Diseases of Sheep. 



339 



skinning the legs yon may disunite tliem from the shoukler-joint, 

 there will then be room for the introduction of the hand, and by 

 laying hold of the head you can deliver the ewe. A single season 

 of practice will do more than volumes of writing to prepare the 

 farmer for the preceding and some other cases of difficult labour. 

 But let him bear in mind that as a general rule that the foetus 

 should, if possible, be placed in its natural position previously to 

 any attempt to extricate it by force. When force must be used, it 

 should be as gently as is consistent with the object of delivery. I 

 need scarcely observe that the ewe must be the object of careful 

 nursing and care, until she is completely restored. This will occur 

 very rapidly unless the womb has protruded in consequence of the 

 severity that has been used. In this case it must be replaced 

 without delay, or violent and fatal inflammation will arise from 

 its exposure. When replaced it should be retained in its position 

 by a couple of stitches passed through the lips of the extreme 

 parts. The ewe should be removed to a warm yard for a few 

 days, and fed on gruel twice a-day. Even when the uterus is 

 not displaced, it often occurs that violent inflammation shows 

 itself. Bleeding copiously, if the strength of the animal will 

 admit of it, and opening medicines, are the only remedies on 

 which reliance can be placed. This, and all other similar com- 

 plaintSj are most usual with ewes that have been too well fed 

 during gestation. 



The mode of replacing the uterus when it has fallen in partu- 

 rition, or otherwise, is to lay the ewe on her back, and, while two 

 persons raise the hind quarters by the legs a little distended, the 

 operator, with his hands well greased, will gradually replace the 

 uterus in its natural position, and, before the animal is allowed to 

 rise, two stitches must be introduced by the aid of a curved glover's 

 needle and a very thin strip of white leather across the bearing 

 as to prevent a second protrusion. Leather is the most convenient 

 ligature,* and, when the operation is performed, thirty drops of 

 laudanum may be usefully given to allay spasmodic action. 



I have passed over the subject of inflammation of the ivomh 

 rather lightly, partly because its treatment does not essentially 

 differ from other inflammatory and local affections, and partly 

 because when it does occur it is generally an incident to parturi- 



* Small sticks of leather remain much longer without sloughing out than 

 with any kind of "silk or twine ; but the best material for these and similar 

 operations, is a metallic suture, formed of a kind of Biitannia-metal, with a 

 little more than the usual quantity of lead in it. It can be procured at any 

 pewterer s, and will be retained even twice or thrice as long as the leather. 



— W. You ATT. 



I think the metallic suture far preferable to slips of leather, as the latter 

 frequently sloughs olF, or unties in a few days. — The Author. 



