l’ALSY IN SHEEP. 
125 
taken, and there will be weakness of the limbs generally, and 
especially of the hind limbs, and an approach, at least, to palsy. 
Possibly this may be somewhat connected with the state almost 
of abandonment in which they were left when newly dropped. 
There remained a certain debility, or possibly predisposition, to 
palsy. Mr. Garland says that, when other lambs of the flock 
to which he referred became two months old, they were attacked 
by a similar affection. The treatment will be simple. If the 
weather or the locality demands it, the animal should be placed 
in a more comfortable situation ; a purgative consisting of Epsom 
salts with ginger should be administered; and then a dose or two 
of the “cordial” will usually set all right. 
Caution. — The palsied ewe at yeaning, or the palsied lamb at 
weaning-time, should undergo no protracted course of treatment, 
especially if they are in tolerable condition. The result of the 
treatment is not always certain ; there may be considerable de- 
terioration of value, or, after all, the patient may be lost. There- 
fore, if immediate success does not attend your remedial measures, 
honesty to your employers will suggest the hint that the animal 
may with most advantage to the owner be. sent at once to its 
destined place. 
Thwarter-ill or Shaking. — There used to be a singular cerebral 
or spinal affection among one or two-shear sheep, which fortu- 
nately has, in a manner, disappeared in our country. It was 
called, I know not why, thwarter-ill . In some districts it was 
more appropriately named trembling or shaking. There was a 
peculiar uncertainty in the gait and walk of the animal, every 
limb seeming to give way ; and this gradually degenerated into 
shaking palsy. The patient at length fell, and could with diffi- 
culty rise again. 
The Leaping-ill. — From the apparent eccentricity of motion in 
some cases.it was called the leaping-ill. The sheep would neglect 
their food, stand still, stare stupidly around them, and then all 
at once leap up as if to clear some hedge or ditch. The neck 
would often become stiffened, and turned on one side. The 
animal would become weaker and weaker. The use of its limbs, 
and particularly of its hind limbs, would gradually be lost, and, 
at length, it would fall to rise no more; yet even as it lay it would 
occasionally abandon itself to the most singular contortions. 
Then would come some moments of remission, and the poor 
animal would set to work and eat every thing within its reach; 
and many a day, and occasionally some weeks, would pass (if the 
owner was brute enough to let them), the palsy becoming more 
confirmed, the animal wasting every day, but the appetite re- 
maining unimpaired. 
