SHEEP POX. 211 



slaughter and burial of every infected animal, and the removal of 

 those that are well. In the simple form, a single brisk purgative, 

 such as two ounces of Epsom salts, with a small quantity of gin- 

 ger, generally results in a cure ; to repeat the dose is dangerous. 

 The mouth should be washed in the following solution twice a day : 



Alum in powder 1 ounce. 



Tincture of Myrrh 1 fluid ounce. 



Water 1 quart. 



The feet, if affected, should be washed with soap and water, or 

 with a weak solution of sulphate of copper, then dressed with car- 

 bolic ointment ; and afterwards bound up in a cloth so as to keep 

 sand or dirt from irritating the sensitive surfaces. Sulphur should 

 be burned in the sheds as a disinfectant and purifier, and the drink- 

 ing water should be acidulated with one dram of aromatic sul 

 phuric acid to a gallon of water. All sick animals should be 

 isolated. 



Sheep Pox, or variola, is a formidable and fatal disease, which IB 

 very frequent in the central and eastern parts of Europe, and has 

 recently been introduced into England by means of importations 

 of infected sheep. Although unknown in its severe type in this 

 country, yet we have no security against its introduction at any 

 day. It is recorded in a German publication that on one occasion 

 every sheep in a whole district was swept off by this disorder, the 

 sheep dying without any apparent reason, as though they had 

 been poisoned. The only known preventive is artificial inocula- 

 tion by means of lymph taken from one of the mildest cases. 

 These communicated cases are exceedingly mild. The practice of 

 housing sheep is very productive of this disease, and it is when 

 sheep are kept in small flocks and well supplied with fresh air and 

 general good care that the disease makes no headway. Whenever 

 our flocks shall be overcrowded, and poorly cared for, this disease 

 may be apprehended. Sheep-pox is not identical with the human 

 small-pox, but is yet of the same type, produced by the same 

 causes, has very similar characteristics, and is equally contagious. 

 It cannot, like that of the cow, be communicated to mankind, nor 

 to other animals than sheep, even by inoculation, and belongs ex- 

 clusively to them. It is a true blood poison, caused originally by 

 the absorption of impure matter into the blood, probably through 

 the lungs, and the course of the disease is an effort of nature to 

 throw off the poison by the eruptions which appear on the skin. 

 There is a period of incubation of the disease, which lasts nine 

 to eleven days after infection, and during which no symptoms 

 whatever appear. After this the sheep sicken, refuse food, and 



