102 O V 
with. This difeafe has fometimes the name of black-leg 
given to it. There is a difeafe fomewhat iimilar to this 
affeCting the tails of fheep. 
The Jcab is a cutaneous difeafe, owing to an impurity 
of the blood, and is moll prevalent in wet lands or in 
rainy feafons. It is cured by tobacco-water, brimftone, 
and alum, boiled together, and then rubbed over the 
ilieep. If only partial, tar and greafe may be fufficient. 
But the fimpleftand mod efficacious remedy for this dif¬ 
eafe was communicated to the Society for the Encourage¬ 
ment of Arts, &c. by fir Jofeph Banks. “ Take one 
pound of quickfilver, half a pound of Venice turpentine, 
half a pint of oil of turpentine, and four pounds of hog’s- 
lard. Let them be rubbed in a mortar till the quickfilver 
is thoroughly incorporated with the other ingredients ; 
for the proper mode of doing which, it may be proper to 
take the advice, or even the afiiftance, of fome apothe¬ 
cary, or other perfon ufed to make fuch mixtures. The 
method of ufing the ointment is this : Beginning at the 
head of the (beep, and proceeding from between the ears 
along the back to the end of the tail, the wool is to be 
divided in a furrow till the fkin can be touched 5 and, as 
the furrow is made, the finger, flightly dipped in the oint¬ 
ment, is to be drawn along the bottom of it, where it will 
leave a blue ftain on the fkin and adjoining wool : from 
this furrow fimilar ones mult be drawn down the fhoul- 
ders and thighs to the legs, as far as they are woolly ; and, 
if the animal is much infeCted, two morefhould be drawn 
along each fide parallel to that on the back, and one down 
each fide between the fore and hind legs. Immediately 
after being drefled, it is ufual to turn the fheep among 
other flock, without any fear of the infection being com¬ 
municated; and there is fcarcely an inftance of a fheep 
fufferingany injury from the application. In a few days 
the blotches dry up, the itching ceafes, and the animal is 
completely cured : it is generally, however, thought pro¬ 
per not to delay the operation beyond Michaelmas. The 
Hippobofca ovina, called in Lincolnfhire Jheep-fagg, an 
animal well known to all fliepherds, as it lives among 
the wool, and is hurtful to the thriving of fheep, both by 
the pain its bite occafions and the blood it fucks, is de- 
ftroyed by this application ; and the wool is not at all in¬ 
jured. Our u'ool-buyers purchafe the fleeces on which 
the ftain of the ointment is vifible rather in preference to 
others, from an opinion that, the ufe of it having pre- 
ferved the animal from being vexed either with the fcab 
or fagg, the wool is lefs liable to the defedls of joints or 
knots ; a fault obferved to proceed from every fudden 
flop in the thriving of the animal, either from want of 
food or from difeale. This mode of curing was brought 
into Lincolnfhire by Mr. Stephenfon of Mareham ; and is 
io generally received, that the fcab, which ufed to be the 
terror of the farmers, and which frequently deterred the 
more careful of them from taking the advantage of paf- 
turing their fheep in the fertile and extenfive commons, 
is no longer regarded with any apprehenfion : by far the 
molt of them have their flock anointed in autumn,, when 
they return from the common, whether they fliow any 
fymptoms of fcab or not ; and, having done fo, conclude 
them fafe for fome time from either giving or receiving 
infection.” 
The flaggers is a difeafe, the name of which explains 
the nature of it. It fhows itfelf by the reeling, wavering, 
ftaggering, and imperfedt gait, of the animal; by the 
heavy, dull, and fluggifh, motion and appearance of it; 
and an inclination to become drowfy, and the refting or 
reclining of the head upon any convenient place near it. 
It fometimes, however, puts on a more local inflamma¬ 
tory appearance, in which cafes the beafts have commonly 
a lefs heavy drowfy difpofition, with more of the wild 
raving or raging tendency and quality in their afpeCts 
and difpofitions. 
The remedy for this diforder was formerly to drive 
them to a change of grounds often, to keep the grounds 
from tainting : and it has been noticed by Lille, that 
I s. 
thofe Iambs which die of the flaggers do not die till they 
begin to eat grafs, and of thofe the fineft and luftieft; 
whence he concludes, that it is not the cold weather alone' 
that brings flaggers, but their feeding on cold watery 
grafs in the months of March and April. The difeafe 
was much prevented by the early folding of the lambs. 
It moftly appears in the autumn, and is faid to he pro¬ 
duced by a variety of caufes; fuch as improper food, the 
leaves of the oak-tree, on account of their aftringent qua¬ 
lity, cobwebs befprinkled with dew, and different others: 
and it probably often proceeds from local affeCtions, and 
water in the brain. Some have likewife fuppofed that it 
arifes from the operation of a poifonous grafs, the Lolium 
temulentum, which is alone ,met with in thofe fituations 
of Scotland where the flaggers in fheep prevail. The 
change of palture is fuppofed to be the only effectual re¬ 
medy in fuch cafes ; but the ufe of calomel and bark may 
often be found of material advantage, as well as other 
means which have a tendency to remove water from the 
brain. 
Sheep are infefted with worms in. their nofe, produced 
from the egg of a large two-winged fly called theg-ad fly. 
The frontal linufes above the nofe, in fheep and other ani¬ 
mals, are the places where thefe worms live and attain 
their full growth. Thefe finufes are always full of a loft 
white matter, which furnilhes the worms with a proper 
nourifhment, and are fufficiently large for their habita¬ 
tion ; and, when they have here acquired their deftined 
growth, in which they are fit to undergo their changes 
for the fly-ftate, they leave their old habitation, and, fall¬ 
ing to the earth, bury themfelves there; and, when thefe 
are hatched into flies, the female, when fhe has been im¬ 
pregnated by the male, knows that the nofe of a fheep or 
other animal is the only place for her to depofit her eggs, 
in order to their coming to maturity. See Oestrus ovis, 
vol. xvii. p. 4.16. and the correfpondent Engraving. 
The hove is a very diftrefling ailment; the remedy for 
which has been already given under the article Husban¬ 
dry, vol. x. p. 501, 2. with a reprefentation of the in- 
ftrument by which the cure is effected. 
But the moft formidable diforder incident to fheep, and 
with the mention of which we fhall conclude this long 
article, is the flurdy-evil as it is called. We call it for¬ 
midable, equally on account of its frequent occurrence, 
and becaufe it conflantly terminates fatally, unlefs when 
relieved by art. There are two varieties of it, as ftated 
by Dr. Duncan, jun. in his ufeful paper on it, in the 
third volume of the TranfaCtions of the Highland Society 
of Scotland; the appearances in each of which are as 
follow. 
When a fheep is attacked with the firft of thefe varie¬ 
ties of the fturdy, it ceafes, it is faid, to improve, becomes 
dull, is apt to loiter behind, and feparates from the flock. 
It does not walk ftraight forward, but often defleCts on one 
fide, or dozes round in a circle. The eyes glare fteadily 
in its head, and feem enlarged, from the pupil being 
round inftead of oval, which in healthy fheep is always 
the cafe in the day-time. Its vifion is impaired, and it 
does not fee any obieCt which approaches it, until it be 
very near, when it ftarts away, and runs furioufly, with¬ 
out any aim. When caught, it is remarkably ftupid on 
being again liberated. In dry weather, it follows eagerly 
to that quarter from which the wind blows. It has a great 
reluctance at palling water, as burns or brooks, and can¬ 
not eafily get through them, but moftly frequents places 
where it can hear the found of water. Some time after 
thefe appearances have prefented themfelves, in the courfe 
of perhaps about three weeks, there appears, and is found, 
on examining the head by prefling on it with the thumbs, 
a remarkable degree of foftnefs at one part of it, where 
the fkull feems to be wanting. In a few inftances, no 
foftnefs is to be difcovered in any period of the difeafe; 
but, in either cafe, if not relieved by a proper operation, 
the animal lofes the power of Handing, and dies perfectly 
emaciated. The fecond, or latter, of thefe varieties, is, 
however. 
