216 THE SHEPHERD'S MAHITAL. 



ing should be given until a cure is effected. Copious demulcent 

 drinks should be given, such as infusions of linseed, oat-meal, OP 

 gum arable. 



DISEASES OF THE BRAIN. 



Water on the Brain, (Hydrocep7ialu8).This is a constitutional 

 fault which is present in the ewe, or the ram, used in breeding. It 

 exists in the lamb at birth, and the head is generally so unnatur- 

 ally enlarged that it is killed as not worth raising, or it dies before 

 it has arrived at maturity. If there are many cases in a flock, the 

 ram should be changed; if the ewes are at fault, they should be 

 disposed of by feeding for the butcher. There is no cure, and an 

 animal so deformed is a disagreeable object at the best, and it 

 should be destroyed at birth. 



' Apoplexy Staggers. Some of the high-bred sheep, the Leices- 

 ters more especially, as well as some native sheep that have been 

 poorly kept and fed, are subject to occasional attacks of giddiness 

 and blindness, in which they stagger about and run against walls, 

 fences, or other obstructions, evidently unable to see. The attack 

 conies on suddenly, the sheep stops and stands staggering, or still 



moves on its former course 

 with eyes dilated and prom- 

 inent, but unconscious of 

 impediments. The appear- 

 ance of the eyes and mem- 

 branes shows that the vessels 

 of the head are full of blood, 

 and post-mortem examina- 

 tions have shown the brain to 

 --^ _- be highly congested, and some- 



times the vessels ruptured. 



Fig. 76.-THE FACIAL VEIN. Pressure of blood on the brain 



is the cause of these symptoms. Plethora from continued high 

 feeding, or from indigestion or other disturbance of the condition 

 of the digestive organs, produces this determination of blood to 

 the head. Kemoval of the causes, depletion of high conditioned 

 animals, by saline purgatives, or the restoration of the tone of poor 

 conditioned ones by good food and tonics, tend to a cure. Bleed- 

 ing from the facial vein (a, fig. 76), is often useful in extreme cases. 

 Inflammation of the Brain (Phrenitis). The causes which pro- 

 duce apoplexy, if long continued, result in inflammation of the 

 brain, and this produces frenzy. The affected animals are very 



