EPIDEMIC OF 1840 AND 1841. 93 



tincture of myrrh and but}^ of antimony. One application of this 

 caustic is generally sufficient, and the sore should afterwards be 

 dressed once a day with the following : — 

 RECIPE (No. 40). 

 Astringent Powder.— Tnke blue vitriol, powdered, half an ounce; powdered alum, 

 half an ounce; prepared chalk, two ounces; armenian bole, one ounce. Mix. 



Linseed and oatmeal gruel should be offered to drink, and mashes 

 with the best food that can be procured. If the weather is fine, it 

 will be better to continue the cattle at grass ; but if housed, they 

 should be kept clean and dry. When the bowels are relaxed, and 

 there appears much weakness, the following tonic should be given 

 daily : — 



RECIPE (No. 41). 

 Take powdered ginger, one drachm; powdered caraway seeds, one drachm; gen- 

 tian, powdered, four drachms; spirit of nitrous ether, one ounce. To be mixed 

 slowly with gruel. 



If there should be any appearance of colic or spasm of the bowels, 

 an ounce of laudanum may be given with the other medicine; and if 

 the liver is affected, a drachm of calomel may be added, and a blis- 

 tering application rubbed on the right side. 



Should the lungs be inflamed, it will be proper to bleed and blister 

 the sides, or insert setons in the brisket. If the udder is affected, it 

 should be well and frequently fomented with hot water, and the milk 

 should be drawn with great care. 



The epidemic has sometimes appeared amongst sheep in so slight 

 a form that they get well without assistance, or simply by the appli- 

 cation of tar to the feet, no other part being affected. At other times, 

 however, its appearance has been far more severe ; the hoofs in many 

 cases have come off, from the formation of matter underneath, and 

 the poor animals have been altogether unable to stand. The mouth, 

 however, in these animals is rarely affected, and the appetite there- 

 fore is not greatly impaired. In wet weather the disease is more 

 severe than in dry, and the feet are sometimes so bad as to resemble 

 the worst form of foot rot. 



The feet will therefore, in sheep, require the principal attention. 

 The detached horn should be sufficiently cut away to afford exit to 

 any matter that may be under; but the knife must be used with cau- 

 tion and sparingly, as fungus flesh is so apt to grow when the horn 

 is removed. 



The same medicine recommended for cattle should here be em- 

 ployed, and the powder will be particularly useful. It will be desi- 

 rable, unless the symptoms are slight, to administer the internal 

 medicine, one-sixth or one-eighth part being sufficient for the sheep; 

 and it will not be necessary to continue its use so long. 



Pigs may be treated in a similar manner. 



