82 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



bowels are not sufficiently relaxed. But great caution is to be 

 observed, lest the animal become too much exhausted. 



As many of the internal organs of the sheep resemble the 

 corresponding organs in the human species, so many of the 

 diseases are almost identical. Accordingly bronchitis and 

 catarrh, assail the sheep as well as man. And, as with man, 

 so and much more so, among sheep, is prevention better than 

 cure. Too much cannot be said in favor of good, comfortable 

 and well ventilated shelter, as a preventive of nine-tenths of all 

 the maladies of the sheep. 



Like neat cattle, sheep will sometimes have the hove (so 

 called,) when put into clover pastures. The stomach becomes 

 distended with wind, and without relief the animal will die. 

 The usual remedy is to make an incision with a sharp pointed 

 knife between the hip and the short ribs, and put in a short 

 tube, through which the gas passes off. The wound heals 

 easily. 



Diarrhcea is often troublesome, both to sheep and lambs. If 

 it does not yield to suitable food, such as oats, crusts of wheat 

 bread, rice boiled in milk ; a dose of castor oil or powdered 

 rhubarb, may be given, — -after which, as in the human species, 

 the diet should be light, and sometimes a tonic of brandy, in 

 case of great prostration, is to be recommended. 



Some of the old writers upon sheep husbandry insist, that 

 sheep are subject to smali pox. Thus Nicholson, author of the 

 Farmer's Assistant, enumerates this as a disease of sheep, 

 "being," says he, "blisters which first appear on the flanks, 

 and spread over the whole body. It is produced by drinking 

 stagnant water. When the blisters break, anoint them with 

 sweet oil." It cannot be supposed, of course, however, that 

 the disease known by that name, among men, is the same as 

 that described by him as originating in "stagnant water." 



De Castro says the Spanish sheep are subject to jaundice — 

 the flesh and bones turning yellow. He recommends a small 

 quantity of the flax-leaved daphne guidium. In Great Britain, 

 sheep are subject to a disease called the rot — it is a disease of 

 the liver, and is not known among us ; and another disease, 

 called red ivater, is common in England, also unknown among 

 us, or of rare occurrence. 



I do not claim to have enumerated all the disorders to which 



