526 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



instance, as that of carbolic acid or that of salicylic acid, or 

 with lard, with which a few drops of spirit of tar have been well 

 mixed. Then the sheep should be thoroughly dried, and kept 

 warm by wrapping, and placed in a comfortable and clean shed. 

 One fluid ounce of castor oil, together with about thirty drops 

 of laudanum, mixed with a little gruel, may then be administered, 

 smaller doses may be given at intervals, and also a great deal of 

 gruel nicely prepared, with diflPerent ingredients or different pro- 

 portions of ingredients, so as to tempt the appetite by means of 

 variety. 



If it should be necessary, the dose of castor oil may be 

 repeated, or it may be more advisable to have recourse to the 

 astringeut medicine spoken of under the heading of Diarrhoea, 

 though it is best to add to it a great quantity of ginger and 

 some gentian, and small doses of the mixture may be given 

 every day for three or four days. When a sheep is on the way 

 to recovery from this complaint, and the appetite is being 

 regained, the diet may be gradually changed by the addition 

 .of a little mixed food, such as hay and vegetables. It will also 

 be well to allow the convalescent sheep to graze on a wide 

 pasture, but only for a few hours each day. 



ENTERITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE INTES- 

 TINES—PERITONITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF 

 THE PERITONEUM — ASCITES, VOLVULUS, 

 INTUSSUSCEPTION, RUPTURE. 

 The rather formidable array of diseases which heads this 

 .division of our subject is in reality not of very much moment 

 so far as oxen or their owners are concerned. In fact, in 

 dealing with the diseases and disorders of oxen, one cannot fail 

 to be struck with the idea that while some are of momentous 

 and intense interest and importance, others, on the contrary, 

 seem to be scarcely worth very serious attention, except by 

 specialists. This is a great thing to say, and it is a point which 

 will bear the most emphatic reiteration, viz. that the attention 

 of men should be drawn more and more closely to those 

 questions which we have laid stress upon in preceding pages, 

 questions, that is, regarding the communicability of certain 

 diseases of animals to the human race. However, we must not 

 linger on the way, but proceed straight to the point. 



