72 THE farmer's guide. 



a day. Give half the quantity the following day if 

 necessary. 



STURDY, OR WATER IN THE HEAD. 



Cause. — That this disease is occasioned solely by a 

 chilliness in the hack, appears from the following facts : 

 1st, it is always most general after windy and stormy 

 weather ; 2d, it is most destructive on farms that are ill- 

 sheltered, and on which sheep are most exposed to se- 

 vere storms ; 3d, it preys only on sheep about 1 year old, 

 whose wool separates above, leaving the back exposed 

 to the wet and cold. 



Spnptoms. — As this is a disease of the brain, it mani- 

 fests itself by giddiness, staggering, dulness, wildness, 

 loss of flesh, sudden starting, and, finally, a faintness, at- 

 tended with blindness, prostration, and death. 



Remedy. — If the attack is shght, it may be removed 

 by placing the sheep in a dry pasture, after purging 

 freely ; but if the disease is violent, trepanning is usually 

 resorted to. It has been cured by boring into the soft 

 part of the skull, with a small gimlet, and letting the 

 water escape. Close the wound, and apply some ad- 

 hesive plaster. Another: the following is the most diffi- 

 cult, but at the same time the most sure method of giv- 

 ing relief, if skilfully performed : the disease is seated 

 exactly in that part where the divisions of the skull meet, 

 and consequently in a right line with the top of the nose ; 

 put a sharpened wire up the nostiil quite throu2:h the 

 middle of the brain, and by that means perforating the 

 bag which contains the fluid causing the disease. The 

 operation must be performed with a stiff steel wire, of 

 the size of a coarse knitting-needle. The operator 

 must plaoe his thumb on the soft part of the skull, and 

 insert the wire up the nostril, in the direction of -the 

 thumb, until he feels the end of the wire, when it is to be 

 immediately withdrawn, and the animal let go free. The 

 operation must be done carefully and quickly, and if the 

 right direction is given to the wire, relief is instantane- 

 ous. Keep the sheep in a dry pasture, giving daily one 

 gill of corn or one pitit of oats for a few days, and it wiH 

 soon regain its wonted health. 



