314 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



brain bladder worm or hydatid. The neighbor 

 obeyed, but no brain disease was found. Another 

 neighbor sent word to the afflicted one to cease feed- 

 ing millet hay full of seed, which he did and lost no 

 more sheep, having lost some 30 before. Thus there 

 was a clear case of deranged digestion deceiving 

 one by the symptoms resembling those of brain par- 

 asitism. 



The writer has seen other instances of deranged 

 digestion that in the last stages gave symptoms very 

 like the ones described. 



Now a word about true "turn sickness." It is 

 sometimes possible to cure the disease by locating 

 the place in the brain where the bladder is formed 

 and cutting through the skull and destroying the 

 parasite by puncturing the sac that holds it. It is 

 said recovery sometimes follows this operation. 

 And in Scotland it is reported that some shepherds 

 have such skill that they can push a sharp wire up 

 the nostril till it locates and punctures the bladder 

 in the brain. This, if true, is an interesting and 

 astounding fact. In practice, in America, where 

 sheep are plenty and veterinarians of the finest skill 

 in sheep diseases are costly to employ for such 

 cases, it is best to kill the sheep for mutton (which 

 is not hurt by the brain hydatid in the earlier 

 stages), feed the head to the fire, and not to dogs, 

 and get some new sheep. It is a safe rule never to 

 allow a dog or wolf to devour a sheep's head at any 

 time. And dogs about the place may well be treated 

 for tapeworms. Dr. Eushworth thus prescribes for 



