376 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



curred, instituted a series of experiments to prove whe- 

 ther arsenical baths were dangerous, and if sheep could 

 be poisoned by immersion therein. The following is the 

 result of their experience. (Edinburgh Veterinary Re- 

 view for April, 1859.) 



First. That the immersion of sheep whether sound, or 

 si:ffering from scab, with extensive eruptions or ^'foot- 

 rot,'' with free exposure of the vascular structure of the 

 feet, in arsenical solutions, varying in strength, is unat- 

 tended by prejudicial effects, and proves salutary to the 

 diseased animals. 



Secondly. That the congregating of sheep after dip- 

 ping, where food is not allowed them, is unattended with 

 danger; and I can distinctly testify to the absence of all 

 risk from* sheep licking each other. 



Thirdly. That all sheep having remained damp from 

 twenty-four to thirty-six hours after being dipped, cuta- 

 neous absorption of arsenical solution might have been 

 going on rapidly during the prolonged period that the 

 sheep continued wet, but no unfavorable symptoms en- 

 sued, — indeed the reverse. 



Fourthly. The absence of the slightest change in 

 health, or of the manifestation of symptoms which usual- 

 ly ensue on the administration of arsenic to the lower 

 animals, even in medicinal doses by the mouth, leads us 

 to infer that if a minute quantity of arsenic, in solution, 

 can penetrate the system of a sheep by absorption by the 

 skin, it is quite insufficient to develop the physiological 

 action of the compound. 



Fifthly. A solution of arsenic is not more readily ab- 

 sorbed from limited abraded surfaces than from the 

 healthy skin, owing probably to the arsenic acting as an 

 astringent on the sores, and rendering the latter as im- 



