238 SHEEF HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



to point in toward the two central ones. Their narrowness and inward 

 direction increases for a year or two more, when they begin to drop out. 

 Sheep fed on turnips or other roots, lose their teeth earlier than those 

 which only receive grain, hay, &c. in winter. At twelve years old, the in- 

 cisors are usually gone with the exception of one or two loose ones. And 

 here let me remark that when the incisors are reduced to one or two, they 

 should always be twitched out with a pair of nippers. They are useless 

 for the purpose for which they were formed, and they prevent that contact 

 of the lower gum with the pad above, which is now the only substitute for 

 teeth in cropping grass. When all the incisors are gone, the gums of the 

 lower jaw rapidly harden, and I have known ewes to live for years, keep 

 in fair condition and rear lambs, without an incisor tooth in their heads ! 



The above remarks are more particularly applicable to the Merino 

 breed. The other breeds, so far as my acquaintance extends, lose their 

 teeth, or become " broken-mouthed " somewhat earlier ; and they dwin- 

 dle away and die soon after they begin to lose their teeth. 



THE LOWER EXTREMITIES. 



THE BIFLEX CANAL. The lower extremities of the sheep, including the 

 legs, feet, &c., require no anatomical description. I will simply call atten- 

 tion to the biflex or interdigital canal, the nature and diseases of which 

 have been the subjects of so many errors. It is a small orifice openin^ 

 externally on the front of each pastern immediately above the cleft be- 

 tween the toes. It bifurcates within, a tube passing down on each side 

 of the inner face of the pastern, winding round and ending in a cul de sac. 



The use of this canal is a matter of doubt. Mr. Spooner thinks the hair 

 always found in it is " excreted from the internal surface," and " from the 

 oraallness of the opening it cannot escape, or rather is detained for a use- 

 ful purpose." He continues : 



" The use of this canal, thus stuffed with hair, is self-evident. We have mentioned the 

 great motion possessed by this pastern joint, which is so great as to threaten to chafe the 

 skin by the friction of one side against the other. It is to prevent or ward off this friction 

 that these biflex canals, or rather hair-stuffed cushions, are provided." 



In my judgment, this is a very far-fetched conclusion, and Mr. Youatt's 

 is little more satisfactory. Diseases originating in this canal are some- 

 times confounded with hoof-ail ; and the canal, or a portion of it, is often 

 dissected, or rather mangled out by ignorant charlatans in pursuit of an 

 imaginary ivorm, which, they induce the credulous farmer to believe, ori- 

 ginates the hoof-ail ! The hoof-ail proper has nothing to do with, nor do 

 its characteristic lesions extend to this canal. 



FEBRILE DISEASES. 



Simple inflammatory, malignant inflammatory, and typhus fevers often 

 devastate the flocks of Europe ; but they seem scarcely to be known in 

 the United States, and are. included in no American work on the diseases 

 of sheep which has fallen under my eye. 



The same remark applies to phrenitis (inflammation of the brain), pleu- 

 ritis (inflammation of the membrane which lines the thorax), gastritis (in- 

 flammation of the stomach), enteretis (inflammation of the intestines), cys- 

 titis (inflammation of the bladder), laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx), 

 and several other inflammatory diseases. 



OPHTHALMIA. Ophthalmia, or inflammation of the eye, is not uncommon 



