792 
AN OCCASIONAL CAUSE OF DEATH IN SHEEP. 
Hy Mr. J. P. Cheetiiam. 
[This communication, from our deceased friend Mr. Cheetham, 
has been mislaid. It was one of the last letters that we re- 
ceived from him. — Y.] 
Being aware that you value information similar to the follow- 
ing, 1 accordingly trouble you with it. — J. P. C. 
“ Sydney Gazette, Tuesday. 
“ In consequence of the ruinous effects of a very prevalent 
complaint among sheep, his Excellency has appointed commis- 
sioners to investigate thoroughly the nature of the disease, with 
a view to its cure and prevention in future. We have lately 
had a conversation with an extensive sheep-holder on the sub- 
ject, and as it is one of a most important nature, I will endea- 
vour to give, for the benefit of the community, the substance of 
his experience — at least, in some diseases which were until then 
unknown, and whose immediate causes are still little under- 
stood. 
“ The first, then, to which we beg to call the attention of your 
readers, is the water to which the sheep have general access. The 
water-holes are usually surrounded with trees, which, during a 
continued drought, shed their leaves into the water. Now, while 
any large body of water remains in the holes, the effects arising 
from the infusion will not be perceptible on the animal ; but 
when, during the excessive heats of summer, the quantity be- 
comes reduced, its powerful astringent effects will be discovered 
in the disease and consequent death of many of the flock. This 
latter circumstance more frequently occurs than in cases of scab 
or rot ; because, in the latter, the nature of the complaint is 
known immediately, and proper remedies can be applied in the 
first stage of the disorder ; whereas, in the former, it is unknown 
until after the death (and then only discoverable by a thorough 
anatomical process), while a remedy or cure is entirely out of the 
question. 
“ The only chance which suggests itself to save a flock thus 
attacked is instant removal to a situation where water may be 
obtained without containing that strong principle of tannin which 
all our trees possess in a greater or less degree. 
“ There is another disease, not unlike the above, to which 
sheep are liable, arising from a somewhat similar cause, and to 
