CHAPTER IV. 

 Diseases of the External Parts, etc. 



SCAB, OR ITCH. 



Symptoms. — This troublesome, infectious, and de- 

 structive malady is analogous to the itch in the human 

 being, and the mange in horses and dogs, being due 

 to the presence of parasitic acari lodging on, feeding 

 from, and breeding in the skin of the affected sheep. 

 As soon as a sheep has caught the complaint, it rubs 

 itself against every object which it meets. It will 

 even tear off its wool with its teeth. The skin emits 

 a peculiarly sickly smell, and presents a red, fretted 

 appearance, which in a short time hardens into scabs 

 all over the body. This disease is highly contagious, 

 so that when one is discovered to be affected, the 

 whole flock should be carefully examined, and those in 

 which the slightest indications are manifested should 

 be separated from the rest, otherwise the entire flock 

 will catch the complaint. But even here the assiduity 

 of the shepherd must not terminate, as it will be 

 necessary to go carefully over the flock for three or 

 four days successively, as some of them may have 

 caught the malady, although it has not become ap- 

 parent at first. 



Remedies. — A variety of means have been adopted 

 for the cure of this disease, and it has been remarked 

 that sheep which have been smeared seldom are 



