166 



DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



breathing be only slight, keep the sheep moving gently 

 up and down as the air will thus have a chance of es- 

 caping from the stomach. If the symptoms are more 

 alarming, pass the elastic tube employed in the same 

 complaint in cattle down the throat, or if that cannot 

 be procured use a cane with an ivory or wooden bullet 

 at the end of it. Never stick the animal, as recovery 

 by this plan is almost hopeless. If you cannot obtain 

 the aforesaid instruments, bleed the animal till it be- 

 comes very faint, and if this is of no avail proceed to kill 

 it. Shepherds often prescribe a purgative dose after this 

 occurrence. In general, however, it is not required. 

 To prevent a flock becoming blown, always when, for 

 the first time on rich pasture, make the dog move 

 leisurely among them so as to prevent them feeding 

 hastily. 



(124.) Braxy or Sickness. Six or eight species of 

 braxy are enumerated by shepherds, but as they all 

 bear a striking resemblance one to another, in their 

 origin and progress, it is preferable to treat of them as 

 one disease. Indeed wire-drawn distinctions, though 

 occasionally serviceable in cattle-medicine, ought in 

 most instances to be avoided, as they are of but little 

 avail, and in this disease straw-splitting can only serve 

 to tantalize the farmer, by giving rise to ideas of finical 

 modes of treatment, which before the Chapter ends are 

 reduced to the simplest aids which medicine affords. 

 Whatever may be the seat or seats of the disease, the 



advice in veterinary works. It is sheer nonsense to blazon such a word 

 in pages having any pretentions to candour, for how seldom are we able 

 conscientiously to affirm that our endeavours will be followed by a cure. 

 All we can do is to pursue the treatment best adapted for the attain, 

 ment of so desirable an ?Tid. 



