SHEEP. 



may leave his flock in tlic morning, 

 free, apparently, from any immediate 

 danger, and when he reiurns in the 

 afternoon he will find two or three of 

 them dead. Epsom salts with nitre 

 may be given. Blood should be ab- 

 stracted if the case seems to require 

 it; and the medicine should be re- 

 peated sufficiently often to keep the 

 bowels gently open. If the purging 

 becomes considerable, a little starch, 

 with chalk and cinnamon, may be ser- 

 viceable. Those that will eat should 

 be foddered with good hay, and the 

 others forced with gruel, being kept 

 dry and comfortable, with plenty of 

 clean straw under them. The de- 

 tached horn should be pared from the 

 feet where there was any separation, 

 and the parts washed with a solution 

 of blue vitriol, and then smeared over 

 ■with melted tar. The mouth and 

 tongue, on which there are generally 

 some ulcers, should be dressed with 

 a strong solution of alum in water. 

 Under this treatment most of the pa- 

 tients will probably recover. 



" Garget. — Inflammation of the ud- 

 der is more frequent in the ewe than 

 in the cow. The udder should be 

 well fomented with warm water, and 

 then, if there are no large knots or 

 kernels, she should be returned to 

 her lamb, whose knocking about of 

 the udder will generally be produc- 

 tive of good rather than harm. If, 

 however, she refuses the lamb, a 

 drachm of camphor and mercurial 

 ointment may be well incorporated 

 with an ounce of elder ointment, and a 

 little of it well rubbed into the udder 

 every morning and night. If the ud- 

 der should still continue to enlarge, 

 a free incision must be made into 

 that part where the swellings are 

 largest. A weak solution of chloride 

 of lime should then be applied, and 

 when the putrid smell is gone, the 

 friar's balsam should be used. In a 

 few days the wound will generally be 

 healed, and the lamb may be return- 

 ed to its mother. 



" Diseases of the Feet. — There is a 



small opening at the bifurcation of 



the pasterns, which leads to a canal 



running down the inner face of each 



714 



to the commencement of the hoot. 

 The function of this canal is a matter 

 of doubt; but dirt or gravel, or other 

 foreign bodies, sometimes get into 

 these canals, and produce considera- 

 ble pain, inflammation, and ulcera- 

 tion. The treatment consists in the 

 extraction of any of those e.xtrancous 

 substances that can be got at, and the 

 fomenting and poulticing, or scarify- 

 ing the parts, or cflecting incisions 

 into the canal, and applying a caustic 

 or a balsam, as the case may re- 

 quire." 



Foot-rot arises from wet pastures. 

 It tirst produces lameness, origina- 

 ting in the softening of the crust 

 of the foot ; ulcerations appear, and, 

 finally, the animal is unable to move, 

 and dies. 



" The treatment of foot-rot essen- 

 tially consists in paring away all loose 

 and detached horn. This is the cor- 

 ner-stone of skilful and successful 

 practice. All fungous granulations 

 must either be cut away, or de- 

 stroyed by the muriate of antimo- 

 ny, and the foot well washed with 

 a solution of chloride of lime. The 

 muriate of antimony must then be 

 lightly applied over the whole of the 

 denuded surface This must be re- 

 peated daily, until the whole of the 

 foot is covered with new horn. The 

 diseased sheep must not be permitted 

 to join his companions until the cure 

 is complete; for it is a sadly infec- 

 tious disease, and may easily spread 

 through the whole flock." 



Fouls is an irritation and suppura- 

 tion of the gland in the cleft of the 

 hoof It is easily remedied by apply- 

 ing warm tar. It is not contagious. 



" The Scab is a very troublesome 

 disease, common in the spring and 

 summer. The sheep is continually 

 scratching himself with his feet, tear- 

 ing ofTthe wool, and violently rubbing 

 himself against every protruding sub- 

 stance. The disease first appears in 

 the form of minute pustules ; but sev- 

 eral of these unite, and form a scan. 

 The health of the sheep becomes rap- 

 idly affected under this disease, and 

 some of them p'ne away and die. It 

 is a very infectious disease ; for ev- 



