809 
No. I75.J 
a limited space to glean the few mouthsful of sustenance within^its 
reach, and having gnawed this to the very roots, unable to stretch itself 
farther, the miserable object dies from starvation, 
Much more commonly, however, its life is terminated in a different, 
but not less pitiable mode. The fetor of the sores upon its^feet attract 
to them numbers of flies. These deposit their eggs in the sores. From 
these fly-blows, maggots are hatched which throng the sores as thick as 
they can be crowded. Moreover when the sheep lies down for repose, 
its feet are naturally placed under it, in contact with its body and al¬ 
ways touching the same spot. The wool growing upon this spot be¬ 
comes hereby impregnated with the matter which issues from the dis¬ 
eased foot; and after a time a portion of the maggots forsake the foot 
and make a lodgment upon this spot, nestling in contact with the skin 
and sheltered and concealed amid the wool. Their abode here at length 
becomes obvious by a spot, it may be the size of a man’s hand, appear¬ 
ing externally as if the fleece was there wet or saturated with grease, 
and on examination it is found that the wool here is loosened from the 
skin and is pervaded by myriads of maggots. This spot rapidly in¬ 
creases in size, and the maggots at length become so excessively mul¬ 
tiplied that numbers scatter themselves abroad, crawling through all 
parts of the fleece, producing a degree of irritation and torment that 
soon puts a period to the life of the animal. 
168. Its treatment .—It is surprising that farmers, and even good far¬ 
mers, that are humane and choice of their flocks, can tolerate a disease 
that is liable to produce such results, when by suitable care it is well 
known it can be perfectly eradicated. W as every flock owner to do 
what duty and humanity calls for in this raatteT, this disease would soon 
become extinct in our country. 
A number of receipts for the cure of this disease have been given in 
agricultural publications, most of them there is little doubt depending 
for their efficacy upon a single ingredient, which enters largely into 
their composition. This ingredient is blue vitriol (sulphate of copper,) 
and there seems to be no good reason for combining this with a half 
dozen other substances and making a complicated recipe, the virtue of 
which depends after all upon this one article. Other caustics are per¬ 
haps as good as this ; but this having been amply tested and its efficacy 
clearly ascertained, there is no occasion for searching further, or trying 
to find out with how many other articles this can be combined and still 
retain its power. Every intelligent physician endeavors to make his 
prescriptions as simple as possible, and when he has one article that he 
knows will answer his design effectually, be avoids lumbering that arti- 
