SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 557 



This is a singular disease ; but it is a sadly prevalent and fatal one in wet and moorish 



districts It is niuch more fatal in France than in Great Britain. It is supposed 



that nearly a million of sheep are destroyed in France every year by this pest of the ovine 

 race 



The means of cure are exceedingly limited. They are confined to the removal or des- 

 traction of the vesicle. Medicine is altogether out of the question here." 



Many barbarous methods have been adopted to rupture the hydatid, 

 which I will not disgust you by repeating. Mr. James Hogg thrust a 

 wire up the nostrils of the sheep, and through the plate of the ethmoid 

 bone into the brain, and thus, as he assures us, punctured the hydatid and 

 " cured many a sheep ! " * This practice, which I cannot characterize 

 otherwise than as atrocious, is justly condemned by Mr. Youatt. The 

 dotted lines d, e, and d, d, in fig. 49, show how limited a portion of the 

 brain could be reached with a wire or trochar by piercing the plate of the 

 ethmoid bone — the (mly portion of the walls of the skull thin enough to 

 be so pierced by a trochar introduced at the nostrils. 



Mr. Parkinson " pulled the ears very hard for some time," and then cut 

 them off close to the head ! t 



Where the hydatid is not imbedded in the brain, its constant pressure, 

 singularly enough, causes a portion of the cranium to be absorbed, and 

 finally the part immediately over the hydatid becomes thin and soft 

 enough to yield under the pressure of the finger. When such a spot is 

 discovered, the English veterinarians usually dissect back the muscular 

 integuments, remove a portion of the bone, carefully divide the investing 

 membranes of the brain, and then, if possible, remove the hydatid whole 

 — or, failing to do this, remove its fluid contents. The membranes and 

 integuments are then restored to their position, and an adhesive plaster 

 placed over the whole. The French veterinarians usually simply punc- 

 ture the cranium and the cist with a trochar, and laying the sheep on its 

 back, permit the fluid to run out through the orifice thus made, A com- 

 mon awl would answer every purpose for such a puncture. The puncture 

 would be the preferable method for the unskilled practitioner. But when 

 we take into consideration the hazard and cruelty attending the operation 

 at best, and the conceded liability of a return of the malady — the growth 

 of new hydatids — it becomes apparent that, in this country, it would not 

 be worth while, unless in the case of uncommonly valuable sheep, to resort 

 to any other remedy than depriving the miserable animal of life. 



Pelt Rot — IS classified as a disease by Mr. Livingston, and various 

 other American writers. Mr. Livingston says : 



" This is often mistaken for the scab, but it is in fact a different and less dangerous 

 disease ; in this the wool will fall off, and leave the sheep nearly naked ; but it is attended 

 with no soreness, though a white crust will cover the skin from the wool which has 

 dropped. It generally arises from hard keeping and much exposure to cold and wet, and, 

 in fact, the animal often dies in severe weather from the cold it suffers by the loss of its 

 coat. The remedy is full feeding, and a warm stall, and anointing the hard part of the skin 

 with tar, oil, and butter." t 



I have seen frequent cases of the pelt rot, but never have done any- 

 thing for it, scarcely considering it a disease. If the condition of a poor 

 sheep is raised as suddenly as ])racticable, by generous keep in the winter, 

 the wool is very apt to drop off, and if yet cold, the sheep will require 

 warm shelter. 



* Hogg on Sheep, p. 59. 

 1 Parkinson on Sheep, vol. 1, p. 412. 

 I Livinpeton on Sheep, Appendix, p. 179. 

 (1037) 



