8mall]}ox in SJieep, 349 



lambs are regularly vaccinated in the spring, when from 

 three to four months old, the general result being a very 

 considerable diminution of deaths from the disease. 



The sheep lymph used for inoculation is obtained from 

 separate (discrete) vesicles, on the sixth or seventh day of the 

 eruption. It should be perfectly clear and fluid, like water. 

 The animal from which it is taken should be otherwise 

 healthy, free from rot and scab, and if possible one who 

 has been vaccinated previously, or at all events has the dis- 

 ease in a mild form. The lymph is to be preserved in the 

 same manner as that used for vaccination in man. 



The most suitable place for inserting the lymph in the 

 sheep is on the inner side of the ear, this spot being both 

 convenient to the operator to reach and less liable than most 

 to be injured by the scratching of the animal when the pus- 

 tule begins to itch. There is no special manner of applying 

 the lymph ; the general rules adopted for this simple opera- 

 tion in children, answer as well for the sheep. 



It is needless to undertake vaccinating a flock unless the 

 pox is actually in the neighborhood ; and then it should be 

 done promptly, and rej)eated until every sheep has had the 

 lymph " take ^' on him fairly. Even when the disease has 

 already attacked an animal, vaccination should be performed, 

 as it often renders the course of the malady much milder. 



LOOTING ILL— THE GNAW DISEASE— THORTER ILL. 



Definition. — The disease called by these uncouth names is 

 an afiection of the spinal cord, common in lambs and young 

 sheep, but rare after the thu-d year. It is accompanied by 

 organic changes in the cord, either of hardening or softening, 

 or with watery secretion. It corresponds closely to that dis- 

 ease in man known as "myelitis, with sclerosis or ramollise- 

 ment of the cord,^' both in symptoms and appearance of the 

 cord after death. 



