CHAP. in. JOINT-ILL IN SHEEP. ' 583 



lameness in one or all of the limbs soon follow, and then painful 

 swellings appear about the joints and sometimes in other parts of the 

 body, notably beneath the throat and on the arms, thighs, and trunk. 

 There are fever, thirst, emaciation, and weakness. In some instances 

 there are no enlargements ; the disease centres itself in the internal 

 organs, especially the lungs and liver, where abscesses form arid exten- 

 sive disorganisation follows. Here there is sudden prostration, 

 inability to stand, high fever, hurried, panting breathing, and later 

 diarrhoea and foetid breath, with hoven and a yellow state of the mem- 

 branes of the eye. 



Treatment. Curative measures of treatment are seldom of much 

 avail where the malady has become established. A writer in the 

 " Live Stock Journal " properly points out : The attention of the 

 flock-master must be concentrated in the direction of arresting its 

 spread, and this must be done by giving prompt and special attention 

 to the ewes and the condition of the lambing pens. 



The ewes should be placed on a good nutritious diet, and if large 

 quantities of turnips are being allowed the amount must be reduced ; 

 while at the same time such animals as are diseased should be as far as 

 possible avoided. The healthy must be separated from the sick, and 

 the lambing pens should be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected, or, 

 what is better, removed to another part of the field or farmstead. 



Give salt and sulphate of iron to the ewes, and a plentiful supply of 

 nutritious food morning and evening, to improve the general health. 

 All lambs born after the appearance of the disease should have their 

 navels carefully examined, and dressed for the first two or three days 

 or longer with a solution of carbolic acid, the young animals being 

 folded on clean dry litter. 



Fouling of the pens should be carefully guarded against, and cleanli- 

 ness on the part of the shepherd must be strictly enforced. 



To the diseased lambs a little castor oil may be given when constipa- 

 tion exists, or, if diarrhoea be present, a little carminative and astrin- 

 gent mixture may be prescribed. 



LOUPING-ILL OR TKEMBLES. These terms are used by flock-masters 

 and shepherds to designate a form of disease affecting the nervous 

 system, in which paralysis, convulsive leapings or " loupings," and 

 trembling of the limbs are the leading features. 



It is seldom seen in England, but prevails largely throughout 

 Scotland, and especially in certain parishes and districts. In some 

 parts it is said to be "circumscribed by the windings of a river, and 

 without any ostensible cause, or it is fatal on one slope (south) of a 

 hill, while the opposite escapes ; or again, it prevails on the richest 

 table-lands." Lambs, and sheep under eighteen months old, are equally 

 its victims, and every variety of breed, both native and imported, 

 succumbs to it. May and June are the months when it is most preva- 

 lent, but it also occurs to a less extent in September. 



Cause. Although much has been done by veterinarians and flock - 

 masters to trace out the origin of the disease, nothing approaching to 



