DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 519 



speaking is generally due to improper or deficient food, or to 

 lack of good shelter. 



The malady is, of course, not confined to lambs, but also 

 breaks out at times in full-grown sheep, when it is somewhat 

 frequently attended with a fatal result, most particularly if it 

 should perchance lead on to dysentery. It is very usually 

 met with in the early spring time, when the new grass is 

 quickly coming on. As in the case of lambs, so also in that of 

 sheep, if diarrhoea continues for longer than a day, these latter 

 should be at once removed to a pasture where the herbage is 

 drier and less profuse, protected both from cold and wet, and 

 supplied with hay. By way of medicine^ a few doses of the 

 mixture above spoken of for lambs may be given, or a prepara- 

 tion may be prescribed containing alkalies, together with 

 aromatics and astringents. Alkalies in correct quantity may be 

 very useful indeed, inasmuch as they will serve to neutralise the 

 acidity of the contents of the intestinal canal, and so remove at 

 once the prime cause of the irritation and of the diarrhoea. On 

 the other hand — strange as it may at first sight seem — well 

 diluted sulphuric acid in suitable doses may in certain cases be 

 of great value. 



As a preventive measure, if it should be found, or even 

 only suspected, that there is something wrong with the land, the 

 best plan seems to be to have it thoroughly ploughed over and 

 drained, and then used permanently as arable land, if it is thought 

 advisable so to do, or else well dressed with lime and again laid 

 down to grass. 



About ten to fifteen grains of salicylic acid suitably dissolved 

 may sometimes be useful in the treatment of diarrhoea, and per- 

 haps in that of dysentery in sheep. We may also give three 

 more formulae which have been recommended : — 



1. Four tablespoonfuls of common salt, one teaspoonful of 

 turpentine ; mix with a sufificiency of water and administer to 

 the sheep, and repeat half the above amounts if necessary. 



2. One teaspoonful of laudanum, one tablespoonful of rum or 

 gin ; mix well and administer, and repeat the dose if necessary, 

 but with half the amount of laudanum. 



3. One drachm and a half of alum dissolved in half a pint of 

 warm water. 



In regard to treatment, the first point to be considered, and if 



