274 SPECIFIC DISEASES. 



discharge of the sores on becoming dried and powdered up is 

 carried by the wind and distributed over large areas, the virus of 

 this disease appearing many times more volatile than that of the 

 majority of the contagious affections to which the sheep are 

 liable. 



Symptoms, 



The first apparent symptom is the presence of nodules which 

 seem to be deeply imbedded in the skin. These are reddish in 

 color and are more particularly noticeable on those parts not 

 thickly covered with fleece, as the inside of the thighs and arm- 

 pits, the prepuce of the ram, lips of the vagina in the ewe, and 

 the imder surface of the tail. The papillae enlarge and coalesce, 

 and the animal is feverish from the first commencement of the 

 attack. The red elevations enlarge in size, rising cansiderably 

 higher than the surrounding skin; liquid forms under them; 

 their centers become transparent and finally turbid; the liquid 

 in the vesicles dries up, forming scabs which are desqiiamated, 

 the under-lying part 'healing and gradually assuming its normal 

 condition. 



In the malignant form it frequently does not produce typi- 

 cal vesicles, but destroys the sheep from blood-poisoning. In 

 this case the skin cracks in fissures, the nostrils become filled with 

 foetid pus, and the animal soon succumbs to the disease. 



Creatment. 



Consists in separating the healthy sheep from the sick and 

 establishing a rigid quarantine. Keep sick animals in as cleanly 

 condition as possible; the nostrils should be frequently syringed 

 out to prevent the accumulation of pus, which would be liable to 

 cause suffocation. Give the sheep good shelter and keep them 

 warm, and should they desire to eat, feed nourishing, easily- 

 digestible foods. Medicines do not effect much benefit, the 



