330 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



by prejudicial effects, and proves salutary to the diseased 

 animals. 



Second. That the congregating of sheep after dipping, 

 where food is not allowed them, is unattended with danger; 

 and I can distinctly testify to the absence of all risk from 

 sheep licking each other. 



Third. That all sheep having remained damp from 

 twenty-four to thirty-six hours after being dipped, cuta- 

 neous absorption of arsenical solution might have been 

 going on rapidly during the prolonged period in which the 

 sheep continued wet ; but no unfavorable symptoms ensued, 

 — indeed the reverse. 



Fourth. The absence of the slightest change in health, 

 or of the manifestation of symptoms which usually ensue 

 on the administration of arsenic to the lower animals, even 

 in medicinal doses by the mouth, leads us to infer that if a 

 minute quantity of arsenic, in solution, can penetrate the 

 system of a sheep by absorption by the skin, it is quite 

 insufficient to develop the physiological action of the 

 compound. 



Fifth. A solution of arsenic is not more readily ab- 

 sorbed from limited abraded surfaces than from the healthy 

 skin, owing probably to the arsenic acting as an astringent 

 on the sores, and rendering the latter as impenetrable, 

 probably, as the uninjured skin. This remark does not 

 apply to large wounds. 



Sixth. It appears impossible to poison sheep by bathing 

 them in arsenical solutions, provided the liquor is not 

 introduced directly or indirectly into the stomach by the 

 mouth. By the direct means of introduction of the con- 

 stituents of a " dripping mixture " in the stomach of a 

 sheep, is meant making the sheep swallow the liquid whilst 

 being bathed; and by the indirect means is implied the 



