SMALLPOX IN SHEEP. 
589 
a viscous matter running from the nose and from the eyes, 
rendering the sheep completely blind, and emitting the most 
foul stench that can be conceived. 
Nothing that could be given to the poor creatures seemed 
in any way to alleviate their suffering or arrest their death; 
and finding that no one in the neighbourhood could give any 
satisfactory explanation as to the nature of the malady, Mr. 
Joseph Parry went to London last Monday week, to consult 
Professor Simonds, the well-known lecturer at the Royal 
Veterinary College. After hearing Mr. Parry’s explanation 
of the symptoms, Professor Simonds came immediately to 
the conclusion that the disease from which the sheep were 
suffering was smallpox; but as smallpox has never been 
known to make its appearance except through infection—as, 
wherever it has appeared, its origin and propagation have 
always been traceable—its introduction into Mr. Parry’s flock 
was perfectly unaccountable. Every suggestion which the 
professor could offer was at once met by Mr. Parry. There 
had been no change on the female side of the flock for at least 
half a century. New male blood was only introduced once 
in two years, and it was now two years since Mr. Parry had 
purchased or hired rams from another flock. Neither could 
it have been imported by the shearers; as all the flocks 
which the same shearers had shorn this year, both before and 
after Mr. Parry’s, were known, and in neither was there the 
slightest symptom of disease. In short, there was no 
traceable means of accounting for the visitation. Archill” 
could not possibly produce it, as a common cause of illness 
would not produce a special disease of this description. Its 
spontaneous appearance, therefore, is a thing unheard of. 
Moreover, it is a disease unknown among English flocks ; the 
only occasion of its appearance here having been in 1847, 
when some Merino sheep that had just been imported were 
sold with the smallpox upon them at Smithfield market. 
This was the first known appearance of the disease among 
sheep in England ; and although it was then unfortunately 
communicated to two flocks belonging to Mr. Statham, a 
farmer at Datchett, near Windsor, and Mr. Weale, of Pinner, 
and for a time found its way into Norfolk and Hampshire, it 
was ultimately eradicated; and from that time to the present 
there has been no known instance of smallpox in sheep in 
this country. 
To account for it in the present case, therefore, seemed 
impossible, inasmuch as Mr. Parry’s had always been a 
notoriously healthy flock—well-tended, carefully fed, and 
with all the advantages of fine down air. Still, from the 
