MORTALITY AMONG THE EWES OF A FLOCK OF SHEEP. 669 
merely to treat but to cure the majority of cases committed to their 
charge — are obliged, in order to do their duty to their employers 
as well as to themselves, to have recourse to energetic treatment, 
to active remedies, to the productions of botany and chemistry in 
all their improved forms and valuable combinations. But riim- 
porte , at any rate, we poor every-day members of the body corpo- 
rate have the satisfaction of having this one advantage over the 
erudite correspondent of The Veterinarian, that, whereas the 
spirit of the Charter still exists, the spirits of his unfortunate pa- 
tients appear all to have departed. 
MORTALITY AMONG EWES; ATTRIBUTED TO 
POISONOUS PASTURAGE. 
By J. K. Lord, M.R.C.V.S . , Tavistock. 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian 
Sir, — As a disease somewhat novel in its character, and interest- 
ing in its details, has for some time held fatal sway amid the ewes 
of a large flock of sheep in this district, I shall feel obliged by your 
giving the few remarks I have to make on it a stray leaf in your 
Journal ; and I shall also take it as an especial favour if some of 
my confreres will, after perusal, give their opinions on it. In 
order to make the narrative the more comprehensible, I will simply 
relate the facts as they occurred, from the period my attention was 
first directed to the sheep up to the present time ; leaving any 
little plunges I may venture to make into the depths of theory to 
come in at the end of my account. 
On a large barton (I think about 500 acres) in the occupation 
of Mr. J. Fair weather, situated in the fertile valley of the Tavey, 
about six miles from Tavistock, is kept a large flock of sheep, 
choice and well bred. It is deemed an excellent sheep farm, and 
for some years no sheep could be healthier than were his flock. 
About eighteen months ago, however, some ewes were now and 
then found dead. This was attributed to some of the many mala- 
dies sheep-flesh is “ heir to,” and thought no more about. Still, 
it did not cease ; another and another died, from time to time, until 
it at length becoming a question of serious consequence, my atten- 
tion was called to them. 1 made, as opportunities occurred, minute 
VOL. XXIII. 4 u 
