522 MR. youatt’s veterinary lectures. 
accumulation of fluids in the ventricles of the brain ; and others 
have traced it to violent blows on the head, either inflicted by 
the brutality of the shepherds, or in the playful or serious con¬ 
tests of the animals with each other. Among modern writers, 
Mr. Price considers it to arise from local weakness of the mem¬ 
branes of the brain, and thus from the constant inclination of the 
head when feeding, distention of the membranes is the conse¬ 
quence : Mr. Hogg, forgetting the anatomy of the brain and 
spinal chord, believes that it is an excess of fluid injected into 
the brain from the central canal of the spinal column ; and 
another writer, adopting a similar opinion, has affirmed that it 
results from the lambs not being docked at a sufficiently early 
period, for “ sometimes the ewe, in the ardour of her maternal 
affection, chews away the tail from her newly-fallen lamb, and 
none of these are afterwards affected by the sturdy; whereas 
where lambs have been docked late, a quantity of water has 
been found lodged at the root of the tail, which may sometimes 
increase, and proceed along the spinal marrow, until it makes its 
final lodgment in the brain.” Unfortunately for these gentle¬ 
men, there is no communication between the centre of the spinal 
chord and the brain. 
Not hereditary .—Is there no cure for it? Mr. Parkinson 
thinks he has discovered one, but I much doubt whether you 
would practise it. He prefaces his account by a remark that is 
both consolatory and true. “ I have cured a great number of 
sheep, some of which have afterwards bred many lambs, and I 
never knew an instance of the offspring being so affected. I do 
not believe that it is an hereditary disease. It depends upon the 
season and state of the sheep at the time; and, the strength of 
the constitution being restored, there is no reason to fear that the 
malady will be communicated to the offspring.'’ 
Care by Rapture of the. Cyst .—Mr. Parkinson tells us, that 
his father’s remedy was to cut off the ears, rather by way of 
bleeding than with any other intention ; and a sheep now and 
then, perhaps one in twenty, was thus cured. “ It happened one 
day,” says he, 16 when I was with my father’s shepherd, I ob¬ 
served one of the half-year-olds, although not entirely leaving the 
flock, yet having the appearance of being affected with the dis¬ 
order. The shepherd was an extraordinary good runner; but 
this sheep gave him a severe chase, and he was some time in 
catching it, which put him in a passion ; and happening to take 
it by the ears, he twirled it round several times before I got to 
him. I then cut off its ears, as near to the head as I could with 
safety; it being our usual practice to cut them off’ pretty close; 
but by swinging it round the shepherd had probably pulled the 
