88 History of Aniimil Plagues. 



discovered that tar (generally called bitumen in the accounts of 

 the farm bailiffs, but occasionally by its English name) was a 

 '; specific for the complaint. Shortly after this time the purchase 

 / j of tar is a regular entry. It is clear that the remedy was mixed 

 y 1 with butter or lard, and then rubbed in. Note is occasionally 

 > taken of any exceptional prevalence of this disease, which seems 

 never to have been eradicated, but only to have varied in in- 

 tensity and frequency. 'And for this year (1288), in the farm 

 accounts of Stanham, he finds the following entry : Nimia in- 

 firmitas et Scabies bidentium : fleeces small/ 



' Sheep, again,' observes Mr Rogers,^ in referring to this period, 

 'were liable to several diseases, and among these the rot and the 

 scab. The former affecting the general health of the animal, the 

 latter its most valuable produce, were the cause of continual 

 anxiety to the medieval farmer as they are to his descendant.' 



' There are,' says Walter de Henley, ' several means by which 

 shepherds profess to discover the existence of rot. i. They look 

 at the veins under the eyelid. If these are red, the sheep is sound ; 

 if white, unsound. 2. They try the wool on the ribs. If it holds 

 firmly to the skin, it is a good sign ; if it pulls off easily, it is a 

 bad one. 3. If the skin, on rubbing, reddens, the sheep is sound ; 

 if it remains pale, the animal is rotten. 4. About All Saints' 

 day, November i, if the hoar-frost in the morning is found to 

 cling to the wool, it is a good sign; but if it be melted, it is a 

 sign that the animal is suffering from an unnatural heat, and 

 that it is probably unsound. If one of your sheep die's, put the 

 flesh at once into water, and keep it there from daybreak to 

 three o'clock (nones), then hang it up to drain thoroughly, salt 

 it and dry it. It will do for your labourers.'^ 



The venerable and learned Fleta,^ who also writes at this 

 period, gives us an excellent description of the duties of the shep- 

 herd, the care to be taken of the sheep, and the maladies to 

 which they were then liable. The great rarity of this work, and 

 the value of its author's remarks in the chapter entitled 'De 

 toribus,' almost induce me to ofler a translation, but space 

 forbids. 



1 Jio^ers. Op. cit., vol. i. p. 334. 2 j^jd. 



2 F/e^a. Commentarius Juris Anglican!, lib. ii. cap. 79. 



