110 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



ledge, been tried in sheep, and is not without considerable 

 danger. 



After the gases have escaped, rumination generally re- 

 turns immediately, and with it the appetite. A scanty and 

 sparing diet at first, and salt-licks, with the addition of 

 bitter remedies, such as wormwood, calamus, etc., or tar, oil 

 of turpentine, etc., complete the cure. # 



PALSY OF LAMBS. ■ 



Lambs become palsied almost exclusively during the 

 first few weeks of their lives ; most frequently during the 

 first and second, and rarely after four or six weeks. 



The more noble races suffer especially from this complaint, 

 which rarely affects the common races. It generally ap- 

 pears as a plague, and sometimes fifty or eighty per cent, 

 of the flock fall a prey to it. The symptoms are not 

 always the same. The first striking symptom is generally 

 a stiffness of one or more legs ; the lamb walks stiffly and 

 with difficulty, stands with bent back and the feet drawn 

 together under the belly. It bends its knees in walking 

 and slides on them. From the parts first affected the stiff- 

 ness spreads over nearly all the others, especially to the 

 neck, as in cramp. During this time, and a little before 

 the stiffness appears, the animal is more or less sick, listless 

 and sad, is unwilling to change its position, allows its head 

 and ears to droop, etc. Complete constipation follows or a 

 little hard excrement passes with difficulty, and alternates 

 sometimes with diarrhcea. The patient then becomes very 

 lean and the belly is exceedingly thin and tucked up. 



During the progress of the disease the stifiTness and de- 

 bility constantly increase, and prevent the lamb from 



