SHEEP. 



times difllcult to get rid of this afTcc- 

 tion, and cataract and permanent 

 l)lindnes.s will ensue. The Kttrick 

 isiicpherd says tliat ' a friend will gen- 

 erally attach Itself to the sufferer, 

 waiting on it with the most tender 

 assiduity, and hy its bleating calling 

 it from danger and from going astray.' 



" Hoove is a morbid distention of 

 the paunch with food, and the extri- 

 cation of gas from that food. An ac- 

 count has been given of this disorder 

 in the article Ox, so that every pur- 

 pose will be answered by referring 

 to it. The same may be said of all 

 the diseases of the digestive organs. 

 Their structure is the same in cattle 

 and in sheep ; and the causes and ap- 

 pearances and treatment of the dis- 

 eases are the same. 



" There is, however, a disease of 

 the liver — the Rot — far more frequent- 

 ly occurring in sheep than in cattle, 

 and bearing a peculiar and more de- 

 structive character. 



" In the very earliest stage alone 

 does it admit of cure. The decisive 

 symptom, at that time, is a yellow 

 colour of the eye, that surrounds the 

 pupil and the small veins of it, and 

 particularly the corner of the eye, 

 which is filled with a yellow serous 

 fluid, and not with blood. There is 

 no other apparent morbid appearance 

 until it is too late to struggle with 

 the malady ; on the contrary, the 

 sheep, although perhaps a little duller 

 than usual, has an evident propensity 

 to fatten. 



" The rot is a disease of the liver, 

 attended by inflammation of that or- 

 gan, and the vessels of it contain 

 fasciolaj {flukes). The flukes are 

 probably more the effect than the 

 cause of the disease. They aggra- 

 vate the disease by perpetuating a 

 state of irritability and disorganiza- 

 tion. The rot is evidently connected 

 with the state of the pasture. It is 

 precisely the same as marsh fever in 

 men, originating from the poisonous 

 vapours of marshes. It is confined 

 eh her to wet seasons or to the feed- 

 ing on ground that is moist and 

 marshy. In the same farm there are 

 fields on which no sheep can be turn- 

 712 



ed without getting the rot, and there 

 are others that never give the rot. 

 After long-continued rains it is almost 

 sure to ai)pear. The disease may bo 

 communicated with extraordinary ra- 

 pidity. A flock of sheep was halted 

 by the side of a pond for the purpose 

 of drinking ; the time which they re- 

 mained there was not more than a 

 quarter of an hour, yet two hundred 

 of them eventually died rotten. In 

 the treatment of the rot little that is 

 satisfactory can be done. Some sheep 

 have recovered, but the decided ma- 

 jority perish in despite of every ef- 

 fort. The patients, however, may, 

 as giving them a little chance, be 

 moved to the driest and soundest 

 pastures ; they may undergo a regu- 

 lar course of aperient medicine. Mer- 

 curial friction may also be used, but, 

 above all, plenty of salt should be 

 placed within the animals' reach, and 

 given to them in the way of medicine. 

 Doses of calomel may be given in the 

 early stages. 



" In the way of prevention, the 

 farmer may do much : he may drain 

 the most suspicious parts of his larm. 

 No money would be more profitably 

 expended than in accomplishing this. 

 Some of the little swampy spots 

 which disgrace the appearance of his 

 farm, possibly he at the root of the 

 evil. 



" Red-water, or the effusion of a 

 bloody serous fluid in the cavity of 

 the abdomen, is a frequent and very 

 fatal disease among sheep. The 

 cause of it is a sudden change from 

 one pasture to another of almost op- 

 posite quality, or the moving of the 

 flock from a dry and warm to a damp 

 and cold situation. It is most de- 

 structive to lambs if exposed to a 

 hard frost, or suffered to he on a damp 

 and cold soil. The sheep will separ- 

 ate himself from the rest of the flock ; 

 he will evince a great deal of pain, by 

 rolling about and frequently lying 

 down, and immediately getting up 

 again ; and sometimes he dies in less 

 than twenty-four hours from the first 

 attack. The belly will be found swell- 

 ed and filled with the red water, or 

 serous fluid tinged with blood, from 



