The Shepherds' Guide, 91 



tacked with a true Dysentery^ which is distin- 

 guished trom a simple lax or diarrhcea. by mu- 

 cous and bloody discharges, mixed wiih lumps of 

 hardened excrement ; by frequent urging and 

 straining to stool, with small evacuations ; and is 

 accompanied with pam, a greater degree of sick- 

 ness, dejection and fever, manifested by a hot 

 skin, ears and mouth. It occurs most frequently in 

 midsummer, and towards the fall of the year, 

 and is said to be infectious. In this case, begin 

 by purging the sheep with an ounce of glauber 

 salts, dissolved in warm water : or rather in vio- 

 lent cases, by bleeding (which is best performed 

 after shaving off the wool, in the jugular vein, as 

 is done in horses and neat cattle. After swelling 

 the vein by a bandage, open it with a common 

 lancet ; and after drawing a sufficient quantity of 

 blood, which from a full grown sheep should be 

 towards a pint : the blood is stopped, and the vein 

 secured by a pin and hair, or thread, as is done in 

 the larger animals) then give the salts ; and hav- 

 ing procured a free and open state of the bowels, 

 give the chalk mixture ; interposing occasionallv, 

 as long as the pain, fever, and bloody evacuations 

 continue a dose of salts, or what I have frequent- 

 ly found a mild and gentle evacuant for sheep, 

 give a large talile spoon full of molasses, mixed 

 with one or two of yeast or emptyings. This re- 

 medy is particularly adapted to dysentery^, which 

 is frequently a putrid disease, and may be freely 



