[ 473 1 



CHAPTER III. 



Health and Diseases of Merino-Ryehind Sheep. Rot. Hydatids in the Luwrs. 

 Inflammation of the Chest. Giddiness. Scab. Foot-rot. Lambs require shelter 

 •when young. 



In point of health, this breed appears to me fully equal to our native sheep. Some 

 of my land, from having been uiidrained when I began to occupy it, is rather 

 moist; from which cause, 4 or 5 of my oldest ewes have had diseased livers, ac- 

 companied widi the fluke; but the proportion of the sheep so affected has been 

 much smaller than that of the unmixed Ryelands, living on the same soil. In fact, 

 I do not know that I have lost a single sheep from that disorder only. 



In the latter part of the winter of 1803, or rather in the spring and summer of 

 1804,4 o"" 5 of my ewes died of a disease, which, though perhaps common enough, 

 has not been mentioned by writers on sheep. This was a great shortness of breath; 

 during which, though the animal, in general, eat well, he gradually declined in 

 strength and flesh, and after several months died. The lungs being examined after 

 death, were found full of vesicles or bladders, from the size of a small pea to half an 

 inch in diameter, containing a colourless transparent liquid. These bladders are 

 denominated hydatids, supposed to be living animals, and called, by Linnaeus, 

 Taenia Hydatigenea. I have not yet met with any description of these hydatids, 

 which correspond with their real structure. Whether they arose from tlie damp 

 ground mentioned above, as they frequently occur and accompany the fluke in the 

 livers of rotten sheep, I cannot tell. My land being now drained, I shall be able 

 to form a belter judgment as to the cause. The sheep were of middle age; but I 

 had no opportunity of attempting any mean^ of cure. 



A few of my sheep have died of inflammation of the pleura, or membrane 

 lining the chest and lungs; which has shewn itself by the common appearances 

 before and after death. These cases, like the former, have been so rare, that I did 

 not think it worth while, in the view of profit, to employ remedies ; and my avoca- 

 tions would not permit me to enter into any process of attendance. 



I have already spoken of a disease much noticed by the French, and called by 

 «hem la Tournie, le Lourd, &c. It is the same as that which we term Foolishness, 



VOL. V, 3 P 



