THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. IX, No. 99.] MARCH 1836. [New .Series, No. 39. 
ANIMAL PATHOLOGY. 
By Mr. You att. 
LECTURE III. 
Palsy in Sheep, Swine , Dogs , and Bees. 
Sheep. 
PALSY is not of so frequent occurrence in sheep as in oxen ; 
for in their general management they are more exposed to the 
vicissitudes of the seasons, and hardened against the influence of 
sudden atmospheric changes. Nature has also given to them, 
for their own benefit and for ours, a thick coat of wool, which, 
under ordinary circumstances, may bid defiance both to cold and 
wet : yet there are times when they seriously and fatally experi- 
ence the benumbing power of the former. 
The ewe at yeaning time, enfeebled by the process of parturi- 
tion, more than usually susceptible of impression from exter- 
nal agents, and less able to struggle against those which are 
injurious, is carelessly left in a bleak and exposed situation : at 
night comes “ a frost, a killing frost,” and, as the shepherd with 
true pathology calls it, “ she is chilled, chilled to the very mar- 
row.” 
The lamb , just dropped, is perhaps naturally weakly, or, if 
strong, yet suddenly changes the temperature of the mother’s 
womb for one perhaps below the freezing point, and lies for 
hours on a bed of snow. True — nature has kindly given to 
these little ones, and to young animals of every class, a power 
of resistance against the cold — a degree of insusceptibility to its 
benumbing influence — but the vital power must necessarily sink 
under an attack like this. The farmer carelessly examines his 
flock at night, but thinks not of the bitter biting blast to which 
they will be exposed ; and in the morning he finds many of them 
dead, and more deprived of all power of motion. 
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