SUMMER MANAGEMENT. 165 



suffering, he should not interfere ; nor should he do so if she 

 rises when he approaches, and walks away, unless her la- 

 bor has been protracted twenty hours or more. He should 

 not be in haste to render his assistance, although she should 

 be continually lying down and getting up again, and showing 

 more impatience or irritability than actual pain ; but if her 

 strength appears to be declining, his immediate aid is required. 

 If he has to drive her to the fold or pound, it should be as 

 gently as possible, or he should drive some others with her, 

 in order that she may not be frightened by being alone se- 

 lected. The early interference of the lamber is always prej- 

 udicial, and very frequently fatal. Nature, in the course of 

 twenty or twenty-four hours, will, in the great majority of 

 cases, accomplish that which carmot be hurried on by art 

 without extreme danger. 



" The state of the weather will cause a very considerable 

 difference in the duration of the labor. When the weather 

 is cold and dry, and especially if the situation is somewhat 

 exposed, the progress of the labour will be slow — the throes 

 will be comparatively weak and ineffectual, and the ewe may 

 and should be left a considerable time before mechanical assist- 

 ance is rendered. When, however, the weather is warm, and 

 especially if, at the same time, it is moist, the throes will be vio- 

 lent, and the strength of the sufferer will be very rapidly 

 wasted ; there will be a dangerous tendency to inflammation, 

 and the aid of the lamber is speedily required. Except un- 

 der these circumstances, no motive of curiosity, no desire 

 to know how the affair is going on, should induce the lamber 

 to interfere while the throes are natural and the strength con- 

 tinues, unless it is evident, without handling the ewe, that a 

 false presentation, or some mechanical cause, prevents the 

 expulsion of the foetus. When the ewe is nearly exhausted 

 she will often suffer the lamber to kneel beside her and suc- 

 cessfully afford the requisite assistance. If there is a violent 

 struggle between the patient and the lamber, the foetus will 

 often be destroyed ; but his help, when she quietly submits 

 to him, will rarely fail to preserve the mother and her off- 

 spring. Let it be supposed that, from certain circumstances, 

 she is driven to the pound, or that she is lying quietly by the 

 lamber in the field. He should first endeavor to ascertain the 

 nature of the presentation. Is the lamb coming in the right way 

 with its muzzle first, and a fore-foot on each side of it ? If the 

 tongue is not protruding from the mouth and becoming almost 



