DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 253 



Epsom salts or of Glauber's salts, or, instead of this, the shep- 

 herd often prefers about two wineglassfuls of castor oil. Warm 

 water injections may be of great service in causing the bowels 

 to act. 



This kind of treatment has been highly spoken of; but if it 

 is curative, we may be disposed to doubt very much if the animal 

 really suffered from anthrax at all. The abstraction of a little 

 blood at the very outset of an attack might possibly be of 

 advantage in the case of very plethoric animals. If, however, 

 bleeding is resorted to after the very first, it can only do harm, 

 owing to its weakening effect on the animal. 



BLACK-LEG, or BLACK-QUARTER. 



The disease known under the names of Black-Leg, Black- 

 quarter, Inflammatory Fever, Carbuncular Erysipelas, Emphy- 

 sema Infectuosum, and Speed, is one of great importance to 

 those owners of stock whose farms are situated in ill-drained, 

 damp, and marshy districts, in which places the disease is most 

 liable to break out. In certain parts in England and other 

 countries the malady is very commonly met with, breaking out 

 time after time, and thwarting the most energetic measures to 

 stamp it out. Black-leg usually begins by affecting two or three or 

 more individual members of a herd or flock, and apparently 

 it spreads fropa animal to animal through the medium of the 

 air, so that about six of them or perhaps many more may be 

 attacked. It is seldom the case that this serious malady has a 

 favourable termination. 



Black-leg is more frequently met with in veterinary practice 

 in oxen than in sheep ; but this is no doubt largely due to the 

 fact that farmers as a rule do not seek professional advice for 

 many disorders of sheep. The complaint seems to break out 

 more particularly in the spring and in the autumn, while, as 

 our readers will remember, anthrax most usually occurs in the 

 summer time. However, these two diseases are very similar in 

 many points, and they are very often met with on the same 

 farms. 



In the case of oxen, the operation of setoning and dressing 

 the setons with black oil (which must be properly prepared) 

 seems to act as an almost certain preventive. Although in 

 some instances animals suffering from this disease may recover, 



