1 86 Veterinary Medicine. 



back into the bath. Two men dip a sheep in the bath back 

 downward, and hold by fore and hind limbs and neck. The 

 greatest care is taken to prevent the head getting under the sur- 

 face, as a single swallow of the liquid would prove fatal. For 

 three minutes the compound is worked into the wool and skin 

 until all parts are thoroughly saturated. This is favored by the 

 maintenance of a temperature of 80° F or over. The sheep is 

 then laid on the inclined plane, and the wool wrung to force out 

 the greater part of the liquid which flows back into the bath. It 

 is left on the sloping wooden platform to further drip, and is 

 finally turned into a bare yard, without a trace of grass or other 

 food on the ground, to dry. If turned on grass the drippings on 

 the blades render them poisonous. Even after the sheep have 

 dried off, a sudden shower will wash off enough arsenic upon the 

 grass to poison animals eating it, so that for some days, the sheep 

 must be promptly folded in case of rain. Another danger is that, 

 in a dearth of water especially, the sheep may suck the liquid 

 from each others fleeces and so poison themselves. Any of the 

 material left over in the bath proves an additional source of 

 danger. Sheep and other domestic animals have been known to 

 drink this with fatal effect. But it is difficult to safely dispose of 

 it. Poured out on the ground it may be licked for the saline 

 taste ; run into streams it poisons them ; poured into a pit it may 

 leach into nearby wells or watercourses. A pit dug at a long 

 distance from either is about the only safe place to put it. 



There has been much apprehension of the absorption of arsenic 

 through the skin, and on the continent of Europe iron salts are 

 added to lessen the danger. Stephenson Macadam, however, 

 long ago demon.strated on sheep and his own person that there is 

 practically no danger from absorption of arsenic through the skin. 

 For 24 hours after a prolonged immersion there was not a trace of 

 arsenic found in the urine. lyater experiments at Melun have 

 thoroughly endorsed this position. The arsenical baths are very 

 effective and when used with extreme precaution they can be 

 made perfectly safe. Yet when used generally in such enormous 

 quantities it follows of necessity that in many cases the necessary 

 vigilance is relaxed, and heavy losses ensue. In 1858 on one 

 farm in Northumberland 850 sheep, 5 horses, i ox, and a number 

 of fowls were poisoned by an arsenical bath. The sheep alone 



