CHAPTER XX. 



]y[cdicinat Creatment in 6eTiei*al. 



Hgcnts Clsed, Chcir "Cbcrapcutic Hctiona and Doses. 



The medicinal treatment of sheep, when applied to a whole 

 flock, differs to a certain extent from that used in the treatmeufc 

 of the individual members of a flock, in that when a disease 

 breaks out in a herd, requiring that all the members or a large 

 number of them be subjected to the actions of remedial agents, 

 we find it impracticable to use drug-, which, however much they 

 may be indicated, possess a nauseous taste, or properties prevent- 

 ing them from being exhibited in the food. To overcome this 

 difficulty the practitioner or flock-owner has to chiefly rely on 

 hygiene, combined with the presence of simple tonic agents ad- 

 ministered in the food or drinking water, several such prescrip- 

 tions l)eing inserted for their guidance in the part of this work 

 describing disease. However, in the treatment of small num- 

 l)ers, where each animal can be caught separately and the agents 

 administered, by far the most satisfactory results will be obtain- 

 ed, as the animal then will receive just the required amount of 

 the drug or drugs to obtain the desired systemic effect. Medi- 

 cines which when taken in quantity (as would have to be the case 

 in wholesale prescribing) are violent poisons, become invaluable 

 aids to restore normal healthy conditions when given in 

 correct doses. So in prescribing for large numbers of animals, 

 where we have to rely on what each individual member will con- 

 sume along with its food and water, we are at once placed at a 

 disadvantage, as the only medicines suitable for such prescrip- 



