576 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
This disease, which consists of pretty copious purging, 
will be alleviated by the following prescription :— 
Laudanum . . .20 drops, 
Ground ginger . . ^ drachm; 
made into a small ball with lintseed-meal and treacle, and 
forced down the animal’s throat. 
CHAPTER IV. 
DISEASES OF THE EXTERNAL PARTS, ETC. 
SCAB, OR ITCH. 
Symptoms. —This troublesome, infectious, and destructive 
malady is analogous to the itch in the human being, and 
the mange in horses and dogs. As soon as a sheep has 
caught the complaint, it rubs itself against every object 
which it meets. It will even tear off its wool with its teeth. 
The skin emits a peculiarly sickly smell, and presents a red, 
fretted appearance, which in a short time hardens into 
scabs all over the body. This disease is highly contagious, 
so that when one is discovered to be affected, the whole flock 
should be carefully examined, and those in which the slight¬ 
est indications are manifested should be separated from the 
rest, otherwise the entire flock will catch the complaint. 
But even here the assiduity of the shepherd must not ter¬ 
minate, as it will be necessary to go carefully over the flock 
for three or four days successively, as some of them maj 
have caught the malady, although it has not become appa¬ 
rent at first. 
