DISEASES OF SHEEP. 337 



cases the sheep recover without any special treatment beyond a 

 warm linseed mash given a few times. In severe cases the sheep 

 loses appetite, the mouth is hot and dry, the head is hot, and the 

 muzzle is dry and turned up at the corners, as. is seen especially 

 in sheep when seriously diseased and suffering. The cough soon 

 becomes hard, dry, and like barking of a dog. The sick animal 

 hangs its head and seems to be drowsy, or lies with the head on 

 its flank, as if asleep. 



The treatment should be to give five drops of tincture of 

 aconite for a full grown sheep, half as much to a yearling, three 

 times in a day. The sheep should be kept in a shaded, clean, airy 

 building, and given warm linseed gruel, or sloppy bran mashes. 

 Four drams of sweet spirits of niter have been found useful, given 

 every three or four hours. When a white discharge from the nose 

 occurs, and the heat of the body subsides, the tonic mixture 

 should be given twice daily, until the appetite returns; when 

 soft mashes and the best clover hay with a few sliced roots will 

 be advisable for the food. Overfeeding is to be avoided, and mod- 

 erate quantities only of the best kinds are to be fed. The drink 

 may be thin gruel with a little salt added. 



CARBUNCULAR ERYSIPELAS. 



This disease much resembles anthrax, and frequently goes by 

 one of its common names as black leg, or black quarter. It dif- 

 fers, however, in some important points, especially in its conta- 

 gious character and its communicability to mankind. It, as also 

 does that form of anthrax already described, attacks the finest 

 lambs in the flock, and these die suddenly without notice of the 

 shepherd. A few hours is the common time in which death hap- 

 pens, but some patients linger for two days. The first symptom is 

 lameness in one leg, fore or hind. If the animal is examined 

 the limb on this quarter will be found swollen, and red, and in- 

 flamed. On pressure of the flesh the crackling sound of the gas 

 escaping from the already putrid flesh, and gathered in the tis- 

 sues, is heard. Indeed the same appearances seen in anthrax are 

 conspicuous in this disease, the only difference being in the deadly 

 contagiousness of this disease, which is often communicated to 

 those persons who may handle the carcass of a dead sheep, or the 

 wool stripped from the body of one. This is the deadly disease 

 known as the wool-sorters' disease, which infects those persons 

 who handle the wool stripped from infected carcasses. 



The first symptom noticed is the shivering of the sick sheep. 

 The blood in this form is charged with uncountable numbers 

 of deadly germs, to which the malignantly contagious nature of 

 the disease is due, and is in much the same condition as in an- 

 thrax; thick, tarry, and black. Blackened tumors appear on the 

 bare parts of the body and the belly is distended with diffused 

 serum, which surrounds the intestines, and in places escapes 

 through the skin as a yellow liquid. Breathing is heavy and 

 labored, and a fetid discharge escapes from the nose. 



Treatment is unavailing. The sick animals will be worthless 



