SMALL POX IN SHEEP. 517 



lumps may be in large or small patches ; they may run 

 together, or be at a distance from each other : there is no 

 limit to the eruption, or bounds to its ravages. At the first 

 appearance of the swellings, however, they are of a weak red 

 hue. The animal's sufferings increase. A light clear liquid, 

 in a very small bladder, next appears on the top of each 

 swelling, in from tw^o to four days. After this last symp- 

 tom is fairly exhibited, the sheep becomes more lively ; but 

 in three days, or in six, he becomes worse than ever. There 

 then appears an inflamed circle round each head of the 

 pimples. The bladder no longer contains a clear liquid, 

 but pus now occupies the place of the original fluid. The 

 fever is then at its height, and many a sheep who has past 

 the first virulence of the disorder, sinks beneath this second 

 aggravation. After a while, the pustules burst, and scabs 

 are formed, which, when they are cast off, leave behind 

 them small pits or ulcers, that are very difficult to eradi- 

 cate, because of the weakness attending the complaint. 



The attack generally lasts a month. The after conse- 

 quences are hardly less fearful than the disease. In some 

 cases, when the patches run together, the symptoms are 

 very fearful ; the breath quickens ; the lips and tongue 

 ulcerate ; the head swells ; the breath stinks ; thick 

 saliva runs from the mouth ; the wool tumbles off in 

 flakes ; large sloughs occur, and the animal sinks under 

 the violence of the disorder, diarrhoea generally concluding 

 every thing. The signs by which the disease is recognised 

 are redness of the skin ; the felling of a rash underneath it. 

 Also the appearance of the pimples ; their getting white and 

 clear heads ; a ring showing itself round each swelling, 

 when the transparency becomes opaque. The pimples 

 burst ; the dried matter accumulates about the orifice. Black 

 scabs are formed ; these last drop off, and leave ulcers 

 behind. There are several forms of this disorder, or, rather, 

 the same disease can assume various degrees of violence. 



Treatment. — When sheep-pox is abroad, the master's eye 

 ought to be daily cast upon the flock. The food should be 

 nutritive, the pens open, and sufficient space allowed, as all 

 crowding is injurious. It is better to give the animals a 

 little shelter, than force them together to keep one another 

 warm. Any sheep that seems dull should be carried home, 



