INFLAMMATION OF THE UTERUS IN SHEEP. 507 
previous to my being consulted. In them I found abscesses had 
formed in the udder. These I opened ; gave the aperient as 
before mentioned; had them sheltered from the sun, and ordered 
all the lambs of the flock to be weaned. The ewes had some 
salt given to them, and are doing well. 
The only cause for this that 1 can assign is, the change pro¬ 
duced in the system from exposure to cold after shearing, the 
weather being rather stormy about that period. The udder, 
being the organ under increased vascular action, was most sus¬ 
ceptible of disease from any cause that would disturb the balance 
of the circulation. 
In the lambs I treated for bronchitis the symptoms were, loss 
of appetite, tenderness on pressure to the throat and abdomen, 
wheezing cough, &c.: I gave sulph. magnes. 3iv, pulv. zin- 
gib. gr. XV, bol. armen. q. s., to be administered once a day 
until the bowels were relaxed ; and applied a strong liniment to 
the throat. They recovered, and are doing well. 
ON INFLAMMATION OF THE UTERUS IN SHEEP. 
Bi/ Mr. John Clarke, London. 
Interesting myself as I do in your valuable journal, and 
in the forthcoming work of one of you on sheep, I venture to give 
you a short notice of two or three diseases which affect a flock 
of south-downs in the north-west corner of Essex, and I believe 
I may add a considerable district where many sheep are kept, 
extending towards Royston and Cambridge. 
The first I shall mention is a disease by which a quantity of 
water gradually accumulates in the uterus, usually beginning 
about a month before lambing. Sometimes the ewe increases in 
size until the weight becomes insupportable, and dies from weak¬ 
ness before or shortly after purturition. In other cases, when 
slightly affected, she recovers; but generally with the loss of the 
lamb, to which the disease seems to extend, and that often when 
the ewe has no perceptible ailment. The lamb, however strong 
it may appear when brought forth, soon refuses to suck, and 
dies on the first or second day; and when opened, is found to 
contain water, filling the paunch, other intestines, and bladder; 
hence the shepherds term them water-bellied lambs. The loss 
of sheep from this disease is trifling; but of lambs I have known 
it from ten to fifteen per cent., or even more. It is, I believe, 
rightly attributed to the ewes having too many turnips before 
lambing, and may be remedied by giving more dry food, and 
but few or no turnips; but this treatment has failed when not 
adopted as soon as the first symptoms appeared. 
