SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 575 



with the carbonic acid gas, and thus at once reduce its volume. A flexi- 

 ble probang — or, in default of it, a rattan or grape-vine — with a knob on 

 the end, may be gently forced dovm the gullet, and thus the gas permitted 

 to escape. 



Obstruction of the Gullet, or " Choking." — After pouring a little 

 oil in the throat, the obstructing substance can be frequently moved up or 

 down by external manipulation. If not, it may usually be forced down 

 with a flexible rod, the head of which is guarded by a knob or a little bag 

 of flax-seed. The latter having been dipped in hot water for a minute or 

 two, is partly converted into mucilage, which constantly exudes through 

 the cloth, and protects the oesophagus from laceration. But little force 

 must be used, and the whole operation conducted with the utmost care 

 and gentleness, or the oesophagus will be so far lacerated as to produce 

 death, although the obstruction is removed. 



Fractures. — Of these Mr. Blacklock concisely says : 



" If there be no woimd of the soft parts, the bone being simply broken, the treatment is 

 extremely easy. Apply a piece of wet leather, taking care to ease the limb when swellin" 

 supervenes. AVhen the swelling is considerable, and fever present, you can do no better 

 than open a vein of the head or neck, allowing a quantity of blood to escape, proportioned 

 to the size and condition of the animal, and the urgency of the sjTiiptoms' Purgatives ia 

 such cases should never be neglected. Epsom salts, in ounce doses, given either as a gruel 

 or a drench, will be found to answer the purpose well. If the broken bones are kept 

 steady, the cure will be complete in from three to four weeks, the process of reunion always 

 proceeding faster in a young than in an old sheep. Should the soft parts be injured to any 

 extent, or the ends of the bone protruding, recover)' is very uncertain, and it will become a 

 question whether it would not be better at once to convert the animal into mutton. " 



TREATMENT. 



Method of Administering Medicine into the Stomach. — The 



stomach into which we wish to administer medicines, is the fourth, or 

 digesting stomach. The comparatively insensible walls of the rumen are 

 but slightly acted upon, excepting by doses of very improper magnitude. 

 For the reasons given when the course of the food through the stomachs 

 was described, medicine to reach the fourth stomach should be given in a 

 state as near approaching fluidity as may be. And even then it may be 

 given in such a manner as to defeat our object. Mr. Youatt says : 



i* " If the animal forcibly gulps fluids down, or if they are given hastily and bodily by the 

 medical attendant, they will fall on the canal at the base of the gullet with considerable 

 momentum, and force asunder the pillars and enter the rumen ; if they are drank more 

 slowly, or administered gently, tliey will trickle down the throat and glide over these 

 pillars, and pass on through the mauiplus to the true stomach. " 



Method of Bleeding. — Bleeding from the ears or tail, as is commonly 

 practised, rarely extracts a quantity of blood sufficient to do any good 

 where bleeding is indicated. To bleed from the eye-vein, the point of a 

 knife is usually inserted near the lower extremity of the pouch below the 

 eye, pressed down, and then a cut made inward toward the middle of 

 the face. Daubenton recommends bleeding from the angular or cheek 

 vein, 



" in the lower part of the cheek, at the spot where the root of the fourth tooth is 



placed, which is the thickest part of the cheek, and is marked on the external suiface of the 

 bone of the upper jaw by a tubercle, sufficiently prominent to be very sensible to the 

 finger when the skin of the cheek is touched. This tubercie is a certain index to the 



angular vein which is placed below The shepherd takes the sheep between his 



legs ; his left hand more advanced than his right, wliich he places under the head, and grasps 

 (1055) 



