590 
HAMONT AND FISCHER ON THE 
The cause of an evil being known, it is generally easy to pre¬ 
vent it. We will not repeat that which has been prescribed by 
former veterinary surgeons. In France every man enjoys the 
fruit of his labour; societies of learned men distribute prizes and 
other encouragements to well-informed and industrious culti¬ 
vators; and every day they encroach on the domain which had 
been enslaved by prejudice and old routine. The more indus¬ 
trious a man becomes, the more he gains in consideration and 
fortune: he becomes interested in the health and improvement 
of his flock, which are his patrimony, his riches. A disease 
breaks out among them; he consults those who are skilled in 
these matters, and his interest prompts him to follow punctually 
their advice. It is not so in Egypt. The rot appears on the banks 
of the Nile, and the inhabitants are indifferent to the progress 
of the pest; they know well the cause of it, but they attempt 
not to combat it. Their sheep and their wool belong not to 
them. Why should they occupy themselves with the ameliora¬ 
tion of their flock, or endeavour to preserve them in health ? 
The Bedouins alone care about their cattle and sheep. A 
great many of them inhabit the borders of the country near the 
desert. When the Nile returns to its bed, their sheep also go to 
feed on the dyssa of which I have spoken. The disease is not 
slow in attacking these useful animals. The first symptoms of 
it appear. The vigilant Bedouins lose not a moment: they re¬ 
assemble their flocks, and drive them back to the desert. In 
the midst of the sands their principal food is the salt-wort, or 
kali. After some days, the symptoms of the rot gradually dis¬ 
appear, and the sheep regain their former health. Such is the 
preservative, curative treatment of the Bedouin shepherds; and 
they know not any other. If the disease is more advanced, this 
simple mode of treatment, probably, is not sufficient. The Be¬ 
douins themselves acknowledge it, and immediately destroy the 
animal. 
Chabert recommends juniper berries, aromatic decoctions, 
sulphate of iron, sal-ammoniac, camphor, and brandy. These 
means are good, but only at the very commencement of the dis¬ 
ease ; and many a time we have prescribed the administration 
of these substances without the slightest beneficial effect, and 
especially when the sheep had long been ill. 
Let us consult M. d’Arboval, page 666. t€ We do not think 
that every disease should be combatted by the abstraction of 
blood ; and, in this case, the most notable exception we have 
to make to the system of bleeding, is one of the varieties of 
gastro-enteritis, susceptible of so little intensity of inflammation, 
that it has even escaped all observers/’ except M. Hurtrel d’Ar- 
