554 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 
probably to a manure manufacturer for tbe sake of tbe salvage. I 
say a manure manufacturer, because I bave to make mention of anotber 
fact, wbicb I tbink will assist in accounting for tins outbreak. It is 
tbis : tbe sbcep belonging to Mr. Parry, of Allington, near Devizes, 
wbicb were tbe first attacked in tbe comity, were during tbe montbs 
of April and May fed in a field on tbe side of tbe canal connecting 
tbe Avon witb tbe Kennet ; and tbey were tbere for very many 
weeks. Within a mile from tbis identical field, is a very large 
manure manufactory. To tbat manufactory bones and all sorts of 
animal refuse, collected by individuals from Wiltshire, Berkshire, 
and the adjoining counties, after being accumulated at Devizes, 
are sent up by boats. Now, I was consulted with reference to the 
appearance of tbe disease in Mr. Parry's flock in July, 1862 ; and 
seeing the state of things which then existed, I was enabled, from my 
practical knowledge of the affection, to say at once that tbe disease 
had been existing in the flock for many weeks ; and on tracing it 
back case by case, I arrived at the conclusion, which I stated to Mr. 
Parry, that his first sheep became affected with the disease about the 
first week of May. In endeavouring to throw light upon the out- 
break, I visited the manure manufactory, and was allowed by the 
proprietor to go all over it ; and in a shed where the materials to 
which I have referred were stored, I saw not merely the bones of 
sheep and other animals, but, very much indeed to my surprise, 
heads, legs, and portions of the bodies of sheep with the skin on, 
evidently showing tbat sheep, from whatever cause they might have 
died, had been cut up, skin and all, and sent here for the making 
of manure. I do not mean to say that any examination of these 
refuse materials showed that the skin was in a diseased condition ; 
but in that manufactory I distinctly found the refuse matter of 
sheep cut up in the way I have described. I also ascertained front 
the books of tbe factory that a boat-load of refuse animal matter was 
received from Devizes on April 2'Jth. I believe, then, that some 
sheep affected with small-pox were cut up in the manner I have 
stated ; tbat the materials went along the canal in boats ; and that 
Mr. Parry's sheep, being on the banks of the canal at the time, were 
infected by the special morbific matter which spread from tbe muti- 
lated carcasses of these small-pox sheep. It is singularly confirmatory 
of this theory that a bridge crosses the canal close by, so that when 
boats meet tbere one must wait for another to pass before it can 
proceed further : and it is not improbable that from some such 
cause there may have been a delay in the passage of the boats at 
that identical spot. Of course this is all presumptive evidence ; 
but if we couple all the facts and presumptions together, I think 
we may arrive at a tolerably fair conclusion with regard to the cause 
of the outbreak of the disease in Wiltshire. 
Diagnosis of the Affection. 
In tbe next place, I come to speak of tbe nature of the disease, and 
to describe the symptoms by which we recognise it in its several 
successive stages. First, as to the period of incubation. Judging 
