SMALLPOX IN SHEEP. 
591 
were taken by that gentleman immediately its true nature 
became known ; and as we have heard of no single instance 
in which any symptom of its communication to the neigh¬ 
bouring flocks has shown itself, we may hope that the disease 
will be eradicated without going further. 
Upon examining the flock on Saturday last, Professor 
Simonds found that a great number of the sheep had already 
passed through the most trying part of the malady, whilst 
some (as many as 170) were declared by him to be perfectly 
convalescent. This being the case, it is impossible to say 
how long the disease has actually impregnated the flock; but 
to reduce its continuance to a certainty, and as the most 
effectual means of preserving those that have not already 
been attacked. Professor Simonds suggested that the whole of 
the sheep should at once be inoculated. And having placed 
the case entirely in the hands of the professor, Mr. Parry 
assented to this proposition, and the whole flock of 1700 
sheep and lambs (exclusive of those which have died and 
those which have recovered) are accordingly at this moment 
either in an incipient or malignant state of smallpox. The 
trouble, inconvenience, and expense of this process no one 
who has not passed through it can sufficiently realise. The 
whole of the flock have had to be divided into small num¬ 
bers, and provision has to be made to classify them into 
separate folds or meadows as they reach certain stages of the 
disease, so that they may be carefully watched and provided 
with such things as are best suited to the malady in its 
various gradations; and as these gradations occupy a month 
to develop themselves, the inconvenience and anxiety occa¬ 
sioned on a farm, especially at this busy time of the year, are 
immense. 
It is said that where inoculation has been resorted to the 
duration of the disease is diminished to one third of the time 
that it remains in the sheep under ordinary circumstances, 
and causes it to be less fatal. In the worst cases, where it 
has been had recourse to, the deaths have seldom exceeded 
10 per cent., and instances are mentioned where 350 have 
been inoculated and none of them have died; whilst in the 
case before alluded to (in 1847) the deaths were 80 per cent., 
and in Mr. Parry’s flock they have already been as many as 
c 25 per cent., his loss up to the present time being fully as 
great as that upon the whole of the sheep which have been 
affected. 
There is not a farmer in Wiltshire who will not sympa¬ 
thise with Mr. Parry under such a trying visitation. Any¬ 
thing more disheartening we can scarcely conceive. At pre- 
