630 
REPORT AS TO VACCINATION OF SHEEP. 
This otherwise beneficial measure received, however, a 
serious drawback in 1847, when some Saxony-Merino sheep 
exported from Hamburgh and Tonning, the chief ports of 
the Elbe and the Eider, brought with them a disease which, 
from the close resemblance in its development, progress, and 
effects to the smallpox of man, has been called the small¬ 
pox of sheep. The disease being of an infectious nature 
subsequently spread among the English flocks, and caused 
serious losses to be sustained. It was confined, however, 
after its first introduction, for several weeks to the immediate 
neighbourhood of London; but by the purchase in Smithfield 
Market of other sheep in whose systems the disease was 
latent, the malady was early conveyed to many parts of the 
country, and chiefly into the eastern counties, through the 
medium of cattle dealers. 
On this visitation the disease continued its ravages for 
about four years, when it entirely subsided. 
After an interval of twelve years, it again appeared, namely, 
in 1862, and on this occasion it was first noticed in Wilt¬ 
shire, to a small part of which county it was nearly confined, 
although by the sale of some lambs it subsequently extended 
to the county of Berkshire. It did not continue, however, 
for more than four months, and chiefly in consequence of the 
energetic measures which were adopted by the Government 
for its extermination. 
The introduction of the disease on the latter occasion could 
not be traced with certainty, but it was nevertheless ascer¬ 
tained that it had an existence in a portion of Lauenburg and 
the adjacent states, from which places we had then been for 
some time importing sheep. 
As it was positively stated by several persons that the 
vaccination of sheep could be beneficially employed to arrest 
the progress, and also to lessen the fatality of the malady, w T e 
undertook, at the request of the Privy Council, the task of 
proving the correctness or incorrectness of these opinions, 
and for this purpose we were furnished with 200 sheep by 
the Government. The sheep consisted of 50 Kents, 50 
Exmoors and “ half-breeds,” and 100 Cheviots. We may here 
remark, that we found the latter were not quite so well suited 
for purposes of this kind as the others, in consequence of 
many of them having so much hair on the inner side of the 
thighs, the part generally selected for inoculation or vaccina¬ 
tion, as being theleast covered with wool or hair. 
The sheep were at first branded on each side in consecu¬ 
tive numbers from 1 to 200, and for the better carrying out 
of the experiments they were divided into lots of 50. The 
