DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 313 



Spanisli breed in Smithfield Market on the 26th of July. After 

 a week the sheep were put on the same pasture as that on 

 which a flock of about 200 Downs were grazing. A few days 

 afterwards Mr. Statham saw one of the Spanish sheep standing 

 apart, and that its body was covered with eruption. On 

 the next day several more of the Merinos were found to be 

 similarly affected, and then the disorder spread continually, 

 and mnny of the sheep died. About a fortnight after the 

 two flocks were pastured together, the malady first appeared 

 among the Downs, which seemed to suffer more severely than 

 the Merinos. The flocks were then separated ; but still 

 the disease continued to advance, and losses occurred daily. 



It is not difiBcult to understand how the disease was intro- 

 duced, seeing that in some localities on the Continent, for 

 instance round about Paris, it is probably only very seldom 

 indeed that no traces of the disease can be found. Again, it is 

 said that in Hamburg market a separate place was assigned to 

 contaminated sheep and those which had come from places 

 where the disease was known to exist. Seeing that the aftectiou 

 lies dormant, or rather in an incubative and not evident form, 

 in the system for many days, it is not surprising that infected 

 animals should have been brought into England and sold without 

 any suspicions being excited. 



In order to avert the disastrous outbreak, which it was clearly 

 evident must occur, unless the most stringent measures were taken, 

 a letter was sent to the authorities of the Board of Trade stating 

 that a disease similar to small-pox of man had broken out in 

 sheep in this country, that it had destroyed many sheep in every 

 flock attacked, and moreover that it would spread far and wide 



» unless isolation of the diseased animals was enforced, the neces- 

 sity for this course being seen in the circumstance that infected 

 Bfaeep were often exposed for sale in Smithfield Market, and 

 finally that the malady had been introduced from Tonningen and 

 Hamburg. 



It was determined that a more careful examination of all im- 

 ported sheep should be carried out by veterinary surgeons duly 

 appointed as inspectors, so that no animals that were actually 

 diseased should be landed. If quarantine were established, sheep 

 would require to be examined every day for a fortnight, and if 

 any were found to be diseased, all on board ought to be forthwith 



