108 Essay on Sheep. 



to a bag containing water within the skull, 

 which presses upon the brain. It is generally 

 considered as incurable, though it is said by 

 others that it may sometinies be remedied by 

 trepanning: a soft place on the head indicates 

 the situation of the bag, which, if taken out 

 whole, will remove the disorder; others pass a 

 sharp wire up the nostril into the brain, and 

 perforate the bag: the suppuration that this oc- 

 casions effects the cure ; five out of six, however, 

 die under this operation, and it may, therefore, 

 be justly considered as incurable by the doctor, 

 but not, as I have shown, by the nurse. Nature 

 will effect the cure, if care is taken to feed and 

 tend the patient while she is operating her very 

 reluctant and tardy cure; but a sheep must 

 be extremely valuable to pay for three months 

 constant attention. I should add, that I bled 

 the lambs I mentioned, and gave them a doze 

 of train oil; but I have no reason to think that 

 either of these had any agency in the cure. 



The purging which sheep are subject to in 

 the spring of the year, and which arises from 

 their change of food, I do not consider as a 

 diseaseof any consequence, and except this and 

 the staggers I know of none that prevails in our 

 flocks when properly nourished. When they 

 are ill kept, they sometimes take colds and dis- 



