 

 few affect them in this way. Sulphur, turpentine, and assaf oetida, 

 are in part exhaled through the lungs, and these medicines alone 

 can be depended upon to reach these parasites. 



The treatment recommended, therefore, is to administer the fol- 

 lowing, viz : 



Linseed-oil Va ounce. 



Spirits of Turpentine Va dram. 



Assafcetida grains. 



