SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 449 



" diseases of the digestive organs," &c. This method of classification, 

 though not without its advantages, and though it would seem, at first view, 

 to present an arrangement most convenient for reference, examination and. 

 comparison, in the end, leads, I think, to confusion and misunderstanding. 



ANATOMY OF THE SHEEP. 



He who breeds sheep to any considerable extent, should make himself 

 familiar with the anatomical structure of some of the parts of the animal — 

 particularly with the arrangement, size, natural appearance, consistency 

 and contents of the several viscera ; to some extent with the circulatory 

 system ; with the alimentary and respiratory organs ; with the brain, and 

 the whole osseous structure of the head. He should be in the constant 

 habit of making more or less extended examinations of all these structures, 

 as opportunity occui's by the slaughter of sheep for economic purposes ; 

 and when the animal dies from disease, such examination should be in no 

 ordinary case omitted by the flock-master who is desirous of making him- 

 self thorougJdy acqtiainted with his business. He will require some instruc- 

 tion, in the outset, to enable him to make such dissections understandingly 

 and propei-ly ; but he can readily obtain this from any educated physician 

 or surgeon. There are no sufficiently wide differences in the anatomical 

 structure of the sheep and of the human being, to give the surgeon the 

 least difficulty in pointing out the aiTangement, uses, &c., of the several 

 parts of the former, unless it be in the conformation of the stomachs. — 

 Here, the structure of the sheep, like that of other ruminating animals, dif- 

 fers widely from man, but that physician or surgeon must have been singu- 

 larly limited in his physiological investigations, who has not made himself 

 acquainted with it. At all events, a glance at a veterinary work, while 

 conducting a dissection, will enable him to understand, and explain it to 

 the leanier. The learner while making his examinations in company with, 

 and under the direction of the surgeon, ^\\o\\\di perform every manipulation : 

 his own hand should handle, remove, test the consistency, &c. of the parts 

 — alone wield the saw and guide the scalpel. This is an important rule if 

 he would understand and remember. 



The subjects of a portion of the examinations should be sheep killed in 

 full health. It is necessary to be familiar with the healthy appearance of 

 all the parts, so as to distinctly recognize all departures from it — the effect 

 of any diseased or abnoi'mal action. 



The sides of a lean sheep are more translucent, after being skinned, than 

 those of a fat one, and therefore the former makes a better subject, if the 

 circulatory system is to be examined. On the sides of the thorax and ab- 

 domen, at a little distance from the spine, the veins and arteries of those 

 parts can often be traced with beautiful distinctness, without any dissection 

 of the intercostal muscles. 



Subjects should be examined which have had their blood drawn (by hav- 

 ing their throats cut), and also those which have died with all their blood 

 in them. Some of the viscera — e. g. the lungs, veins and arteries — will 

 present very different appearances under these different circumstances ; 

 and this fact not understood might frequently lead to very erroneous con- 

 clusions in post mortem examinations. 



I will give a very general description of the parts I have mentioned as 

 necessary to be studied — designed merely for those who have no previous 

 knowledge of the subject. 



After the animal has been neatly skinned, place it on a low table, an as- 

 sistant grasping its fore-legs, and holding it firmly on its back. Then slit 



(849; a9 



