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. . #9632;

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- #9632; .....-.--gt;....i:_t^.~^-^.-*

'quot; ......

(2gt;. xz? /3 / £. A TREATISE

DISEASES OE THE SHEEP;

MANUAL OF OVINE PATHOLOGY.

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE USE OF VETERINARY PRACTITIONERS AND STUDENTS.

JOHN HENRY STEEL, F.R.C.V.S, F.Z.S., A.V.D

FELLOW OP THE tTNIVEKSITT OF BOMBAY; mOFESSOB OF VFTEUINARY SCIENCE AND PRlNClPAk^^.

LA'fE DEMONS ROY

BOMBAY VETEiilNAKy COLLEGE;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; -quot; quot;quot;'tj'S''^C f .'^-^

TRATOU OF AND LECIVBEB ON ANArÖMif'AfcMlE ^A'' raquo;N

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COHUESl'ONDING MEMBER OK THE ITALIAN VETEIJ1NAKY. /teAB^MiV. AUTHOR OF ' OUTLINES OF EQUINE ANATOMY.' ' DISEASES GS^TlIE .JLKf llaNT,'

' CANINE PATHOLOGY,' ' BOVINE PATHOLOGY ;' Atflraquo;. ' EDITÜU OF THE ' QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF VETEEINAHY SCLEifoE -TU UÜiTA '

IDGnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;\laquo;^r/^..-^ fnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; .1...

LONDON_:LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.,

AXD NEW YORK : 15 EAST IßHi STREET. 1890.

^^^^--^^^-^^^^^^MMiMi^^^^^^^^^Hi^^^

^^^i

PEIHTBD DY AULAKD AKD SON, UARTllOLOMKW CLOSE.

du P R O F B S S 0 II GBO li G E T. B R Ü W N,

PRINCIPAL OK THE UOVAL, VETERINARY COLLEGK,

AND CIVIL VKI'EUINAHY ADVISEE TO THE OOVBENMENI OF GUEAT liHITAIX,

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED,

AS A TESTIMONY

TO HIS

LABOUKS IN ADVANCEMENT OF VETERINAKY SCIENCE IN

KELATION TO AGKICULTLTKE AND TKADE,

A POEMEE PUPIL ANJ) COLLEAGUE.

MMMMlaquo;

^^^^#9632;^^#9632;^PW^ÜW^BWraquo;quot;^

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PREFACE.

To tlie veterinary student or practitioner who lias made himself familiar with the Art and Science of Veterinary Surgery and Medicine the study of diseases of the sheep will present few difficulties and many novelties. The study of diseases of the ox^ by familiarising us with the ills ruminant flesh is heir to, especially well prepares us for consideration of the suliject of Ovine Pathology. As few veterinarians do much sheep practice except as regards extensive fatality from epizootic and enzootic disease, and none make their living-by sheep practice only, it is best to follow the natural and practical course of events, and in the following pages methodically and as fully as possible touch ou the facts which should be learned by the competent bovine pathologist who wishes to extend his practice among' sheep, as almost all veterinarians in agricultural districts find it advisable to do. In pre-supposing that our reader has a sufficient knowledge of general pathology and therapeutics as well as familiarity with diseases of the ox we would by no means close our pages to the non-professional reader by too free use of technicalities. It would be ridiculous to pretend that treatment of sheep in disease by the shepherd or the farmer is a thing of the past. In some of the large sheep-runs of Northern Britain, and in the enormous tracts of country grazed by sheep in the Colonies, veterinary aid is quite inaccessible, and many an experienced owner or caretaker of flocks may greet with pleasure a work treating of scientific methods of dealing with disease, emanating from the veterinary profession, and

^^^^^^^#9632;^^^^#9632;Braquo;

VInbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; I'KEFACE.

in the absence of whicli he would have merely empirical or utterly unpractical works to consult in emergency. A cordial welcome was given to Youatt's excellent and complete book on sheep, issued in the early part of the current century ; W. C. Spooner's valuable small work on the same subject seems also to have had a good run; but science advances rapidly in the present day, and the last quarternbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; I

of a century has been marked by very considerable increase in our knowledge of diseases of the sheep, which we have endeavoured to embody in the following pages. In mentioning above the names of two well-known veterinarians, we almost exhaust the list of the systematic writers on sheep disease. Simonds by his lectures, and books on Variola ovina. Dentition, and Foot-rot, has taught the profession much about sheep ; quot;Wallet, Williams, and Gtamgee have contributed by tongue and pen to this work. Scattered throughout periodical veterinary literature we find occasional records of cases and disease outbreaks among sheep. Fleming's works also containnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; lt;

valuable information on the subject; we may especially mention his Sanitary Science and Police, Veterinary Obstetrics, and Animal Plagues. It must, however, be clearly understood that the bulk of literature on ovine pathology is that which has found its way into the veterinary journals and records of our agricultural.societies ; and, as consisting of essays and records by practical men, this matter is specially worthy of study. Nor are there wanting works of sterling value by non-professionals, of shrewdness and remarkable powers of observation and intimate knowledge of the habits and derangements of sheep; Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, Randall, Mascall, and many othersnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; i

might be referred to in this connection, and their work will be mentioned in detail hereafter. As regards paucity in veterinary literature of ovine pathology, foreign countries cannot find fault with Great Britain ; the subject, it must be confessed, has been somewhat generally ignored while we have been endeavouring to render ourselves familiar with the larger domesticated animals when suffer-ing from disease. This state of affaires must cease, and

__________

I'KEPACE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Vll

the enormous rise in the value of sheep, together with the increase in number and wider distribution of qualified vetei'inary practitioners, will in the immediate future determine more professional attention to ovine pathology.

It is unnecessary to enter into details as to the high prices realised by the prize stock of improved breeds of sheep, the enormous annual value of imports and exports to the United Kingdom and the Colonies of live sheep and mutton, and the large and ever-increasing trade statistics of wool, especially of the more improved staples, the constant notices of these matters in the daily and agricultural papers, should prove incentives to increased study of sheep diseases. Professor Brown gives statistics of the number of sheep in G-reat Britain and Ireland in June, 1884, as follows #9632;---

England

Scotland

Wales

Ireland

Isle of Man

Channel Islands

16,428,064

6,083,293

2,656,907

3,243,572

63,764

1,097

29,376,787

Total

It is estimated that in 1870 there were six hundred million sheep in the world, and that the wool clip of that year was worth three hundred million pounds sterling. We find in our notes that during the first ten months of 1871 about 800,000 sheep were imported into Great Britain and Ireland, worth over one and a half million sterling.

The dire experience of many a year has led the farmer to look for the assistance of the veterinary profession in outbreaks of rot, scab, foot-and-mouth disease, sheep-pox, and numerous other diseases which will be duly noticed by us ; it has also convinced him of the urgent necessity for adopting sanitary precautions in his folds and sheep-runs. The periodic enormous losses of sheep, while constituting a national misfortune, on many occasions have led to excellent legal measures regulating the importation and inland traffic in sheep, which measures are based on the

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opinions of veterinai-y experts, and have in Great Britain been of much benefit. Thus in diffusion of information concerning sheep diseases, in treatment of cases and outbreaks among flocks, and by advising Government in emergency, the veterinary profession has done its duty by sheep-owners, and may reasonably, as we have seen, expect increased opportunities of doing so in the future. The high and increasing value of pedigree ewes and rams and of show sheep of the improved breeds, secures an increasing number of individual sheep as patients of country veterinary practitioners.

We venture, therefoi'e, to believe that in systematising facts, practical and theoretical, concerning sheep diseases, we are meeting a professional want ; we have striven to collect all the special features of ovine practice and on them to lay special stress, to indicate such points of general practice as should not be forgotten when dealing with sheep, and to show how they may best be brought to hear in emergencies of sheep diseases ; to collate and compress within due bulk the teachings of our learned professors and authors, and, finally, to treat of our subject in its bearings as a branch of the grand and noble art and science of healing, in its relations to the health of other species than the sheep. Some most valuable facts concerning diseases of mankind have been brought to light as a result of recent study of diseases of lower animals, including sheep ; the meat question, water pollution, diffusion of cntozoa, and sanitation of factories are a few of the topics of great public importance in consideration of which the ovine pathologist must have his say.

To the cattle pathologist the diseases of sheep, w^Thile seeming familiar in general characters, are novel in detail ; the essential differences in constitution of the bovine and ovine races are best exemplified by comparison of their specific diseases, many of which are special respectively, whereas some are mutually communicable, but presenting themselves under more or less altered forms in accordance with the species of the invaded animal. Again, the different conditions of life to which oxen and sheep are sub-

WM.I' laquo;WP. .#9632;#9632; raquo;JP^^-PL¹

PEEPACE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; IX

jected in accordance with the varied and diverse uses to which they respectively are put hy man entail corresponding differences in their ordinary diseases and accidents, while those physiological and anatomical variations which are distinctive of the two races are reflected in the differences which careful study will disclose between pathological processes in them. Thus we may with confidence urge that our subject is of great importance to not only the flockmaster and shepherd, but also directly and immediately to the veterinarian. The student of national economy and trade, the practitioner of human medicine, and the comparative pathologist also, will learn much from, and find great interest in, the study of sheep diseases. We have done our best to meet these varied requirements.

A reference to our list of illustrations will show that we are indebted to various distinguished authors and publishers for the privilege of making use of many woodcuts. The great value these must prove to the student and general reader renders an apology for reproduction of pictures often well-known quite unnecessary. So long as a cut illustrates the text and serves to impress facts on the mind of the reader it can never be out of place, and the more familiar it he the better. To Professor J. B. Simonds we are specially indebted for kind encouragement in several ways, and the Council of the Eoyal Agricultural Society deserves our best thanks for permission to use its artistic illustrations of fluke development. Messrs. Arnold and Sons' loan of blocks from their instrument catalogue will, we. trust, prove to them a good advertisement, but we feel assured that our readers will find that the cuts of surerical instruments arc a valuable illustration of our text.

J. II. S.

.IrNF. 1890.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.INTRODUCTION.

PAGE

The wild and domesticated Ovidaj uses of domesticated forms j relative lunetious of tlie farmer and the Veterinär}' surgeon ; variation. Methods of offence and defence; general physiological characteristics of ovines; methods of seizing, throwing, and detaining. Catching. Work of the shepherd; holding for operation or examination ; to throw a sheep. Bcntine management of afiock as a cause of disease; domestication predisposes to, hut feral sheep not exempt from, disease; they also sull'er from ravages of wild beasts. The General Symptoms of disorder ana. signs of health. Pulse; internal temperature; respirations, auscultation and percussion; the rougher methods of diagnosis; state of the tongue, fieces, and urine. Loss of wool; condition of the skin. Causes: miscellaneous; effects of hot winds. Constitutional tendencies of sheep in disease. Parasitesspurious enzooty and epizooty; its influence on treatment. Wholesale administration drenching, cathartics, vehicles, enemata. Bleeding; rough methods; surgical methods; the angular vein, saphenous, jugular, and cephalic veins. Anaisthetics, effects of chloroform. Blisters; setons ; charges; fomentations and poultices. Preventive measures. Paucity in numbers of specific diseases of sheep ; influence of diffusion of races. Effects of early slaughter in lessening disease. Longevity of quot; guide sheep.quot; Bearings of sheep diseases on derangements of man ....... 117

CHAPTER II.THE BLOOD.

Composition and characters. The pulse. SIMPLE DISORDERS: Feter, Jaükdice; Plethora, Bollinger's researches. Axjemia ; form seen after shearing, symptoms of anamiia; different observations on debility by Williams, Fleming, and Robertson. Disease in Oregon. SAXGriNFOrs Ascites, Bed water, or acute dropsy.

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Pathology, causes, and treatment. Vinqosu or Pining; Hogg's ideas on tliis disease. Neck.^mia; effects of lightning. SPECIFIC DISOKDEKS : general remarks. Siieep-pox, Vahiola otina; forms, symptoms, duration of phases of attack, constitutional symptoms, cutaneous lesions; immunity of the offspiing. Abortive disease, irregular cases. Asthenic type, eye changes; discrete condition. Malignant type, confluent; Gamgee's emphysematous form. Causes, cyclic character; coutagium, Chauveau'sresearches, conveyance and diffusion of the virus. Post-mortem examination. Lesions, Klein on sheep-pox virus, Chauveau on the pathological anatomy of sheep-pox. Characters of the flesh. Prognosis; fatality of outbreaks. Study of variola ovina in relation to other variolous affections. Simonds on the specific independence of sheep-pox. Vaccination for sheep-pox prophylaxis. Vaccine disease in sheepYouatt on the differences between the eruptions of sheep-pox and smallpox. Treatment. Inoculation, clavelisation or ovina-tion. Conditions on which its value depends. Routine inoculation. Selection of lymph and its preservation; methods of ovi-natiou. Characters of the inoculated disease. Keynault on rapidity of absorption of virus. General measures for prevention of the disease. Vaeicella Ovitrji or chicken-pox of sheep. Axthkax, 'Bamp;iS.'S, BamosfasU, Inflammatory Fever, amp;e.j meaning of the terms Anthrax; Braxy, four forms of braxy. Hogg's views. Meaning of other synonyms. Great-head (Hogg) ; AK-thhax Fever, quot;staggersquot; in lambs (Youatt); symptoms, immunity, causes, conveyance, and modes of access of the bacillus. The disease is communicated to mankind. quot; Woolsorters* disease ;quot; consumption of anthrax flesh; quot; mutton hams;quot; annual loss from braxy; post-mortem examination. Splenic Apopijexy; Gloss-Anthrax, Blainj External Anthrax, Ci\rbnucnh\r Fever, Anthra-coid Erysipelas. Intestinal Anturax. Treatment of anthrax. Pasteur's anthrax vaccination. Details of the operation. Chauveau on the effects of enormous araonnts of bacilli intravenously injected into protected sheepKleiu's results of vaccination other methods of lessening activity of virus besides Pasteur's; Klein's results. Toussaint's method. Best practical means for prophylaxis against anthrax. Emphysema iNPECirosüM, hamiato-sepsis, black leg, amp;c., a quot; shot o' blood quot;differences between this disease and anthraxIntravenous injection of blood as a prophylactic. Rinderpest. Relations of the disease in sheep with that of cattle. Prognosis. Treatment. Use of the flesh as food. Fooi-and-Mofth Disease, Eczema epizootica. Infectious Aphtha; relations with the disease of the ox. SymptomsYouatt's notices of the disorder, differential diagnosis from contagious foot-rot and ergotism. Dormancy of the virus, loss resulting from the disease. Rabies. Dogs as causing rabies in sheep. Precautions with the bitten. Pasteur on inoculation for rabies. Virulence of saliva

CONTENTS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; XUl

of rabid sheep. Period of incubation. Symptoms. Post-mortem examiuation. Fatality. Use of flesh as Imman food. Non-conveyance by milk. ScEorraA, Tfbekculosis doubtful as a natural disorder in sheep; quot;pining,quot; quot;evil.quot; RnErjiATissr. Evidences as to its occurrence. Greswell's outbreak. Relations with scoliasis. Symptoms, treatment. Milk Sickness or quot;the Teembles.quot; Haubuer on quot;trembling diseasequot; or quot;lumbar prurigo quot;Actinomycosis ?Gangrenous stomatitisStrangles ? Influenza: New South Wales outbreak in 1834-5; symptoms, autopsy, treatment. Spooner's record of outbreaks; Darby's, Clayworth's. Youatt's epizootic outbreaks of catarrh; Roche Lubiu's; Wiltshire on quot;Heart water.quot; Seron's; epizootic and enzoolic pneumonia and pleurisy. Duncan Hutcheon's researches. SeptiC-Emia, Sewage POisoNixa, disease as observed by Carless. Topical contagious disordersCoNTAGlOüä Foot-eot; debate as to whether it really occurs, how it is caused, means of communication and vehicles of contagion; W. C. Spooner's remarks on transmissionprevention. Note concerning diseases of the blood mentioned elsewhere in this work .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 1876

CHAPTER III.THE CIRCULATORY AND LYMPHATIC

SYSTEMS.

General considerations concerning the Circulatory System. T'BAU-matic Peeicaeditis, by a needle, by spikes of Stipa; Fatty degeneration of the Heart. Derangements of arteries and veins. The Lymphatic System. Simple lymphangitisStrangles or Stranguillon ITabes mesenterioa ?nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 7779

APPENDIX: the Ductless or Blood-vascular Glands. The Spleen. Rgdatids. Tochonlin. of Baden, on Inelajimation of the Spleen. Extirpation of the Spleen. The Thyroid Bodies. Goiiee, Spooner's record of the disease. Tliymus, amp;c.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;79,80

CHAPTER IV.THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.

Anatomical and physiological details; the voice; the brisket bone; Gamgce on auscultation and on peecussion ; the diaphragm. Succussion. Mensuration. Nasal Catakrh; apparently en-/.ootic form; erroneous ideas concerning relations of this disorder to glanders of the horse. OziENA, Nasal Gleet. CEstriasis. Pentastoma iir.nioides(EstnisovisBracy Clark's observations description of the parasite anil its habits. Symptoms; behaviour of the flock when molested, of the sheep when struck; migrations and development of the larva;. The adult bot. Eftccts of the

r^-

XIVnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; CONTENTS.

PAGE

bot in the sinuses, Youatt's views, Bracy Clark's opinions; supposed quot;mnggots in tlie brain;quot; records of French observers; treatmentmigration of the larva from the sinuses. The pupa stageprevention. Inflammation of the LakynxTracheotomy. Inflammation of the respiratory organs in the chest. Pleurisy, hydrothorax, sporadic pleuropneumonia, pneumonia, bronchitis, phthisis pulmonalis. Youatt's views. ' Simple pneumonia, quot;rot of the lights,quot; chronic pneumonia, %rfa/irfs in the lungs, SIMPLE BHONCllITIS. PaEASITIC BEONCIIITIS, HUSK, hoose, quot;snotsquot;two forms of parasite present; quot;lamb disease;quot; description of Stro,)yylus filaria; its condition in the lungs and elsewhere; its development; Cobbold's views; discussion as to mode of entry to the lungs; Ercolani's, Koch's, Grey's, and Cobbold's researches on vitality anil life-history of the parasite; causes and conditions under which the disease occurs. Losses. Symptoms. Treatment. Thompson's preventive measures; other prophylactic means; Stephen's method of fumigating; intra-tmcheal administration of remedies. Further prophylactic measures. Strongylus rulesceus, its effects and diagnosis .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 81103

CHAPTER V.THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

Anatomical and physiological points. Teetb, accidents and injuries of; Dentition table; signs of age in the Sheep; names given to Sheep according to age, shearing, etc.; Aphtha, Thrush in the mouth, pustular fever, or contagious ecthyma. Aphtha simplex, stomatitis; Aphtha maligna: its relations with Chapped or Cracked Teats; Coataginm, honoydew, amcebie, oidium, Walley's account of the disease; symptoms, treatment. The tongue : Actinomycosis; Kannla; benign cpulis, salivary glands; paro-tiditis; Choking, passing the probang, cesophagotomy, Sbronü tumour in the gullet; Loss of the cud, dropping the cud; Vomition, Indigestion; Hoven or Tympany of the iivmen; symptoms, treatment; Plenaltia ; Hawes on the effects of eating standing wheat; Axe on disease due to mangold tops; Olver on the effects of eating maize; Muminotomy or Paunching ; Alvitis rare; Fabbel bound, GiiiSS Staogbes, quot; Drying up,quot; irapactiou of the faik or manyplies; Calcüloüs and oihee Concretions, earth-eating. Hair-balls in the rumen, Bezoars in the Abomasum, Abomasitis; gnstro-euteritis, Pantas or moor evil; Rupture of the Abomasum. Impaction of the Abomasum. Parasites in the rumen. The intestines, their length and proportions. Colic, strangulation, herniee. Eniebitis ; Diaertkea, simple, quot; white skit quot; and quot; green skit;quot; Parkinson

CONTENTS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; XV

PAOE ou superstition :is to euro of this disease; parasitic diarrhoea, outbreaks due to Tania expansa; Cox, Cross, Cobbold, Gumgee, Curtice on this subject; outbreaks due to neinatodes, Simonds* views on Trichocephiilus. Parasilic Oastric Catarrh or Oas-trorrhaa parasitica (Williams) ; DtbbhibbY, blooily Hux or quot;cling;quot; quot;pindingquot;Constipatiox. Im'perforate anus (Proc-tatresia), Htsmorrhoida or Piles. Properties und cbaracters of Sheep's dung. Fibrous tumour in abdomen .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 101133

APPENDIX I: THE APPEXDAOKS OF THE ALIMENTARY CANAL.Pancreas. The Liver. Jaundice, Acute and chronic liver degenerations; plethora from overfeeding; Hepatitis; eehinococcus cysts in liver; Fascioliasis, fluke disease, liver rot, or Cachexia aquosa verminosa. A quot;jack rot;quot; history of research into the nature of rot; Vouatt's views and those of Simouds and Cobbold. Pathology of rot, how the fluke produces its effects; supposed cases of fatal rot without flukes, quot;water rot;quot; determining causes, influence of pasture, season, overstocking, overgrazing; a very brief period essential for invasion; relations of the disease in sheep to it in other individuals and species, various supposed causes; the Fluke; coucomitant presence of other parasitic forms. Post-moitem appearances, Friedberger's researches; quot; fluke abscesses quot;Symptoms j Bake-well's method of linishing sheep for slaughter, question as to dishonesty of the process; Gerlach on the stages of rot; premonitory symptoms according to Simonds and Beattie; state of the mucous membranes and skin. Effects of the carcass on human beings. Life-history of the Fasciola ; Thomas's researches ; mode of development of the parasites; development and diffusion of the ova; larvce; the intermediary bearer, Liinnams ; invasion of the liver; chances against development of any one egg into a fluke; Treatment. Necessity for State action, Zundcl's suggestions, regulation of and dealing with pastures, destruction of intermediary bearers. Summary of preventive measures. Curative treatment. Distoma lanceolatum. Cholocystic Calculi 133172

APPENDIX II! The PeritoneumCysticercns tenuicollis ; Pebi-

TOKITIS, A3CITE8nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;....nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 172, 173

CHAPTER VI.THE URINARY APPARATUS.

Chemistry of the urine and anatomy of the urinary system; Litt on the verniiform appendage. Simple diuresis. Nephritis in lambs, by Roger Williams. Levie on Whihqdibus, shell sickness, or oil poke. Renal Calculi, analyses; Litt, of Shrewsbury, on Urethral Calculi. Praudnlent amputation of the quot; Worm quot; in

XVInbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; CONTENTS.

PACJE breeding rams. C'i'STiTis or Water BraxyBuptara of the Bladder j simple Atony of the Bladder ; pervious urachus, quot; navel-ill,quot; umbilical phlebitis; Iliumaturia or spurious quot; Red Water quot; 174ISO

CHAPTER VII.THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM.

Summary of points iu the anatomy of the skeleton. The skull; some observations on breeds as affecting shape of skull; Joint-ill or Joint Erii; Williams', Robertson's, Youatt's, Simonds' (quot; Seoliasisquot;), M'Gillivray's and Walley's views; treatment, prognosis. Rickets, Robertson's researches j Fragilitas et mollifies ossium, Robertson on this disease. Osteoporosis. Pbactctbbs, Spooner on setting fractures. Dislocations. Wryneck. Amputations : of the limbs, of the ears, of tlie tail {quot;Dockingquot;)Methods of Fleming, Youatt, and Spooner. HOENS, AND THEIR INOTHIES AND DISEASES ; Anatomy of the horns; advantages of quot;pollards.quot; Many-horned sheep of Iceland and Cyprus. Malposition of hornsFracture of horns. THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM. SprainsCystic larva of Tcenia tenelhi; cysticerci of T. mediovanellata in the goat (Zenker). Characters of healthy muttonnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 181196

CHAPTER V11I.THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM.

SECTION I: MALE GENITAL APPARATUS.Anatomy. Physiology. Vrethritis ; Castration. The quot; Practical Farmer quot; on the usual method of operation on lambs ; Spooner on the firing or hot-iron method; the covered operation; quot;drawingquot; and scraping methods. Castration of older sheep; tying or lashing, trapping, burning, cutting, bislournage, or the French method (Youalt), Paget's method. Sterilitynbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 197__£03

SECTION II: FEMALE GENITAL APPARATUS.Anatomy and physiology. (Estrum, pregnancy; prolonged bearing in ewes and multiparity ; quot;Chitting;quot; Instruments and appliances required by the lamber, his duties; False presentations. Monstrosities. Mermaphroditism, dead lambs ; quot;substitutes;quot; Embryotomy, Casarean operation. Exhaustion after lambing. Abortion. Snpertoetation; luvcrsio vel Retrovcrsio Uteri; Seirrhous os uteri; Torsio cervicis uteri. rARTUBlENT Fever Seamen on the disorder. Inflammation of the Womb Metroperiionitis, False quot;red water;quot; Hysieriiis, Sibbold and Dick on this disorder. Discussion at the Obstetrical SocietyWalley on Malignant parturient fever. Axe's

CONTENTS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;XVÜ

report on this disease. Vaginitix. Heating pains, aftee-pains, ok Pabtueition feveb. luflamumtion of the pudenda. Ecematozymosis. Casualties at time of parturition; Uterine Milk. Mammitis or quot; Gargetquot;Nocard'8 contagious form ; Bivolta's septic mammitis. Teats, injuries and diseases; ery-ihema chronicnm; imperviousuess. Characters of ewo's milk. Spaying or OtakiotomyYouatt's description of the operation and its uses .....nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 204227

CHAPTER IX.THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

Anatomy and physiology; Feenzy or Encephalitis j Epilepsy ; Cerebral Apoplexy; HydeocephalüS; Stuedy, Gid, Tuen-sick, Hydatidocepiialus, amp;c. Losses due to this disease; symptoms; positions where the parasite chiefly occurs in their effects on the symptoms j pathology. Differential diagnosis of Gid, life-history of the parasite; Treatment: general; Hartenstein's ice-bag method, empirical methods for destruction of the hydatid, Hogg's operation of quot;wiring,quot; Youatt's modification of this method ; Trephining, Y'ouatt's method ; importance of prevention. Fractures of the Cranium. Louping-ill, Tebmbles, Mad Staggers (Dick), Tn waetee-ill, amp;c.; Brown on the range of this disease. Contusion in diagnosis; Gamgee's views on its pathology ; symptoms, post-mortom appearances, Goodsir's observations. Pathology, views of Hamilton, Williams, Robertson, and Goodsir. Botanical examination of pastures where loapintr-ill prevails near Rrotherston. Influence of Ticks in causation. Miscellaneous causes. Prophylaxis and curative treatment. Simple paealysis or Palsy; Tetanus; Chorea .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 228255

CHAPTER X.ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE.

SECTION I: THE FOOT.Anatomy. Interdigital Canal, Ercn-lani's researches on its anatomy, Inflammation of the Canal. quot;The Worm in the Sheep's footquot;JSItidhallmg. sore cleft, loom feet, bruhed or otherwise injured feet. Foot-hot, Faronycliia, amp;c.History; Dick's views, Williams', Youatt's, and Hogg's opinions; Gohier's experiments; Spooner's views on contagiousness; differential diagnosis from Foot and Mouth Disease; pathology; Brown on the lesions of non-specific foot-rot. Dick on the same subject. quot; Scald ;quot; symptoms ; causes ; treatment. Randall on foot trimming and dressing. Various foot dressings recommended by different authors. Prophylaxis. The preventive foot-bath.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;256__275

laquo;p

Xvillnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; CONTKNTS.

PAGK

SUCTION II: THE EYE.Auatomy and physiology. Ophthalmia, quot; the blinds;quot; quot; lavk-spurred.quot; Simple ophthalmia ; the larmier or quot;tear-pit.quot; CataeactAmateosis. Fracture of the margin of the orbit; bursting of the eyeball; caneerous disease of the eyeball; Deematoid Conjunctivitis; simpleStaphyloma, adhesion of the eyelid to the trout of the eyeball; Iritis and Retinitis ; warts on eyelidsnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 275278

SECTION III: MISCELLANEOUS.Kudhnentary external ear;

ear-marking; Otitis. GUSTATIONSMELLnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 278,279

SECTION IV: THE SKIN.Anatomy and PhysiologyThe Yolk. quot; Kemps;quot; prickly fruits on wool; removal of the fleece, tearing, sheaeing, details of the operation ; notes on wool (Youatt) ; when to shear, ill effects of shearing. 'Washing, various methods. Marking. Acute Pkueiius ; Ekysipelas, quot; wild-fire;quot; Eczema, Hering's outbreak. Edgar's views on this disease. Ecthyma; Psoriasis; Impetigo iaevalis v. Lämmergrind. Q-amgee on this disease. Ehythema, chromcum, traumaticum, intertrigo. (Edema, quot;swelled head,quot; quot;great headquot;KingwobmScab v. Acariasis ovis; Sakcoptic Scabies, quot; black muzzlequot; (Youatt). Symbiotic Scabies (Zürn); Deematodectic Scabies or quot; tbtte scab,quot; symptoms, causes of spread, quot;foot mange;quot; contagion; diagnosis; life-history of the Psoroptes v. Dermatodectes ovis; the effects on the skin, Hertwig's experiments on contagion, determination of duration of a particular case by state of skin, and state of Acari; changes of skin and development of parasites according to Walz. Gerlacb's estimate of rapidity of multiplication. Relations of the Acarus to those of other species, its vitality; detection of Acari (Gerlach); post-mortem examination. Treatment. Measures to be taken under Government control; danger of half-hearted measures. Dipping, description of the process on large and small scale. Properties of substances used for treating scab; enumeration of some of the principal methods recommended; precautions in connection with dipping. quot;Spottingquot; or quot;pouring.quot; Methods in which dipping may prove poisonous or otherwise dangerous to health. Salving or smearing. The method of smearing, different ointments used for the purpose. Skin parasites other than Acari, harvest bugs, ticks, lice; quot;bridling.quot; The fly, maggots, fly-dressings; Nestor mira-bilis; Lucilia sericata ; Yonatt's remarks on the functions of the skin. Ordinary -wounds and sueface lesions of the BODY; bruises, sore heacljacerntions of the ears and limbs 2S0327

CONTENTS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;SIX

CHAPTER XLPOISONS AND POISONINO.

PAGE

Introductory remarks. Süppbessed cutaneous action; Pathology of this couJition according to Feinbcrg. Cutaneouä Asphyxia from exposure to the sun. ilBRCUiilAi. poisonins. Hertwig on the effects of calomel; Corrosive sublimate. Aesenicai poison-INO. Cahbolic ACID. Supposed poisoning by top-dressing wheat with soot. VEGETABLE POISONING : Hellebohe. Tobacco. Poisoning by pastures. Limiieus's analysis of pasture plants. Yew leaves; Ranunculus; Savin; Erica; Hyoscyamus ; Water-hemlock; Rhododendron; Digitalis; Coiiitim ; Aconite; Rye-grass ; Nux vomica; effects of mildewed and mouldy forage. Eboot of bye, its influence and production ot abortion; researches by Kluge, Stoddart, Walker, and Law, on the effects of ergot. Conferva poisoning in Australia. Effects of acorn mast; kalmia, Morrell on the effects of this plant. Lupine poisoning; Shultz and Dammaun on the subject. ANIMAL POISONS : serpent-bite ; Scorpion-bite. Tsetse fly ; Canthurides ; Ueixe POISONINS. Schutt on the effects of flax poison; Martin on buckwheat; Runciman on the water-betony; Shand and Pappe on poisonous plants. MINERAL POISON; sewage contamination of grazing land; efiVcts of overdose of nitre; apparent non-action of tartar emetic on the sheep; Hcrpath on the ellects of smelting works on neighbouring pastures .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 328345

APPENDIX. List of medicines for the sheep, showing their actions and dosesnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 346350

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIG. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ti. 7.

Simple enema funnel (Arnold)

Simple enema syringe (Arnold)

Patent enema apparatus (Arnold)

Skin in sheep-pox (Gamgee)

Ditto, confluent stage (Gamgee)

Vaccination

Withdrawal of lymph from tube

A vaccine tube

Withdrawal of lymph

The syringe


		PACE
		. 13
		. 13
		13
		. 28
		. 29
	Vntlirax vaccination quot;
	(Pasteur's)
)	after the circular	gt; . 56
	issued with the
^	vaccine

10.

11. Thoracic viscera of a sheep (after Chauveau)

12-18. Life history of QSttrus ovis, after Brae; Clark's original figures 12, the attack ; 13, the grub; 14, the larva ; 15 and 16, the fly ; 17, a wing magnifled ; 18, a common fly for contrast.

19.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Lung worms in sputum (Harley and Brown)

20.nbsp; nbsp; lutra-tracbeal injection syringe (Arnold) .

21.nbsp; nbsp; Alimentary canal of sheep (diagram after W. C. Spooner) . 22-26. Cuts illustrating replacement of incisors (Simonds)

27.nbsp; nbsp; The whipworm of ruminants (Cobbold)

28.nbsp; nbsp; Hydatids encysted in lungs and liver of sheep (Cobbold) . 29-48. Life history of Fasciola hepatica (reproduced by special per

mission of the Council of the Koyal Agricultural Society) 29, the egg; 30, egg ready for hatching; 31, embryo; 32, embryo boring into snail; 33, young dividing sporocyst; 34, change of embryo into sporocyst; 35, young sporocyst 36, full-grown sporocyst; 37, a young redia 38, full-grown redia; 39, a free ccrcarian 40, encysting cercaria; 41, liver-fluke cysts on grass stalk ; 42 and 43, limnoeus ......

44 and 45, adult fluke, showing its anatomy ; 46-48, three young flukes ....nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.

49.nbsp; nbsp; Skeleton of the sheep (Chauvean) .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.

50.nbsp; nbsp; Skull of a ram (Chauvean) ......

51-53. Leg amputations : 51, oblique flap; 52, circular ; 53, oblique

single flap (Fleming) ......

54-56. French castration clamps (Pouch and Toussaint)

82 85

95 101 105 107 127 135

158

159 160 161

162

163 181 183

192

199

XXII

LIST OP ILLOSTKATIONS.

FIG.

57-60. Arnold's castratiou instruments : 57, forceps ; 58, clamps; 59,

firing iron; 60, knife

61.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;A process of emasculating rams (Peuch and Toussaint)

62.nbsp; nbsp; Uterus, oviducts, and ovaria of sheep (Owen)

63.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Celosomian lamb (Vouatt) ....

64.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Cyclopean ram (Hering) ....

65.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Genital organs of an hermaphrodite goat (Leuckart)

66.nbsp; nbsp; Twin gestation ; pregnant uterus of a goat (Colin)

200 202 204 208 203 209 210 230

67.nbsp; nbsp; Arteries of base of brain of sheep (Cliauveau) 6S-81. Details of anatomy, life history, amp;c., of Coemints cerebralis,

from various sources : 68, emhryo, and 09 and 70, hooks of two forms of taniia contrasted (Van üeueden) ; 71, bookless conmrus, and 72, cuenurus heads (Leuckart) ; 73-76, phases of development (Van Bcncden); 77-80, brains of sheep containing ecenurus in various situations (Cohbold); 81, sturdy instruments ......nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 23o, 236

82-85. Kavages of foot-rot (Brown) : 82, early stage; 83, early stage in an induced case ; 84, advanced stage ; 85, section to illus

träte extension of cracknbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;....

86.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Fungoid horn from advanced foot-rot ( x 200) (Brown) .

87.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Foot changes resulting from eczema epizoolica (Williams)

88.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Ear-marking pincersnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;....

89.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Arrangement of glands and wool (Ercolani)

90.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Section of skin of sheep (Gault)

91.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Oil glands from foot of sheep (Ercolani) .

260 265 265 279

280 280 281 281

92.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Portion of stem of wool of sheep (Reissner)

(The last four illustrations from Gamgee's ' Our Domestic Animals in Health and Disease.')

93.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Dermatodectes ovis (Gerlach) 94 and 95. Ectozoa of sheep ; the tick and louse (Oamgee)

96.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Young G-lcgged acarus ( x 100) (Brown)

97.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Mature male acarus ( x 100) (Brown)

98.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Mature female acarus ( x 100) (Brown)

99.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Skin debris of a case of scab ( x 40) (Brown)

294 295 295

296 297 298

LIST OF OPERATIONS AND OTHER PRACTICAL MANIPULATIONS.

NO.

1.nbsp; nbsp; Method of seizing, throwing, and detiiining slieep

2.nbsp; nbsp; To hold a sheep for examination

3.nbsp; nbsp; To catch sheep, and 4. to lift sheep

5.nbsp; nbsp; To take the pulse ....

6.nbsp; nbsp; Administration of drinks and enemas

7.nbsp; nbsp; Bleeding, from angular, saphena, jugular, and cephalic'

8.nbsp; nbsp; Ovination v. clavilisation

9.nbsp; nbsp; Anthrax vaccination (Pasteurian) .

10.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Intra-venous blood-injection for black log .

11.nbsp; nbsp; Operation for prophylaxis of lung plague .

12.nbsp; nbsp; Auscultation and percussion

13.nbsp; nbsp; Horn trephining for quot; grub in the head quot; .

14.nbsp; nbsp; Intra-tracheal method of treatment for boose

15.nbsp; nbsp; To determine the age of the sheep by the teeth

16.nbsp; nbsp; Use of the probang ....

17.nbsp; nbsp; Paracentesis abdominis in hoven

18.nbsp; nbsp; Ruminotomy or paunching .

19.nbsp; nbsp; Clatting or tagging ....

20.nbsp; nbsp; Operation for impervious anus

21.nbsp; nbsp; Tapping the belly ....

22.nbsp; nbsp; Amputation of the appendix vermiformis penis

23.nbsp; nbsp; Setting of fractures

24.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Amputations: of limbs; of ears; of tail (docking)

25.nbsp; nbsp; Operations on horns

26.nbsp; nbsp; Castrationthe usual method

27.nbsp; nbsp; Firing or hot iron method .

28.nbsp; nbsp; The covered operation, drawing, scraping .

29.nbsp; nbsp; Methods resorted to for adult sheeptying, trapping, 1

cutting .....

30.nbsp; nbsp; Bistournage .....

31.nbsp; nbsp; Castration by the ecraseur .

32.nbsp; nbsp; Lambing .....

33.nbsp; nbsp; quot; Substitution quot; of lambs

34.nbsp; nbsp; Operation for prolapsus uteri

35.nbsp; nbsp; Boiling method for torsio ccrvicis uteri

PAGE

1315

101

107

115

117

119

30, 206

131

173

178

100

101

19-

193

4, 195

198

190

201

201 202 203 206 209 212 213

XXIV

TABLES, ETC.

NO.

36.nbsp; nbsp; Operation for impervious teatsnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; ....

37.nbsp; nbsp; Ovariotomy or spaying .....

38.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Hogg's wiring Operation for sturdy and Youatt's modification of

39.nbsp; nbsp; Trepbining for gid ......

40.nbsp; nbsp; Opening up the interungulate cannl

41.nbsp; nbsp; Kandull's metliod of foot trimming

42.nbsp; nbsp; Foot-batli for sheep ....

43.nbsp; nbsp; Ear markingnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; ....

44.nbsp; nbsp; Tearingnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; .....

45.nbsp; nbsp; Shearing .....

46.nbsp; nbsp; Washing .....

47.nbsp; nbsp; Detection of acari in scab .

48.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Dipping .....

49.nbsp; nbsp; Spotting or pouring

50.nbsp; nbsp; Salving or smearing

51.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Dressing for the fly .

52.nbsp; nbsp; Dressing for sore head

P4ßE

22G . 227 ; 242 , 244 , 258 , 271 . 274

279 . 283 , 283 . 287 , 307 . 310 . 318 . 320 . 325

327

TABLES, amp;o.

1.nbsp; nbsp; Chemical composition of blood of sheep and goat . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.18

2.nbsp; nbsp; Measures necessary for repression of contagious disease in sheepnbsp; nbsp;. 43

3.nbsp; nbsp; Dentition table, after Kreuzer, Simonds, and Gurlt .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.107

4.nbsp; nbsp; Table of the names given to sheep according to age, sex, amp;c.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 108

5.nbsp; nbsp; Composition of urinary calculi (Fiirstenburg) . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; . 17fi

6.nbsp; nbsp; Specifications of quot; dipsquot; used in Victoria and Sontb Australianbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 311

7.nbsp; nbsp; Eecipes for sheep dips by various authorities . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 315

8.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Recipes for salves to be used in smearing .... 321

9.nbsp; nbsp; Recipes for quot; fly oilsquot; from various authorities . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 325 10.nbsp; nbsp; List of medicines used in sheep practice (after various authors)nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;, 34G

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

CHAPTER I.INTRODUCTION.

We must remind our readers that among the hoofed animals which chew the cud is one family known as the Ovidüß. This, zoologists tell us, comprises certain feral forms which inhabit mountains and are remarkable for hardihood^ fleetness, agility, and sure-footedness. These, we are reasonably given to believe, are descended from ancestors common also to certain familiar domesticated forms known in most parts of the world as sheep and goats. We are further informed that the wild OvidfB are remarkably clever in gaining a living from short highland and upland grasses together with the leaves and shoots of shrubs and thorny plants, that they are gregarious in consequence of the males being polygamous and jealously assertive of their rights to such a number of females as is suited to tlie requirements of each and as he is able to preserve from the advances of more formidable rivals. The flesh of these ruminants is found to be extremely palatable to mankind and to admit of improvement in quantity and quality under the influence of artificial selection; their hair has proved capable of development into copious fleeces of wool, remarkably adapted for manufacture into clothing of various kinds ; and it has been ascertained that the sheep is able to

f|!

2nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OP THE SHKEF.

tlirive under extremes of climate, as well, for example, ou tlie high, dry plains of contiueutal uplands as on the low-lying fields of Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and other seaboard localities. Happily much intelligent interest and zeal has been brought to bear on the improvement of the sheep in various directions, some workers in this Hue have aimed especially at mutton, most have endeavoured to obtain increased quantity or improved staple of wool, and all have recognised that with improvement must be associated certain points of make and shape essential for due nutrition of the body. Hence have arisen the accepted views as to symmetry of sheep, and the practical instinct whereby the sheep farmer can tell at a glauce the good or bad points of an animal offered to him for sale. The veterinarian is seldom fully competent to offer opinions either as to symmetry of sheep or staple of wool, the farmer naturally knows much more about such matters than his professional adviser can afford the time or has the opportunity for learning; but the latter will be competent to point out how improved breeds lose in constitutional vigour and are specially liable to disease, also how wool may be preserved by checking debility and skin disease, and what methods of treatment are least liable to damage the wool while curing disease when unhappily it is present. It is remarkable how much variation has inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; been brought about in the sheep by natural and artificial

selection, and no species illustrates more forcibly how quot;plastic in the hand of manquot; the conformation and qualities of domesticated animals are. We need here merely contrast the small, hairy, neglected, semi-wild sheep with some of the more marked, fully domesticated breeds. The large-tailed sheep of Arabia and Persia, the sheep of the Caucasus with fatty accumulations on the buttocks, the short, deformed-legged sheep of America (quot;Otter breedquot;), the richly fleeced Merino, the essentially pure-blooded Southdown, and the huge long-wooled Lincoln present us with a sufficiently ample series of illustrations of variation. The Ovidfe are naturally among the smallest of ruminants, and, like the rest of their order, are adapted

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rather for sedeufcary life than for excitement. They are not, however, all unprovided with offensive and defensive weapons, for some have horns with hollow bony cores, and the skull is enormously strengthened at the roots of these horns, whereby they are rendered competent for their duty as butting organs. These appendages, being so much twisted that quot; like a ram's horn quot; has become a common expression, are not adapted for either tossing or goring an enemy, but the special form of attack adopted by the rain, either against another ram or otheranimals,isbutting. In India, and elsewhere, ram-fights are common ; and it is extraordinai-y how the animals, after a long course, will meet with terrible force in accurate adjustment of forehead to forehead, reeling backward if the meeting has been even, but falling dead from broken neck if there has been the slightest maladjustment of front or the most trivial bend of the neck. The fury and obstinacy shown here is in remarkable contrast with the timidity of the sheep as most familiar in European countries. This timidity is generally associated with stupidity, and it must be admitted that, although there are not wanting anecdotes to indicate elementary intelligence on the part of the sheep, both anatomical and physiological evidence is opposed to higher nervous functions being an attribute of ovinos. The organs of locomotion, on the other hand, are well developed, the processes of the skeleton large, the limb bones clean and compact, the muscles well defined and of good tone in breeds which have to roam far for their living. The foot differs in some essential features from that of the ox, being more adapted for rough progress on dry and rocky uplands. The organs of special sense are well developed to enable the animal early to appi-eheud danger, thus the sight and hearing ai-e keen and of wide range, but the frequency of poisoning from noxious matters in pastures gives rise to a suspicion that the senses of taste and smell are not so perfect as in the horse and ox. The digestive system is specially adapted to enable the animal to contend with hard conditions of life, and to put up with food containing much woody fibre.

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

The digestive powers are considerable, and there is a great tendency to the storing of fat both internally and externally (especially the latter), as we see annually exemplified at Islington and other shows of fat cattle. The facts that a sheep will thrive where an ox would starve, and that folding sheep on ground proves an excellent method of manuring it are most valuable in practical farming. Lastly, we may refer to the generative system, on considering which in detail many interesting facts, anatomical, physiological, and pathological will be noted, as, for example, the peculiar shape of glans penis, the common occurrence of twin and triplet births, and the extreme prevalence of parturient fever.

The small size of the sheep and his non-aggressiveness under ordinary circumstances, render his manipulation for surgical and medical purposes easy. The necessity to avoid dragging at the wool, and not to injure the delicate bones, especially of young animals, has led to certain

METHODS OP SEIZING, THROWING, AND DETAINING animals of

the sheep tribe ; a rope for tying the feet together is almost the only appliance required. But to examine the animal with exactitude, he must first be caught, which is by no means an easy matter in many cases, for besides the fairly rapid pace which a sheep when frightened can show, and which the whole flock will take up, he is liable to bui-y himself among the rest, and all are packed and jammed tightly together in such a way as to render it difficult to get at any particular one. One or more well-trained dogs to direct the flock and to turn and stop it when inclined to bolt, a handy pen or fold to limit the range, a race through which the sheep may be made to pass almost in single file, and a handy experienced shepherd with crook or other means for seizing the sheep by the neck or hind leg, also a sharp boy to throw his arms round the animal's neck, and so detain it, will all be found useful by the practitioner. Not unfrequently the sick are unable to rise and follow the herd, or they do so only with difficulty ; some poor, paralysed, and debilitated brutes, quot; crawlers,quot; crawl along the ground^ and so gain a

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precarious living for a time, until want, a friendly knife, or some prowling carnivore puts an end to their sufferings. Tlie man experienced in slieep knows liow to take advantage of tlieir peculiarities for driving, catching, or collecting tliem; their puzzling tendency to follow a leader, to pack, and to get out of an enclosure hy the way they came in, may frequently be taken advantage of to attain a desired end, so the veterinary adviser had better trust to the experienced shepherd for collection, seizure, and throwing of his sheep patients, having himself, however, sufficient acquaintance with the subject to detect any want of hearty co-operation, in the form of delay and other obstruction.

A sheep is held for examination or operation (1) by an assistant having the animal's body between his legs, and holding it (standing on its hind legs) with a fore-leg in each hand, or sitting with the animal in the same position; (2) by throwing the animal, and seizing one foreleg and one hind-leg in each hand and placing the body on a stool or table if necessary. The feet may be tied together in pairs, three at a time, or all four, their relative position varying as is found convenient, and the limbs may be held apart, backwards or forwards as required. When a fore and hind leg of the same side are tied together, the limbs must be so placed that the cannon bones may be parallel (Fleming).

In handling sheep they should not be held or lifted by the wool ; it hurts them, and also causes struggling and bruising of the skin. Ewes in lamb should never be caught by the hind leg and always must be handled with special care. The ' New York Herald ' says, quot; When about to catch a sheep move carefully towards the one to be taken till you are sufficiently near to spring quickly and seize the beast by the neck with both hands. Then pass one hand around the body, grasp the brisket, and lift the sheep clear from the ground. The wool must not be pulled. If the sheep is a heavy one let one hand and wrist be put around the neck and the other pressed against the rump .... Others seize the sheep by a hind

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leg, then tlirow one arm about tlie body, and take bold of tbe brisket with one hand quot; (* Veterinary Journal/ vol. iv, p. 22(;). Randall instructs us:

To catch sheep.Always by throwing tbe bands ahout the neck, or by seizing one bind leg above its bock with a band crook, and then drawing the animal gently back until it can be caught round the neck ; the crook should be used with quick but gentle motion, and the caught sheep drawn back promptly enough to prevent it springing to one side or the olber, and throwing itself down so as to wrench the leg. AVhen the sheep is within reach seize the leg and withdraw the crook.

Lift a sheep.1. By placing both arms around body immediately behind the fore legs.

2.nbsp; nbsp;By standing sideways to it and placing one arm before the fore legs and the other behind the hind legs.

3.nbsp; nbsp;By throwing one arm round the fore parts, and taking up the sheep between the arm and hip.

4.nbsp; nbsp;By lifting with the left arm under its brisket, the right hand grasping the thigh on the other side, and so that the sheep lays on left arm with its back against the catcher's body.

[1 aiid 2 are recommended as handiest and safest with large sheep ; 3 will be convenient with small].

Routine management of a flock varies in accordance with breed, season, locality, available pasture, and other matters almost innumerable. As, however, disease very frequently depends on error in management and certain diseases are due to specialities in rearing and feeding of sheep as compared with other domesticated animals, it is incumbent on the veterinary practitioner to have some familiarity with the most approved methods adopted by flock masters. Washing, shearing, dipping, castration, lambing, and other routine matters of the life of sheep under domestication are apt, when mismanaged, to give rise to fatality, sometimes to a most serious extent. Want of proper protection from inclemency of the weather, apparently trifling errors in hygiene, and selection of unsuitable pastures, are fruitful causes of disease. Domes-

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tication, as it remlers the system more complex and the life of the animal more artificial, must be considered as predisposing our improved breeds to many diseases. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that sbeep in a state of nature suffer very severely from diseases of different kinds, and from exigencies of a climatic nature such as drought, storms, cold and Lot winds, and floods; so much is this the case in some countries that sheep cannot live there. In Lower Burma, for example, no sheep are found except such as are imported, and even they are apt to quickly deteriorate and die. Wild beasts prove very formidable enemies to the sheep, and occasionally are not only directly destructive, but also conveyers of disease.

The general symptoms of disorder in a sheep are want of natural vivacity, behaviour different from that of the rest of the flock, inability to keep up with the main body when driven, dulness and sadness of the eyes, a roughness, dirty, and unkempt appearance (quot;clappingquot;) of the wool, deficiency of strength, and a falling off in condition, also an unnatural position and unusual posture when standing or lying. The sick separate from the rest of the herd and mope. A moist state of the muzzle is a good sign, and among ewes it is customary to look for firmness and whiteness of the teeth, sweetness of the breath, brightness of the eye and general expression, firm adherence of the wool to the pelt, a fair amount of fat, and a normal state of the visible mucous membranes as signs of health. A glutinous character of the liquor amnii at lambing is also a good sign.

The pulse can readily be taken at the femoral artery on the inner side of the thigh. Firm but gentle pressure of the vessel against the bone is necessary. The normal beat ranges from 90 in the young animal to GO in the adult ; this beat is firm, sharp, and of good tone. Sometimes it is necessary to take the pulse by auscultation and pressure over the heart, but the frequency and character of the pulse are much less often considered in dealing with sheep diseases than with those of the horse, ox, and dog; for in ovines the pulse is very liable to

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quot;run up quot; considerably under the influence of excitement. It cannot bo taken at the jaw because tlie submaxillary artery runs over the cheek from the temporal, and is not arranged as in the borse.

The internal TEMPBEATUEB normally is put at 101deg; 104deg; F. (38deg;40deg; C). Different observers have arrived at somewhat various results in estimating the average. Thus Singleton in June, 1888, found on taking the readings of one-year-old crossbred sheep at the rectum, the average of fifty females, 104-4⁰ F., of fifty males 103-9^J F., the external temperature being 60deg;65deg; F. in the shade. Siedamgrotzsky found the mean {40-2⁰ C.) 104-2⁰ F., and the range very great, from 101 quot;2deg; to 107quot;8^o F. Shearing causes a slight rise of quot;5 l']⁰ C. of short duration ; the temperature of unshorn sheep is slightly higher than that of shorn. Fleming gives the average normal temperature for the sheep as 40^-25^o C. ; Krabbe puts it at 39^-8⁰ C.

The respirations of a quiescent animal under ordinary conditions are estimated at 1317 (Gamgee), and at 30 200 by Brown. The effects of recent exertion, of high atmospheric temperature, and of excitement, in causing panting are so marked that rapid breathing must not be unreservedly accepted as a sign of disease. Auscultation and percussion when resorted to, which is seldom the case, give more thorough and satisfactory results than simply taking the number of breathings per minute.

Hitherto in the detection and differentiation of sheep I laquo;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;disorders tlie rovylier methods of diagnosis only have been

applied to any considerable extent. The experienced observer is enabled to determine at a glance what is the matter in any particular case of such disorders as are of frequent occurrence in the flock. Among the points specially looked to are the gait and behaviour, which may be altered from the normal, as in tetanus, rabies, or gid ; the state of the visible mucous membranes as to colour, moisture, presence or absence of discharge, and the nature of the various evacuations. The eye of the sheep fed on firm heathery uplands is normally redder than that of one kept on low lands, and on some boggy pastures the conjunc-

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tiva is never red (in the absence of inflammation) be tlie animal ever so sound. I'/m condition of the fonyuc is a specially valuable guide; Youatt reminds us tlmt it is red in serous inflammations and as a premonitory sign of red water, red at tlie edges previous to an attack of dysentery, yellow-brown in diseases of the liver, purple or black in blood- and respiratory diseases, pale and soft in atonic maladies and anajmia. Its foulness, ulcerated condition, and otlier states in special diseases will be noted in due course. The state of the feeces, and composition, consistency, colour, and quantity of the urine are valuable indications ; to make a sheep pass urine for examination it is the custom to close his nostrils with the fingers for a minute or two. Deformity or swelling of any part of the body, lameness, unthriftiness, loss of appetite and cud, cough, constant or intermittent recumbency, grinding the teetb, and moaning or groaning are symptoms which become familiar in tbe course of ovine practice. A loss of the ivool is a phenomenon not uncommon after severe disease, especially in connection with parturition; however, it may follow simple peculiarities of diet, thus ew⁷es fed on mangolds sometimes become almost naked. A blue colour, dry and warm condition, petecbiated state, and eruptive manifestations on the skin are valuable indications as to the pathological condition present in many disorders.

Among familiar causes of sheep diseases we may mention condition and nature of food; excess of turnips, rye grass, astringent and laxative herbs, old coarse natural grass, and rough aftermath may each and every of them be factors in production of disease. Salt, which is generally useful, may be a cause of plethora ; cakes and corn may be given in excess, or the fodder may be too watery and deficient in some essential element, such as nitrogenous principles or phosphates. Even the well-known rule that where Fcstuca ovina, the sheep's fescue, is found the sheep will thrive is occasionally found to be erroneous. From such facts we learn that what is good under some circumstances of time, place, and condition may be bad

I #9632;

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under others. Soil, elevation, manures or pastures, and even chemical composition or physical characters of the drinking water may sometimes he producers of special disease, as illustrated hy rachitis, rot, plumhisra, and goitre or urinary concretions respectively. Spring, when the feed is good after winter scarcity, is a most frequent season for sheep diseases. Overcrowding in houses* or over-stocking in pastures, over-exposure on uplands without protection by jackets or smearing, neglect of shelter of recently shorn or lambing animals, and want of exercise, are defects in hygiene which commonly act prejudicially on sheep ; but it is remarkable how long the sheep, compared with the horse, can, without succumbing to plethoric disease, remain housed, highly fed, and devoid of exercise. Pallas has recorded the effects of hot winds on the sheep. He shows that in July, between the Don and the Volga, when hot winds blow, many sheep perish ; they fall like flies, foam with blood, swell, and putrefy so rapidly that there is no time to remove the fleeces. This condition may possibly be anthrax. Darwin has commented on the fact that sheep not diseased nevertheless seem capable sometimes of introducing disorder among the sheep of a district into which they are imported, otherwise than by contagion.

The great variety in management of the sheep of different breeds perhaps accounts for the various estimates which have been arrived at as to their disease-resisting capacity. Fleming places the sheep lowest on the list of domesticated mammals as regards disease-resisting power, and describes it as having a constant asthenic tendency under disease. This certainly holds with some of the least cultivated of the breeds, but the Southdowns and other improved forms, when not rendered anssiaic by over-fattening, exhibit the sthenicity under disease and the pluck in meeting it which is one indication of '^f blood,quot; and which reminds us of the thoroughbred horse in this

* Delafoiid relates liow sixty out of two handled sheep were lost in a single niglit from overcrowding in Beance, and simple avoidance of overcrowding sometimes causes fatality in a flock to cease (Fleming).

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respect. As regards chest mflammatiön this stlienicity is well marked, and coiitrasts favorably with the conditions seen in the ox. Youatt shows that in sheep disease has a constant tendency to assume a malignant or typhoid form, hut the latter expression was not used hy him with the meaning it conveys in the present day. It is remarkable how many of the diseases of sheep are acute, rapidly fatal, and tending to plasticity ; Spooner's statement that the sheep enjoys immunity from active inflammation is hardly borne out by the records, as will be found in the following pages. Parasites are the most serious and fatal causes of sheep diseases, and to them a very large proportion of the undoubtedly enormous losses of sheep is due. They invade all organs of the body, and in the aggregate do incalculable damage ; they decrease in number and severity of results with improved management, and, being very tangible factors, can be met by scientific methods of repression. If parasitic disorders were blotted out, ovine nosology would be simple and short. Over and over again we shall have to allude to apparent but not real epizooty or enzooty of disease among sheep j by this we wish it to be clearly understood that a true enzooty affects individuals in numbers in a definite area, although their conditions of life are most varied, and a true epizootic disease is a something travelling like a wave over an animal population subjected to various conditions otherwise. In sheep we find apparent enzooty due to absolute and exact uniformity of conditions, whereby the cause may just as readily act on the many as on one ; we look on this spuriousness of sheep enzooty in the majority of cases as a fact most important to be remembered. It accounts for the very frequent occurrence of disease onthreahs among sheep as compared with horses and cattle, and for the heavy losses experienced. It has an effect on treatment, which has to be conducted in a wholesale and general manner.* The

* quot; On the hills the managing of sheep is one incompatible with drugging, incompatible with effectual shelter, and incompatible with altering the nature of the diet quot; (Gnmgee).

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

lt;

administration of drenahes to several hundreds of slicop is not often practicable; individual prescription is utterly impossible with the veterinary aid generally available, and measures must he adopted whereby each sheep Avill take his sliare of medicine voluntarily, only the most severe cases or the most valuable patients being brought up for individual treatment. This wholesale method necessarily interferes with the niceties of medical practice, hut it must be accepted as a practical difficulty which can seldom be overcome, and which must be obviated as much as possible by expedients tending to ensure that each sheep gets its fair share of treatment. The cases being very similar in the different individuals, in most outbreaks the objections to wholesale treatment are less than might seem at first sight, and, as a matter of fact, doses of salt and sulphate of iron in feeding troughs, foot baths in foot disorders, washings in skin diseases, soil dressings, and salves of various kinds have been found extremely useful in practice. It need scarcely be insisted on that individual treatment when practicable is best.

Sheep will be found very tractable patients, they receive drenches by means of a small drenching horn or bottle ; boli are no more suited for them than for the ox. Cathartics are of special value because, though his digestive powers are remarkable, the sheep is very liable to disorders of the alimentary canal, and alimentary influences especially produce and aggravate ovine diseases. Experience has shown that oleaginous cathartics are more frequently useful in the sheep than in the ox; but the Glauber's and Epsom salts are not to be neglected, and drinks containing them must be warm when possible and administered carefully and slowly, that they may trickle down into the true stomach and not be lost in the rumen. The head should during administration be held by an assistant standing astride over the sheep. Gruel, linseed tea, hay tea, and beer are excellent vehicles for medicines, and each drench should consist of about half a pint. Beer, when it can be ensured that the sheep gets it.

INTRODUCTION.

is very usefulj because in treatment of sheep the benefit of stimulant tonics is very largely resorted to for counteraction of debility and anasmia. It is fortunate that pure sedatives are not so frequently needed, since some of them, such as tartar emetic, have no appreciable action on the sheep. Enemata for the sheep may be given by means of the syringe or funnel, and the bulk should be about half a pint.

Fig. 1.Simple enema funnel.

FlQ. 2.Simple enema syringe.

i'lO. 3.Patent enema apparatus.

Bleeding is very freely resorted to, and is useful in apoplexy, phrenitis, some blood derangements, and congestive disorders. The rough method of bleeding adopted by shepherds is to amputate the ear or the tail, thus

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performing arterio-plilebotomy, Surgiculljj phlebotomy is resorted to, and we may condense from several authors tlie methods following : (1) The angular, facial, or cheelc vein is opened by means of the lancet. The operator holds his instrumentj opened^ between his lips or teeth, stands astride the sheep, and presses its body between his knees, having the left a little in front of the right. The left hand is then passed under the head of the animal thus held, so that he can neither struggle much nor escape, and pressure is made by the fingers of the left hand beneath and within the right jaw near its posterior angle, in order to raise the vein. With the right hand the swelling of the vein on the cheek, about equally distant from the eye and angle of the mouth, is felt, the lancet seized, and then the vessel is opened from below upwards, half a finger's breadth below the zygomatic tubercle. Sometimes a ligature is put round the neck to make the vessel rise. Simple removal of pressure will generally stop the bleeding, but it may be judged prudent to pin up the opening. (2) To bleed from the saphena : lay the animal broadside on the table, or on some straw, tie three legs, leaving the one to be operated on free, and let the assistant draw it out and hold it firmly. Remove any hair from the part to be operated on, compress by pressure or ligature above seat of operation, and penetrate with the lancet. This is resorted to in disease of the posterior part of the body. A bandage over the part for a few hours afterwards may be necessary to compress and protect the wound. This operation is generally performed on the external saphena, which is much larger, in proportion, than in the horse. (3) Bleeding from the jugular is performed by an assistant seizing the sheep, standing astride it, compressing its body between the knees, and holding the head steady and elevated by grasping the ears or horns. The neck is compressed by a ligature, the wool cut away at the seat of operation, and the vein opened by means of a lancet or a fleam. The wound is usually closed by pinning. Removal of a few ounces of blood generally suffices ; one pound should rarely, if ever, be exceeded. In fat animals

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the layer of adipose tissue beneath the skin renders tlie jugular rather inaccessible. (4) The cephalic or plate vein is occasionally opened by placing the animal on its side, the limb to be operated on being uppermost. This leg is drawn backwards, the wool removed from the front of the arm, compression made by the thumb on the vein, which is then opened by means of the lancet. The wound is closed in the usual manner (Youatt and Fleming).

Anaesthetics are seldom used in ovine surgery, but might be, not only without danger but also with advantage and only slight increase in expense. Wakley, jun. and Erasmus Wilson long ago, in the ' Lancet/ recorded the results of experiments with anaesthetics on domesticated animals. They found that after administration of four drachms of chloroform to a wether for 2^ minutes, the following phenomena ensued :1^ min., animal fell on its side. 2| min., complete insensibility, respiration quick and panting, eyelids closed, pupils largely dilated. 4 min., animal raised its head, stretched its limbs, and made ineffectual efforts to rise. 5 min., respiration still quick and agitated. 5^ min., regained bis legs and, after several tumbles, staggered away.

Cocaine and other local anesthetics are applicable in ovine surgery.

Busteus are seldom used for the shetp, for it is advisable to save the wool whenever possible. Setons might more frequently be used than they are in Great Britain. Charges are very useful for some forms of fracture. Fomentations and poultices are comparatively seldom resorted to on account of the difficulty in applying them simultaneously to a considerable number of animals.

With regard to teeventive measures, we have constantly to meet the argument, both concerning parasitic and specific diseases, that the efforts of one individual farmer are useless so long as the State remains apathetic. To this we can merely reply that every little helps in disease repression, and that there is reason to believe that improved sheep hygiene, as adopted by farmers lately, is beginning to have a perceptible influence for good on

i;! If!

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some prevalent and severe disorders. There are many misconceptions and crude generalisations concerning sheep diseases. Randall is, as our work illustrates, wrong in

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saying that sheep diseases are few, and whether or not they are low in type has been discussed elsewhere. He puts the fatalities among grown sheep in a well-managed flock at 2 per cent. The paucity in number of specific diseases of sheep, as compared with the horse and ox, will be observed by the reader with satisfaction, but, it must be noted, recent experience has rather tended to increase the nuniber as knowledge progresses and we attain more skill in differential diagnosis. This paucity of sheep diseases has been attributed to the covering of wool protecting against contagion, but that is a weak argument, the true cause would seem rather to be inherent in the constitution of the sheep which resists some serious diseases of other species, such as pleuro-pnoumonia zymo-tica, glanders, and relapsing fever. Experience has shown that diffusion of special sheep races has tended to increase the number of known sheep diseases. Bellinger of Munich, in 1878, investigated an epizooty among large game and cattle, and found it a new disease, communicable by inoculation with fresh blood to sheep, goats, and other animals : sometimes it seemed a form of contagrious pleuro-pneumonia, in other cases it was rather contagious erysipelas. Further, contagious foot rot and eczema epizoo-tica are said to be associated with the spread of merinos. Consequently, we may have in the future an increased number of specific ovine diseases to contend against, and the outbreaks among sheep in the colonies and freshly-explored countries need to be observed with care and suspicion for indications of specificity. The Australians report a quot; Coast disease,quot; for example, and the exact nature of this ought to be determined.

A final point, which we may comment on, is that a large proportion of the race of sheep undergoes slaughter before the diseases of senility, or even adultism, set in. Thus few really chronic diseases attract our attention in ovine pathology, few of those serious changes of the skeletal.

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circulatoryj and digestive systems, which result from overwork and duties too prolonged. The system of the sheep is not liable to great strain, except in the processes of digestion, resisting extremes of climate, and the emergencies of gestation and parturition; the results of these physiological phenomena are of an acute kind in the majority of cases, and the low value of most sheep, with their utility as humau food, causes all cripples or slightly diseased animals to be withdrawn from the breeding flock and fattened at once for the butcher, or in emergency, slaughtered without fattening. Bell wethers and breeding ewes and rams occasionally afford interesting pathological conditions,and animals used as quot;guide sheepquot; have been known to live twenty or thirty years.

Although mutton is an extremely important part of our food supply, wool is one of our most valuable articles for manufacture of clothing fabrics, carpets, felts, and the like, and in other ways the sheep contributes largely to the welfare of mankind, and is, accordingly, in constant and intimate relations with human beings, the hearings of sheep diseases on derangements of man and other animals are few. Mutton is notoriously a safe form of meat diet; a small number of tapeworms of the dog have sheep as their intermediary bearers, a small number of specific diseases (as anthrax and rabies) can be conveyed by sheep to mankind. The study of ovine disorders materially assists us in appreciation of the phenomena of disease action, and elucidates many points of general pathology, especially, for instance, the influence of animal parasites on the skin and internal organs.

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

CHAPTER II.THE BLOOD.

Colin has estimated that the blood of the sheep is one-twenty-third of the total weight of the body. The red corpuscles are small and seem inclined to the oval form, or rather somewhat comma-shaped, although at first sight they appear to be circular. Careful analyses of the blood of the sheep and goat (quoted by Gamgee) give the following results :


Ingredients.	Sheep.	Goat
Water . . . . .	827-705	839-440
Solids . . . . .	92-425	85-998
Corpuscles . . . .	G2-705	62-703
Fibrin . . . .	2-970	3920
Fat . .	1161	0-910
Salts-
Alkaline phosphates .	0.395	0-402
Sodic sulphate	0-348	0205
Alkaline carbonates .	1-4-98	1-202
Sodic chloride	4-895	5-180
Iron oxides . . . .	0-JS9	0-041
Calcic carbonate	0107	0110
Acid, phosphoric.	0113	0044
Acid, sulphuric.	0-129	0023

Magnesia and silica were not detected in appreciable amounts. Poggiale found in the blood-of the sheep considerably less iron than in that of either the ox, man, or dog. The pulse is described as active, small, and wiry ; varying in number from 5560 in old age up to 8595 in lambs ; the normal for adults being 7080.

SIMPLE DISORDERS OF THE BLOOD are common in the sheep, the results of irregularities and defects in management.

Fevek is apparently sometimes present independent of

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local disorder, the followiug being its symptoms. The sheep is dull, off feed, off cud, hangs its head, is unwilling to move, has a dry muzzle, quick full pulse, torpid bowels or costiveness; skin, horn's, and breath hot, increased internal temperature ; quick, sometimes difficult breathing, heaving of the flanks, dilated nostrils, swaying of the body to and fro as the animal breathes, the belly and flank sink, muscular tremors, hot and pendent ears, cessation or diminution of milk in the ewe.

In Jaundice to these febrile symptoms are added yellowness of skin, mucous membranes, serum, and urine.

Plethora certainly predisposes to some most fatal maladies, such as anthrax, apoplexy, and acute hepatic congestion. It results either from excessively high feeding on cake and other nutritious substances, together with rich pasture, or else from a sudden transition off a dry sheep-run or from very poor keep to rich lands where but little ground must be traversed in picking up the necessary amount of food. Salt is often looked on with suspicion as causing the animals to quot; pick up quot; and make blood too rapidly, and it certainly requires to be used with judgment. High feeding with the express object of avoiding losses from rot is apt to prove serious by producing plethoric disorders, especially in ewes at or about the time of pregnancy. Plethora is a state verging on disease, if not actually disease, and it must bo looked on apprehensively, and much art displayed in getting sheep into their highest condition for the market without overshooting the mark. Bollinger states that Heissler's experiments show 8^-10 per cent, of blood in the sheep, being in proportion to the carcass 1:12; the minimum was 6-5G, and the maximum 1043; also, that Audral, Gavarret, and Delafond found in five strong sheep the number of red blood-corpuscles was a third below the average, but in anasmia the red corpusclesdiminishconsiderably,sometimes to a half or even still more below the average. Increase of blood quantum is not necessarily true plethora; thus we may have hydnemic plethora, a false hypertrophy of the blood (Veterinary Journal, June, 1886). The prevalence

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of this condition among sheep warrants the retention of bleeding in ovine treatment to a greater extent than in that of many other species of domesticated animals, as also does the fact that cases among sheep are seldom observed early, and yet they prove so rapidly fatal as to necessitate very prompt and decided measures in treatment.

Anemia.This is equally if not more frequent than plethora among sheep, and it also arises from mismanagement of various kinds. As Robertson insisted, it is quite possible for animals suffering from pure anajmia to die fat, adiposity is not an indication of plethora, but often of the reverse. Generally, however, ansamia occurs among animals in which blood formation is checked by disease or by undue exposure to arduous conditions of life, it is seen also when there is any severe drain on the system, such as in a ewe compelled to suckle more lambs than her supply of food enables her to properly support. So long as nature is not interfered with in adapting sheep to climate she does so effectually, but she makes no provision for the annual deprivation which sheep are generally subjected to of the coating of wool, the folding of sheep in exposed places, or their being suddenly turned out into a bleak exposed situation after being accustomed to plenty and a low-lying, well-protected pasture. A form of amcmia, denoted by auasarca commencing near the udder and extending to the forelegs and thighs, has been noticed to occur as an enzootic about a week after shearing, but readily yields to tonic treatment. Anasmia is ordinarily denoted by paleness of the visible mucous membranes, want of strength, tendency to dropsies and debilitating disorders; cool, damp, pale tongue; and general want of vigour. The most frequent seat of dropsy of the sheep is below the jaw, when the animal is vulgarly said to be quot; poked quot; or quot; checkered.'^J Williams notices the prevalence of anajmia and dropsy among sheep fed on food containing an excess of moisture and during long-continued wet weather. He states that during the winter of 187273 this condition was exceedingly prevalent owing to the Inferiority of the grasses, the moist

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condition of the turnips, and the humidity of the atmosphere. Andralj Gavarret, and Delafond have found quot; that in sheep affected with amcmia, with deficiency of red globules but without dropsy or entozoa, there was no deficiency of the albumen. Dr. Williams concludes from this that cachexia and ana3mia attended by dropsy owe this concomitant to a want of albumen in the blood; and he seems to be of opinion that a deficiency of the albumen, by destroying the spissitude of the blood and allowing it to transude through the coats of the vessels, is a chief feature in the dropsical diathesis''' (Williams). Fleming mentions dropsical and other atonic maladies as very common towards the end of autumn among sheep feeding on low-lying and half-submerged pastures. Robertson has given tiiese anasmiffi of sheep special attention, and he divides them into parasitic and dietetic. Among the latter the most important are the result of feeding animals ou too uniform a diet. An excellent illustration of this was found in a report of diseases among sheep in Oregon, one of the extreme westerly States of America, wherein the following statement of the conditions and symptoms of disease is given. quot; The lambs were weaned in 1872, on the 20th of July, on Timothy aftermath; four weeks afterwards they looked miserable and died fast. Last year the lambs died rapidly shortly after weaning. This season they began to give way while sucking.quot; The symptoms, both in young and old, were quot; tucked-np appearance ; cough, wool rough and dry, with fleeces partially cast, and wool on faces carried longer than usual; the lambs do not gambol. Some of the animals droop their heads, run at the nose, have gatherings under the chin, which occasionally dispel and at other times break out into rnnniDg sores, a marked blood appearance of the mucous membranes and skin.quot; These symptoms were seen in old and young, and were for a long time noted only quot; in long-woolled sheep, which for six months in the year were continually wet, the Merinos being comparatively heathy, their thick, close greasy wool seeming to prevent the moisture from penetrating

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

I i

to the skin.quot; Transference from the Timothy and hay to a ]arge pasture full of indigenous grasses seems to have effectually removed the aua3inia. Robertson considers the obscure fatality of ewes at or about the time of parturition, which we have elsewhere noted as associated with yellow degeneration of the liver, to be true anemia. He gives a very good account of this and other forms of anayrnia in sheep in the Veterinary Journal, January, 1876, This is the form of disorder known to shepherds as quot; blood rot;quot; a weakly state and want of stamina in lambs one season may be a warning of tendency of ewes to it at the next pregnancy. Ewes with hard dry wool, free from mellowness, hide-bound (quot;hardquot;), and losing flesh, which become extremely feeble during the latter stages of gestation, are to be looked on with suspicion, and a prompt inquiry into and change of their diet should be made. Treatment of this affection without improved hygiene is useless. The pasture should be more varied or supplemented by nutritive and not too-succulent diet; iron and vegetable tonics, also salt may be given ; shelter is of benefit, and the worst cases must be taken up and nursed. Search must be made among the surroundings and in the management of the animals for all j^ossible causes of debility, and they must be removed or palliated as much as possible.

Sanguikeuus Ascites is an anfemic disorder of frequent occurrence and not fully-explained nature, well known to shepherds and sheep-owners as a cause of serious and sudden fatality. It is commonly called Red Water, but under that name is liable to be confounded with one of the several altered states of the urine in which that excretion is found of a red colour. Youatt describes the disorder as quot; acute dropsy.quot; Post-mortem examination in this disease shows a red fluid in the cavity of the belly, there having been quot; a transudation not only of the fluid part of the blood but also of the colouring material, the globules being sometimes dissolved, sometimes entire, and more or less altered in appearance in the serosityquot; (Williams). The peritoneum, especially its mesenteric

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and omental portions, is heightened in colour and inflamed. The disease sometimes assumes a very acute character and causes very considerable losses, the cases proving fatal in a day or less; not infrequently, indeed, sheep which seemed well overnight are found dead in the morning from this cause, having apparently died quietly. In other cases the animal is evidently out of sorts ; the head is protruded, breathing difficult, belly enlarged, wool loose, some signs of abdominal pain, fasces liquid and intermingled with mucus and bile, or obstinate constipation is present. The animal has a dull, heavy appearance, and oedema of the lower part of the head and neck, is decidedly anasmic and debilitated, and becomes much emaciated. A fixed, staring look, bending of the neck, and giddiness precede death. The disease is most frequent in autumn or at the commencement of winter among sheep which have just been brought on turnips or other succulent food; it has been noted as following injudicious changes of diet or pasture, especially transfer to a cold and wet grazing ground when hoar frost prevails. Lambs soon after weaning, and even before weaning, suffer much from it, and it is stated that some are pre-maturely born with the affection owing to some blood depravity and error in feeding of the ewe. Night folding on turnips lias been supposed to be specially liable to produce it. Treatment comprises a complete change ofnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.

general management, including pasture and artificial food. Salt added to the food promotes its digestibility, and sulphate of iron and tm-pentiue have been found useful agents. Good hard feed is an essential of treatment, and a table-spoonful of tar per hogget per fortnight has been considered an excellent prophylactic (W. Graves). Sheep when on roots specially require sound dry ground to rest on. There can be no doubt that sanguineous ascites is a disease primarily of the blood, and resulting from some disproportion between its several constituents or the entry of foreign and unsuitable matters. #9632; Until the matter has been more thoroughly and scientifically investigated than hitherto, in this as in many other dis-

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orders of slieep, judgment must be reserved as to the exact pathology of the condition.

Vikquish or Pining. Hogg drew attention to this disease as prevalent and fatal in North Britain, affecting slieep, especially on certain farms, very frequent in the Cheviot range and in some other hilly localities. He, in nine successive years, lost nine hundred sheep from this cause. He found the disease on lands which, previously quot; rotten,quot; no longer were so on account of having been efficiently drained ; he further observed that extermination of moles on such lands rendered them liable to produce pining, it was presumed by deteriorating the character of the pasture and rendering it more astringent in nature. The farms were those with flats and ridges of white and flying bent, and the prevalence of the disease is supposed to be in exact proportion to the astringency of the pasture plants, Potentilla tormentilla (the common tormentil) having been considered especially liable to produce it. These quot; binding lands quot; have specially dry pasture, are most fatal in dry seasons, and especially so in June and September, they being months when the grass is least succulent. It may affect the whole flock at once or only one or a few of the sheep ; want of exercise and the

costive habit prove predisposing influences. The blood is thick and dark and will not flow freely. After death there is but little found in the carcass, the ventricles of the heart are found dry and pale, and the tissues in general dry. The symptoms shown are languid movements, dull eyes, the animals lying down, hanging their ears, running at the eyes, and quot; looking at you like condemned criminals.quot; The hair of the face is dry, the wool bluish in appearance, and death occurs in the course inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; of a month if the pasture be not promptly changed. Hogg

inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; adds to this list of symptoms a preliminary quick thriv-

ing and flushed appearance about a month before the animals begin to fall off. It seems this extraordinary affection is readily removable by timely change to succulent pastures, especially clover, and by administration of cathartic doses. Spooner suggests a course of the purging

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flax (Linvm cafliarficnnt), which sometimes in pastures proves troublesome in exactly the opposite direction to that present in vinquish.

Necilkmia, death of the blood, is a familiar condition seen in the various forms of anthrax, in hoematozymosis, and cutaneous asphyxia. However, it occurs most frequently without presence of bacteria in the blood as an effect of lightning strolce. Banham's valuable article on quot; the effects of lightning on animals quot; in the Veterinary Journal for 1881, should be consulted for details; the subject presents few special features in its bearings on sheep. In one accident (Voigt's Magazine, vol. v, p. 503) when lambs, sheep, and other animals were struck, the sheep showed no appreciable lesions but the Iambs were entirely destitute of wool. In the Veterinarian, July, 18G5, is mentioned an instance where sheep killed by lightning were covered with blood and their heads pierced through and through, while the heads of others were removed from their bodies. Destruction of seventy-seven out of a flock of over five hundred is mentioned in the Veterinarian, November, 18G8, two more of the sheep being found in a state of stupor.

SPECIFIC DISORDERS OF THE SHEEP may be divided into (1) those peculiar to the species, such as sheep-pox, and perhaps other diseases having close allies in similar conditions as seen in other species ; (2) those which are pathologically identical with but possibly independent of similar disorders in other domesticated animals, and (3) those which are directly obtained from the dog, the ox, and so on. The sheep is remarkable for a paucity of diseases of the first class and non-liability to some disorders which seem of general occurrence in other species. Our knowledge of specific blood diseases of the sheep, however, is still deficient in that most important element, exactness.

Sheep-pox, Variola ovina, Clavelee (Fr.), Shafpoclcen (Ger.), demands careful and detailed attention, both because it is one of the most formidable plagues of sheep, and because it bears interesting relations with smallpox in

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

man and cow-pox in Lovines. It is one of the exanthemata or eruptive fevers, and is terribly contagious. There is no evidence whatever to support the view that it originates spontaneously ; althongh there are parts of Europe where its constant presence would seem to imply that it was quite at home there, yet in the historic period it is known to have been imported into most of those localities, and to have become domiciled either as a result of non-eradication or of the practice of inoculation being adopted as a routine method of protection. Thus, it is said by one author to be of African origin, bj another to come from Russia, and to exhibit a constant tendency to pass from east to west, in which it succeeds in degree exactly proportioned to the laxity or efficiency of the veterinary service of the country involved. As regards England, it is a fact of much interest that sheep-pox invasion has always been traceable to direct importation of the disease from the Continent, and that it has been over and over again recognised among sheep in ports of debarkation and invasion thus prevented. Almost every year the Veterinary Department of the Privy Council thus proves its value to the country. At times this disorder finds favouring conditions for spread in the state of the atmosphere, in climatic irregularities, or in disturbance of civil inspection by the march of armies, then sheep-pox spreads far and wide as though epizootic, and in newly-invaded countries it proves violent and active in the extreme. The losses of sheep resulting from this one disorder are very considerable ; thus it is estimated for one year (1819) that in France 1,000,000 died, and a similar number succumbed in Austria and Prussia. Our colonies are said to be happily free from it, but in these days of quick transit from Europe there is need for careful inspection to exclude it from Australia, New Zealand, America, and South Africa, where, from the conditions under which sheep are kept, its ravages would be terrible. This disease assumes various forms, in accordance, to an extent, with the surroundings of the animal, the state of its general health and the severity of the outbreak; thus it is variously

I ^,

IHi

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termed malignant and benign, discrete and confluent, astlienic and liyperstlieuic. It occasionally assumes tlie liEemorrhagic form, the vesicles filling with blood ; or the emphysematous, where gas collects beneath the cuticle and extends into the subcutaneous tissue by means of gangrenous complications. Occasionally cases of early fatality occur without the supervention of eruption, there being high fever, diarrhoea, general offensiveness of the evacuations, early prostration, and death.

The symptoms in ordinary cases are preceded by a period of incubation, which averages ten or eleven days, being six to eight days in the naturally acquired disease in summer but longer in cold weather, extending, according to Hurtrel d'Arboval, to as late as the twenty-fourth day. The inoculated disease has been known to incubate only three days, or to extend to as late as the twelfth day ; one observer even puts it at ten weeks ! Professor Simonds found the disease incubatory for seven to thirteen days in inoculation cases, and from nine to twelve in natural cases, and he gives as sufficient for practical purposes the phases of an attack, with their duration, as follows : Incubation, one to ten or eleven days; invasion, twelfth and thirteentb days ; papulation, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth days; vesiculation, seventeenth, eighteenthj and nineteenth days ; suppuration, twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second days ; twenty-third to twenty-eighth days desiccation and desquamation of crusts. It is estimated that an outbreak in a flock, if not due to inoculation, will extend over from three to six months ; the sheep which will exhibit immunity from attack are variously estimated at from 2 per cent, to 10 per cent. One month may be estimated as the duration of an individual attack, but it may be much prolonged by complications, such as severe arthritis, extensive sloughing of the skin, and shedding of the hoofs. The eigbth or nintb day after invasion is considered the most critical as regards the life of the animal, and the period of maximum contagiousness; there is reason to believe that the contagium is most persistent and is liable to convey the disease even after

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

apparent convalescence. On the oilier hand, it has been practically found that by separation of all the sheep which show the slightest sign of eruption immediately from the flock the plague may be stayed ; of course, this is a fact of the utmost practical importance. In an outbreak it has been observed that the earliest cases and the latest are comparatively mild, and not liable to extend beyond the papular stage. A less severe attack follows inoculation carefully performed than is ordinarily seen to occur naturally, and as one attack secures exemption from a

Migt;-x*

Fig. 4.Tlie appearance of skin in a case of sheep-pox, showing various-sized pocks (Gamoee).

second, unicity being a character of sheep-pox, in some countries prophylactic inoculation has been adopted as an economic measure. Simonds found that the eruption preceded the fever in an attack of this disorder, but other observers have (with improved thermometers) noted its occurrence lefure the eruption in considerable intensity, with a decline when eruption takes place and a slight second rise towards the stage of pustulation. A temperature of 108deg; F. is not rare on the second day, rigors are present, tlie ears and nose hot, the spine and limbs rigid^

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and pain exhibited wLen pressure is put on the loins ; the patient is dull, carries the head low, the ears droop, the pulse is quick, the eyes red, t'teces dry, and the animal stands quot; all of a heap.quot; The wool is unhealtliy and dry to the feel (quot;clappedquot;). Next the skin lesions begin to appear; they are best marked where the skin is most delicate, inside the thighs and arms, over the face, on the chest and belly, and under the tail; also they may occur on the udder, prepuce, labia, and anus. Around the eyes, nostrils, and mouth, and inside the limbs are where they are first looked for, namely, on the most thin and tender parts of the skin, whether ihose parts be covered by hair or wool; they are not, however, absent from under the general mass of the wool, as is especially evident later on in those

Fig. 5.Sheep-pox; the pocks few hut becoming confluent (Gamsee).

cases in which the wool begins to be shed and the skin to slough in patches. It is observed that at different parts of the body the eruption may be found in different stages, the invasion being gradual; also that on any one part all the pocks are not invariably in the same stage of development. What are called quot; flat variolas,quot; slow in development and lying between the more marked ones, are seen in weak animals and under adverse climatic conditions (Fleming). The skin where involved by the eruption is congested and dropsical. Simonds noted in many cases a preliminary diffused redness (roseola), which is important as an indication of the necessity for prompt isolation. Whether this be present or not, there will soon be seen

#9632;#9632;

DISBASES OF THE SHEEP.

small, fleabite-like spots, whicli are soon succeeded by nodules or papules about the size of a lentil-seed, sliglitly flat in the centre and of a florid red aspect. These appear two or three days after the thei'tnomoter indicates rise in temperature, and their number is not proportionate to the severity of the febrile attack. On the fonrth or fifth day of the eruption the nodules begin to undergo change into vesicles, but all do not thus develop, many simply disappearing. Such as do become vesicles are (rarely) um-bilicated, i. e. hollow at the centre, but as a rule are flat and with a well-marked prominent areola. On or about the sixth day a slight recrudescence of the fever is associated with change of the fluid in the vesicles. Hitherto this has been transparent, viscid, and sticky, and will not escape freely on puncture, because it has been produced in several epidermal cavities, the vesicle being multilocular. It now becomes turbid and the eruption of a yellow colour, so the attack assumes the pustular phase, although Simouds insists that there is true pustulation only in very protracted cases. This lasts from three to six days, and is followed by desiccation and desquamation, the contents of the eruption having transuded and dried on the surface as a scab, which is at first yellow, then becomes grey, and finally dark brown. It was from the peculiar, circular, thick black scabs, making the parts look as though they had round-headed nails driven into them, that the disease obtained its French name. These scabs are at first firmly adherent, but later they become loose, and are at last shed, leaving a deep red depression or quot; pit,quot; which remains hairless for a time, and the wool developed on which is always somewhat imperfect. Scratching of the sore parts with the feet or teeth, or rubbing them against posts, complicates the case, delays healing, and may prolong the period of convalescence. The sick animal has a peculiar honey-like, mawkish odour ; there is generally a thick discharge from the nostrils, which may be tinged with blood, the Schneiderian membrane has vari or nodules on it, the respiration is frequent and obstructed by the discharge collecting around the nostrils. The

#9632; f

;fe

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moutli is involved in the disorder, the lips being swollen, frothy saliva is collected in the mouth, the tongue is protruded and black, and the parts become fetid and unpleasant in odour. Mastication is difficult, the temperature of different parts of the body is unequal, thirst is constant, and the patient licks earth. Abortion generally occurs in pregnant ewes, and sometimes the young animal thus prematurely finding its way into the world is found to be actually affected with the disorder (Roll). Hertwig considered that affection of the mother served for protection of the foetus, but Girard succeeded in conveying the disease to lambs born from ewes which had been affected. There is generally much debility and loss of wool; diarrhoea usually precedes death. Occasionally an abortive secondary eruption appears; Hurtrel d'Arboval has observed the disease apparently hang fire in the papular stage. Of irregular or special cases we find that in which the disease does not get beyond the papular stage, the nodules becoming first grey, then brown or almost black, without areola, although the skin may be considerably inflamed ; this form of disease often assumes the asthenia type, in which the eruption is slow in development and respiratory and digestive complications are specially liable to occur. With much swelling of the head the eyes may be observed to undergo special changes; at first they are dull in appearance, and there is profuse discharge from them ; then they get clouded through turbidity of -the humours and opacity of the cornea; finally, the latter becomes perforated by ulceration, and the sight is completely lost. The disease is discrete when the pustules remain distinct; generally in such cases they are but few, situated on the face, inside the thighs, and on the belly. In the malignant form the eruption is very extensive, quick in development, and confluent, the several pocks running freely together. The fever runs very high in such cases, and all the symptoms of most aggravated disorder are present, for both the respiratory and digestive passages are the seat of eruption. The nodules are at an early stage of a livid colour, and undergo gangrenous changes, becoming emphy-

32nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

sematous before the animal's death, and the affected parts sloughing freely. The skin between the nodules is pete-chiated, and may crack in a zigzag manner, the body is very fetid, and the prostration extreme. Even if the animal J;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;recover he may be so crippled by sloughing of tissues as

to be worthless. In these malignant cases, especially, there may be subcutaneous abscesses and pus infiltrations, and the eyes, ears, and skin may slough extensively. The lym

phatic glands, too, may suppurate, and the animal succumb

either to pyannia or exhaustion. Gamgee particularises the emjohysematous form, but this is only a variety of the malisrnaat.

Causes.The contagium alone can produce sheep-pox ; it especially affects the young (particularly when cutting teeth) or the old, the pregnant and the adipose, males rather than females, and recently imported animals rather than those indigenous to, or thoroughly acclimatised in, a locality. After prolonged prevalence in any place the disease becomes less severe and less fatal. Overcrowdincf tends to spread of disease and increased severity of cases, and in cold, damp seasons the disease is specially liable to assume the asthenic form. Among housed sheep it is very common aud fatal (Gamgee), thus in Germany 9 per cent, of the sheep sometimes succumb. It spreads less rapidly in winter than in summer, and seems, therefore, to be somewhat periodic in its development; it assumes to an extent the cyclic character, being most prevalent and severe in some years, and in those countries where it almost constantly prevails proving very severe at intervals of five, ten, or fifteen years. The contagium has been made the subject of careful experimentation; from the results hereby obtained some general conclusions as to the nature of virus and zymotic disorders have been di'awn. The extreme contagiousness of the disease has led to its generally being considered infectious, and this is a difficult matter to disprove, for dust of dry scabs may be carried freely through the air to considerable distances. Chauveau has found that where there are no nodules of the respiratory passages the nasal mucus is not virulent; the same observer has

quot;

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found that the contagium is either itself solid or in intimate and indissoluble union with solid particles or corpuscles, which are extremely numerous in the contents of the vesicles. It is considered that contagion generally occurs through the air passages, but Chauveau has shown that it may result from absorption through the skin, Belliol has demonstrated it through the alimentary canal, other observers have induced it in various ways, notably through intravenous injection. The contagium is much more virulent than that of cow-pox, and Chauveau found it very active when the pulmonary nodules are being broken up. Sheep-pox matter may be diluted with 1500 times its volume of water before it begins to be uncertain in its action ; a temperature of 122deg; F. destroys the virus, as also do frost, jjutrefaction, and the process of suppuration (Haubuer). A good morning dew has been found to have a purifying influence on a pasture, so that a flock may be freely turned out after the grass has been thus moistened. The virus retains its activity for periods varying from one day up to six months or even a year ; if it be preserved in capillary tubes or between glass plates the contagious properties long persist, but if exposed to the natural influences of air and sunlight contagiousness soon declines and is lost. Well-dried sheepskins have been found to be harmless as a means of conveyance, but the red stains of the inner surface of the pelt indicating that the animal had suffered from sheep-pox may be detected long after the hide has been thoroughly dried (Gamgee). Contagion seems to hang about an affected animal for a long time ; thus care must be taken in intermingling recovered animals with the rest of the flock. Under ordinary circumstances the radius of infection has been put at 100 feet, but in windy weather and with the wind the contagium may be carried 1000 feet. The occurrence of the disease is influenced by elevation, for it undoubtedly is most often seen in low-lying places, though not absent at any range above sea level. Nomadic flocks are specially liable to convey the disorder, but dogs, shepherds, veterinary surgeons, pastures, houses, ejecta, and each and every animal or

inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;^;j

34nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

thing whicli comes in contact witli the sick may carry the contagium, for sheep-pox is rightly considered one of the most contagious of disorders.

Post-mortem examination, besides the state of skin, shows the degree to which the inteimal organs are involved ; the lymphatic glands are highly congested, solid red nodules occur in the subcutaneous tissue ; the nasal and oral membranes, and the lining mucous membranes of the pharynx, bronchial tubes, and trachea are the seat of vari or nodules, occasionally there are small ulcers in the larynx, and in the oesophagus and rumen may be found copper-coloured vari. The respiratory mucous mern-bi-ane is often inflamed throughout; here and there in the trachea is dirty, green, viscid mucus ; the lung parenchyma is infiltrated with blood and the abdominal viscera are more or less engorged with blood (Simonds). Serosan-guineous effusion into the thorax in some cases is present. Halber and Zurn have recorded the presence of vibrios, filaments, and ciliated cells in sheep-pox matter. Klein was under the impression that he had found a mycelium, but he subsequently modified his views, and out of the very numerous low organic forms which he and other observers have found in sheep-pox matter no special one can be selected as the sheep-pox organism.* Much of interest may be read in the article on this subject by Klein in the ' Veterinai-y Journal ' for 1875, for although his mycelial theory was withdrawn the actual observations there recorded are reliable, and the figures instructive. Chauveau has carefully worked out the pathological anatomy of sheep-pox ; he found that quot; the subcutaneous connective tissue participated largely in formation of the pustule, having become transformed into a thick gelatinous layer from which it was possible to extract a great quantity of very virulent liquid, proving that the pustules are the most active centres in the elaboration of the specific agents

* Klein, in liis quot; Micro-organisms,quot; tells us that Colin found very minute micrococci in variolous lymph, and he, himself, has found the skin lymphatics in the region of the pock in variola ovina filled with micrococci. The nature of these organisms as causa morbi has not yet been fully established.

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of the malady, and that it is in them that the study of the genesis and multiplication of these germs is most likely to be successfully carried out. He also remarked that, at the commencement, the irritation is distinctly limited to the skin itself, and more particularly to the surface of the derma and rete mucosum, as well in the spontaneous as in the inoculated pustule, extension of the morbid process ultimately involving the connective tissue. It is easy to discover when this extension occurs, and when the first modifications caused by the propagation of the specific irritant begin; this is the moment to choose for the study of the viruliferous elements. If one of the variolous vesicles is excised at this initial period, when the skin is only red and scarcely swollen, and the traces of the gelatinous substance which is beginning to appear on its under surface be removed by a pair of scissors, then squeezed into a little water on a glass, and a healthy sheep is inoculated, the animal will become affected as readily and effectively as if the matter had been extracted from a perfectly developed pustule. This shows that the virulent element is present luhen the very earliest local symptoms of irritation offer themselves. The skin so removed, where carefully and properly prepared for microscopical examination, exhibits: (1) Fasciculi of conjunctival tissue; (2) interfascicular cells in process of proliferation; (3) around the vessels, elongated and more or less considerable masses of white globules. The fasciculi of conjunctival tissue do not yet appear to be altered, but all the interfascicular cellular elements are considerably multi-

[1nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;plied and developed. There are very large oval or

spherical parent cells, each containing from twelve to fifteen small cells. There are also ramifying and even anastomosing cells, which only differ from the normal cells

'nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;of the conjunctival tissue by their distension. The most

numerous elements are the simple cells without prolongations. There are also masses of leucocytes or white globules accumulated along the sides of the vessels. A character common to all the cellular elements consists in the mass of protoplasm, or bioplasm, of which they are

---

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

U:*

composed being always granular, tliough at this early period few, if any, granules exist in a free condition outside these cells. This would tend to demonstrate that the virulent granules are not independent elements, multiplying by themselves, but form part of the cellular protoplasm iu which they arise and are developed, though they possess the same activity when free as when contained in this protoplasm quot; (quoted in Fleming's ' Veterinary Sanitary Science and Police'). The flesh of variolous sheep is said to produce diarrhoea, sickness, and low fever, but this requires to be confirmed ; it is described as soft, pale, moist, and unpleasant in odour (Walters).

Proynotsis.Even in benignant outbreaks a fatality of 10 to 20 per cent, is anticipated, and in average outbreaks, where slight cases are mixed with the more severe, 40 per cent, of the patients die; in England, where the disease has found a new territory, a mortality of 50 per cent, has been found ; in France, where the disease is fairly constant, the fatality averages 30 per cent. ; in severe outbreaks the whole flock perishes. Whether any particular case is or is not likely to recover will depend on the health of the patient prior to attack, its age, and the form which the disease assumes ; the influence of temperature is very marked, especially as regards the appearance and development of the skin lesions. Thus, Girard found in a flock with the pustules well developed, that a sudden change in the weather to cold and dump, caused the pustules to disappear, but when fine weather returned a new eruption showed itself. Weak and aged animals are so liable to die from the disease that Roll suggests, as an economic measure, destruction of animals thus predisposed, before their carcases and skins have become deteriorated by sheep-pox invading the flock and selecting them as victims. Apart from actual loss of individuals an outbreak involves considerable restrictions as to movement of sheep, much cost of treatment, and depreciation of stock. Thus it will be evident that measures for dealing with sheep-pox must be of a preventive rather than curative character; little can bo done in the latter direction,

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although some lives may be saved, especially as a result of careful nursing.

Extremely interesting but most conflicting results have been obtained in the study of variola ovina in relation to other variolons affections. There can be no doubt as to its being a disease independent from all other variola;, but it very closely resembles the pox of hares and rabbits. Prof. Simonds was very positive in his lectures as to its non-communicability to the goat, and used to suggest that inoculation would suffice as a test for distinguishing the two species. The latest researches in this direction, those of Bremond ('Veterinary Journal/ June, 1888, p. 399), tend to confirm those of the English observer, though they are opposed to results obtained by such excellent authorities as Hertwig, Hering, Gerlach, and Peuch. It is stated that the disease as developed in the goat is recommunicable to the sheep. Zundel says he has seen cases of infection of cattle through cohabitation with affected sheep, pigs have been successfully inoculated with sheep-pox matter by Haubner. Roll says the disease is communicable to both cattle and mankind, and Sacco, in the case of the latter, found it protective against smallpox. Körner gives cases of conveyance to mankind. Cases are on record where dogs have been affected ; Haubner found the disease thus induced was not recommunicable to the sheep. Naunyn and Simonds have failed to communicate it to the horse and ass.

quot; Küchenmeister made a sheep breathe during one hour air which was made to traverse the shirt worn for twelve hours by a patient who was suffering from smallpox. Five days afterwards the disease commenced, and the eighth day a well-marked eruption of variola was developed in the sheepquot; (Fleming).

Smallpox being thus communicable to the sheep, vaccination was tried as a preventive of sheep-pox. The vaccination quot; tookquot; and the disease passed through its different stages, but on inoculation with ovine virus, one fifth of the cases became affected (Youatt, quoting for Hurtrel d'Arboval.) Manson and Simonds tried vaccina-

^^^^^H

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

tion in 1802, Jennerian, Badcockian, and Smallpox Hospital lymph being used ; 71 cases out of 200 took, but sometimes this vaccination took a second or even a third time. Cecly's experiments gave the same results, moreover, ho found that vaccinated sheep take ovino pox naturally. Pipin (' Wocheusch. f. Thierlieil. u. Thierzuclit/ 1870) gives as a result of his researches that vaccination is an efficient substitute for sheep-pox inoculation. The vaccine disease of sheep seems to be purely local, it differs from the same disease in mankind. There is seldom more than a small papule, occasionally resulting in formation of a minute vesicle (or, more commonly, pustule), sometimes, but rarely, with a slight areola. Usually merely a small scab forms at the seat of puncture, and falls, leaving no trace. The disease ends on the eighth or ninth day or even before. On the fifth or sixth day occasionally lymph is obtainable.

We need dwell on this obscure point of the inter-relations of variolous affections no longer, but merely remark that evidence tends to show that the variolse are under certain conditions intercommunicable between the different species, but, as a rule, with difficulty and without mutually prophylactic influence, one exception being in the case of cow-pox as preventing smallpox. No form of variolation other than inoculation with sheep-pox has hitherto been found of benefit for repression or prevention of ovine variola. The differences hetween the eruptions of sheep-pox and smallpox are worth remembering; Youatt thus mentions them : quot; That of smallpox was developed in the texture of the skin, and surrounded by a rose-coloured areola, that of the clavelee was evidently more deeply seated; it reached to the subcutaneous cellular tissue, and it was surrounded by an areola of far deeper colour. The virus of smallpox was usually contained in a simple capsule, which elevated the scarf-skin, the virus of the sheep-pox seemed to be more diffused through the cutaneous and subcutaneous tissue, and there was abundantly more swelling and inflammation. The matter of smallpox was first limpid, then it became turbid, puriform,

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and at length assumed the form of white or yellow or thick pus, which hecanie concrete, and a scab was formed which became at first yellow, and then brown, and then black, and when it fell off left an impression or depression more or less distinct on the surface of the skin. The pustules of the sheep-pox before there was any appearance of pus degenerated into scabs, or formed a hard or thick crust, under which the pus accumulated ; and when that scab fell off there was a sore left behind, or sometimes a deep ulcer. There were other particulars of disagreement, but these would be sufficient to prove that they were not identical diseasesquot; ('The Sheep').

Treatment.Foremost under this heading comes the operation of inoculation, quot; ovination quot; as Simonds calls it, quot; clavelisation quot; as it is termed in France. The economy and utility of this process has been much debated, and it has been fully ascertained that certainly it is not advisable as a routine process in countries little liable to invasion and where the disease may almost invariably be excluded by portal inspection. In some Continental countries, on the high road of sheep traffic and neighbouring on States where the disease is constantly present, so great is the risk all sheep run that inoculation is deemed advisable, even though, since the inoculated is as contagious as the natural disease, it tends to keep and even diffuse sheep-pox in the country. Although the disease resulting from inoculation is itself mild it seems that disease acquired hj contagion from an inoculated sheep may prove as severe to another sheep as would the natural disorder. The value of inoculation depends on (1) the unicity of sheep-pox, its non-recurrence in the same subject, an animal which has recovered from an attack seeming to furnish a sterile soil for the disorder; (2) the fact that the disease thus generated is milder than the natural disease, and can, by accurate selection of favorable time and circumstances, be reduced in fatality to 1 or 2 per cent.; (3) all the sheep of a flock, except the few which enjoy immunity, can be made to suffer from the disease simultaneously, and in this way

3S!T

DISEASES OV THE SUEEI'.

the duration of sheep-pox on the farm, and of the consequent harassing regulations and restrictions, can bo limited approximately to six weeks instead of the six months during which the natural disease would probably last. The induced disease requires all the care in nursiug and prevention of diffusion that the natural form demands. If this be attended to, extremely had results, such as tetanus, gangrene with sloughing, and lymphangitis resulting in pyajmia, will be avoided. Whether or not the attack retards the growth of young animals does not seem to be quite established ; it probably does so to an important extent only in the case of lambs which are being brought forward for early slaughter. When it can be arranged conveniently only healthy animals should be operated on, and pregnant, rutting, or recently shorn sheep, also those in a very fat state, should be avoided as likely to swell the mortality, and they should be left until they are more suitable for the operation. However, they generally must be ovinated at all risk, for when adults are so treated it is in consequence of outbreak of sheep-pox on a farm in the immediate neighbourhood, when the germs of disease may actually bo in the flock, to limit duration of attack and render it mild, lessen the amount of treatment required, and also the deleterious effects of the disorder on the wool, skin, flesh, and progeny. Lymph must be selected from transparent vesicles, and un-contaminated with blood, pus, or crust ; the subject from which it is taken should be suffering from a mild attack of the regular disease and not affected simultaneously with other diseases such as rinderpest or rabies, of which instances are on record. quot; The best type of pustule is one which is circular or oval in shape, prominent and well formed, which is detached without difficulty or pain, with the skin from the subjacent parts j which is slightly pale at its circumference and on the surface, and the investing pellicle of which is easily removed quot; (Fleming). The details of preparation of lymph at the Vienna School are fully described in Fleming's 'Veterinary Sanitary Science and Police,' with information concerning the inoculated

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disease and the process of inoculation. The leading points are, modification of the virus by inoculation through several generations of healthy sheep, the preliminary lymph being selected from the most regular and best cases, and that to be retained being taken from the inoculated sheep which have the mildest attacks ; finally, it is found inoculation induces but one pustule, and that most suitable for collecting lymph. In the Vienna Veterinary School the virus has not become inert after 297 transmissions. The lymph must be kept in a dark place and away from free access of the air. Roll finds that careful ovination from a natural case simply produces local eruption, but is efficacious as a preventive, and he denies the attenuating effect of the so-called, culture. The routine inoculation is generally performed on lambs just after they are weaned, the under surface of the tail, ear, or inside of the thigh being selected as the seat of operation (but the latter is thought to be the most liable to gangrenous complications). Seton, incision of skin, abrasion of the epidermis, or puncture is resorted to, but puncture seems to be preferred; this must, according to Simonds, be slight and in two places, except when the lymph is fresh, under which circumstance one puncture will suffice. The following details of the operation are given by Fleming : quot; The animals are fixed in the following manner : If the inoculation is to be made direct from the sheep which bears the pustule that animal is thrown down, and fixed on two bundles of straw tied together by a cord to the right of the operator. If the inoculation is to be practised on the inside of the thigh, the sheep to be operated ⁴nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; upon is placed on its back on two bundles of straw or on

a table immediately in front of the operator, who seizes the hind limb which is at liberty (usually the right), compresses it above the hock, in pulling the skin outwards so as to make it tense at the seat of puncture. This mode requires a number of assistants if there are many animals, and if it is desired that no delay should occur. An animal should be always secured and ready to be operated upon as soon as one has been inoculated, and an assistant

IMlaquo;,...___.._,JWLJ

ill

42nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

quot;

should be at hand, charging a needle with the virus. If the tail be chosen two modes may be adopted : the sheep may be thrown down and held by an assistant on a bank or on straw in such a way that the tail shall be towards the operator, its under surface, destitute of wool, being undermost; or the animal may be kept standing, its head held between the legs of the assistant, who seizes it by the wool on its back and presents its croup to the operator. The latter, stooping slightly, catches the tail, turns it upward over the back, and inserts the charged needle beneath the epidermis at two or three inches from the root. If the ear is to be inoculated, the sheep is placed

on its side or seated at the left of the operator. Whatever

region be chosen, the charged needle is to be introduced beneath the skin, its fluted side upwards, and when it has penetrated to the depth of a line or a line and a half, it is turned round, slight pressure being made on Bnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;its sides by means of the surrounding skin, to ensure its

5^;,

being deprived of the lymph. If the epidermis is torn by the needle it will be necessary to make a new punc-tui-e.quot; The inoculated disease is generally benign, and the seat of puncture undergoes the usual changes, the quot; flea-bite^' like spot on third or fourth day, followed by the nodule aiid vesicle ; the latter attains its maximum development on ninth or eleventh day, and is then of a bluish-white or yellow tint, and yields a clear, colourless, stringy fluid. It has disappeared, with exception of the

l: i

resulting pit, in about thirty days. With regard to

rapidity of absorption of virus from the seat of puncture Reynault (in experiments not unopen to objection) has endeavoured to show that cauterization of inoculated sheep-pox wounds within five minutes after introduction |nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;of the virus did not prevent development of the disease.

Inoculated animals require shelter and proper nursing.

Stamping out the disease by occision (or slaughter) is the treatment prescribed by the Contagious Diseases

t i

(Animals) Act, and no doubt it is best for the country at large. Prohibition or regulation of imports of sheep from infected countries can be made by Order of Council. In

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a flock early and careful isolation of affected sheep has been found effectual in checking spread (' Farmers' Magazine/ xvi, p. 524, quoted hy Simouds). Treatment comprises careful nursing and stimulant tonics in special cases, also such measures to meet complications as the medical knowledge of tlie veterinary attendant will suggest. The main matter is to prevent, and the measures necessary for tliis purpose may be given in detail Lere (as collected from Fleming's standard work on ' Sanitary Science and Police'), because they are applicable in all contagious diseases of sheep, and so will be available for future reference :

I.nbsp; nbsp;Government action.

(1)nbsp; nbsp;Laws and orders giving the powers necessary for action in the requisite manner.

(2)nbsp; nbsp;A reliable veterinary sanitary force to carry out those laws and to advise as to their enforcement.

II.nbsp; nbsp;Portal and frontier inspection. Certificate of health of imports, quarantine (in case of sheep-pox, for a fortnight), or immediate slaughter with due precautions for isolation en route to slaughter-house.*

III.nbsp; nbsp;District and country inspectionj as of fairs, markets, and travelling flocks.

IV.nbsp; nbsp;Farm or sheep-walk measures.

(1) During prevalence in the neighbourhood.

(a) Frequent inspection of all the sheep individually.

* Regulations for Inspection of Imported Sheep from and after Z\at March, 1871.Broad arrow, 4 in. lonir, to be clipped on forehead of foreign sheep landed for slaughter. All animals landed to be detained twelve hours and longer if suspected; and no animal or part of animal to be removed without permit from inspector. Inspection to be as soon as possible after landing, and final inspection not earlier than twelve hours after, and by davlight. Affected sheep to be kept apart from healthy, the latter to be slaughtered without post-mortem examination, former to be examined post mortem. Lairs, amp;c., not to be used after infection until thoroughly disinfected. All sheep of a variola-invaded cargo to be slaughtered at landing place; unaffected ones on permission of Commissioners of Customs. In foot-and-mouth disease the cargo may be moved to ordinary slaughter place; affected animals to be always slaughtered at landing place, except in scab, when may be moved with rest of cargo to slaughter-house (' Veterinarian,' 1871).

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(b)nbsp; nbsp;Quarantine of recently purchased animals for a fortnight at least.

(c)nbsp; nbsp;Exclusion of wandering sheep and of individuals (canine and human) who may carry contag'ion.

{d) Good hygiene. (2) On outbreak.

(a) Prompt isolation of the sick, suspects, and \inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;segregation of invaded flock.

(h) Prompt report to the Government Veterinary Inspector or police.

(c)nbsp; nbsp;Slaughter or strictest isolation of all diseased.

(d)nbsp; nbsp;Destruction of carcases in bad cases by burning or burying in quicklime.

(e)nbsp; nbsp;Carcases, when passed by the veterinary officer, may be used as food, and dried and disinfected skins and wool may be disposed of in the same way, to lessen loss from the outbreak.

'gt;

(/) Disinfection of houses, fields, and other places

occupied by the sick, of articles used by them, and of men and dogs in charge, should be rigidly carried

J:i

out in accordance with instructions from the

veterinary officer.

(g) The sick should be kept at a distance exceeding 1000 feet (whenever practicable) from roads or other public places, and from where other sheep are

kept.

(//) Suspects should not be removed from segre-

gation until a full fortnight has elapsed since the last

case occurred in this part of the flock, and before being discharged each sheep should be thoroughly washed with some disinfectant.

(i) Cases which recover should remain isolated ?nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; for at least a fortnight after all scabs are shed,

and should be thoroughly disinfected before being allowed to intermingle with the rest of the flock. Finally, the extreme contagiousness of the disease must be again insisted on. Unless every possible source of carriage of the extremely minute particles which constitute the contagium be carefully attended to the precautionary

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measures will be insufficient; hangevs-on wto have come to see how the flock is getting on, butchers with an eye of profit out of the farmer's mist'ortuDe, carcases of slaughtered sheep, strays from other flocks, clothes, thermometers, amp;c., of veterinary surgeons, all need disinfection.

Varicella Ovium is the chicken-pox of sheep, and has been described by Gamgee, Fleming, and some foreign writers. It lasts from four to six days and is characterised by small red nodules which in from twelve to twenty-four hours become conical pustules. It is sometimes considered merely an abortive form of sheep-pox. Goat-pox, Variola caprina, is said to be especially frequent in Norway. Hertwig describes it as more resembling cow-pox than sheep-pox, the eruption being brief and principally on the udder j however, there is ample evidence that goat-pox is an independent disorder. Fleming gives full details concerning it in his work on ' Human and Animal Variolae.'

Anthrax, Braxy; Hsemostasis ; inflammatory fever; maladie de Sologne ; Cumberland disease ; quot; pining;quot; splenic apoplexy ; gloss-anthrax } great-head ; typhus. These numerous and varied terms have been applied by different writers or in various places to the derangements which result from the presence and effects of Bacillus anthracis in the blood and other tissues. To each name is attached a history of considerable interest hut too long to be detailed here; one or two facts, however, about the various names which the disorder has acquired may be referred to by us, since they serve to give some idea of the nature of the disease. Anthrax is the name accepted by science for the series of disorders in higher animal forms which in their cause depend on a special bacillus, B. anthracis, and these range from malignant carbuncle of man, through the Loodiana fever of the horse, splenic apoplexy and its allies in cattle, and braxy of sheep, to the obscure fatalities of fish which occur in rivers into which anthrax-contaminated pastures drain. Anthrax is now the name accepted as linking together these numerous, fatal, and most important disorders, and quot; anthracoid quot; is

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

the term applied to allied derangements not due to Bacillus anthracis. The professional reader will have been familiarised with the life-history of the bacillus by his study of its effects on cattle and horses; the non-professional, who is interested in the subject (and it is the centre around which the progress of modern medicine is pivoting), must be referred to the various encyclopaediae of medicine, for we have space and time at command only sufficient for a practical study of its effects on sheep, and shall notice the bacillus only casually here and there in the course of completion of our aims.

Beaxy is the derivative of a Gaelic word broc or brae, the disease (Gamgee), and implies a disorder more familiar and terrible than all others, just as epizootic anthrax in man has been termed the plague, as cholera is emphatically termed morhus, and as rinderpest is the cattle plague. Braxy was the name crudely applied to any enzootic or epizootic fatality the exact nature of which the shepherd was too careless or ignorant to determine ; but Hogg expresses the results of observations of the careful and educated shepherds of whom he was the representative, in dividing braxy into four forms,bowel sickness, sickness in the flesh and blood, dry braxy, and spauld. The two former are anthrax; dry braxy apparently was enteritis and other disorders where colic is the leading symptom; and the black spauld is quarter-ill, an authracoid affection to be noted hereafter. Professor Brown considers it not absolutely proved that braxy is not septi-casinia; Dr. Hamilton states he has found the Bacillus anthracis in braxy, and this is the conclusive test of anthrax disorders. To these forms of braxy are by some shepherds added two others, dumb braxy or dysentery, and water braxy, which in some cases is over-distension of the bladder and inflammation of it as a complication, such as may result from calculi in the urethra, in other cases it is the familiar sanguineous ascites or red water. Hajmatosepsis, haemostasis, and other terms, were applied by Professor Siraonds when, in his Lectures on Diseases of Cattle and Kheep, he used to differentiate the several

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forms of anthrax. Inflammatory fever was used by Youatt as expressive of his ideas concerning' the pathology of the anthrax cases seen by him among sheep in England. Maladie de Sologne is adduced as one of the names the disease has acquired from its marked prevalence in a special locality in France, just as anthrax among horses in India is commonly known as Loodiana fever. Pining is a name which Fleming gives as applied to anthrax of sheep in some parts of Scotland ; other authors say that this name is applied to tuberculosis, but we have reason to believe that Fleming is correct in his view. Splenic apoplexy and gloss-anthi-ax are terms used to indicate special manifestations of the disease. quot; Great-head quot; is applied by Hogg to an obscure and sudden tumefaction which gives some evidence of being anthracic in its nature, but may be due to other causes. Typhus is evidently adopted by Youatt as a suitable name for the intestinal form of the disorder. Thus braxy may be divided into hill braxy or braxy proper, and certain false braxies, and anthrax, which is the true braxy, assumes in the sheep, as in the horse and ox, various forms which we may notice under several headings, fii'st dealing with the generalised form of the disease, anthrax fever, next with the several localised forms known as splenic apoplexy, gloss-anthrax, external or carbuncular anthrax, and the intestinal variety. Antheax Fevee often appears in the flock as sudden and inexplicable death of two or three sheep in convulsions ; or after a severe storm several of the animals may be found dead, although previously they seemed quite well. Lambs are often taken with what is called quot; staggers,quot; which runs through the flock like wildfire. It is similar to quot; blood quot; in cattle (Youatt). When the sheep are carefully watched some premonitory symptoms may be observed, the patient being off feed and there being a short period of excessive liveliness, a florid condition of the mucous membranes, or a slowness and shortness of the step, with straight carriage of the head due to stiffness of neck, which attract attention. In other cases the animal is sluggish and difficult to get to move with the rest of the flock, he

;' 1

43nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

tends to lag beliincl the rest, lie looks ill, and staggers about. When death has not been sudden, some or all of the following symptoms are present in these oases: feverishness, dulness, separation from the rest of the flock, ifnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; loss of appetite and off the cud, hanging head, ears pen-

dulous and cold, eyes shut and weeping, the patient stupid, restless, or delirious, straining as though to expel urine, the fluid which is expelled dark-coloured and

scanty, constipation, almost constant recumbency, apo-

plectic symptoms, and speedy death. There may be present expulsion of sanious mucus from the nostrils, Kinbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; bloody matter intermingled with the fasces, swelling of

the head or legs, which becomes emphysematous, forming marked prominences along the back and sides ; tyrapany is frequently present, the visible mucous membranes are of a deep red colour, but in the mouth peculiar light-violet patches have been noted, the heart's action becomes

tumultuous, the body temperature, at first very high, soon

becomes very low, muscular tremors occur, and various oedemata and subcutaneous blood infiltrations, especially about the shoulders and neck, set in before death. Extreme prostration and a want of resisting power is a phenomenon of the disease throughout its course. The sheep, most readily of all species, contracts anthrax by inoculation, and the disease in this species is very virulent. Some few animals recover, and though it prevails in the flock as an enzootic the disease does not affect certain individual sheep, which for some reason or other enjoy immunity. Its victims seem to be selected from

;

the best sheep in the flock, and those which have been

thriving most rapidly. It is very apt to show itself after jnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;the flock has been moved from poor to rich pasture, and

is frequently associated with the plethoric state of animals being prepared for the butcher. It is observed on particular pastures at every season of the year in a sporadic form, sheep being found dead in the morning without any previous sickness having been noticed among them, and without any marks of violence. In Scotland it is considered to be sjjecially destructive on high moorlands, and salt

laquo;

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marshes are reputed to be to a great extent exempt. WLenever slieep are forced with rich food the disease may occur. The shooting up of fresh grass in the spring, and the consequent increase in nourishment after the hard fare in winter, is a frequent condition under which anthrax shows itself, for nothing is more provocative of it than alternations of starvation and plenty. Want of exercise, too much oil-cake, sudden change of the weather to a frost (Hogg), chills (as from rain, a cold bath when heated, or a drink of very cold water), morning dew on pastures, and numerous other causes have been associated with attacks. In Italy and Corsica low-lying pastures are freely grazed during winter, but the flocks are exterminated if not removed to the ruouutains before summer. Simple change of locality sometimes seems to secure exemption from anthrax, at any rate temporarily (Fleming). Gamgee noted that most deaths occur at the time of full moon, when the sheep overeat, and are restless, and do not lie down as on dark nights ; also cold weather, especially when the nights are dark and tempestuous, increases the number of fatalities. Bad water-supply and cold, damp pastures are sometimes, apparently, specially operative in its production; animals of all ages succumb, those in poor condition are least often affected, and most likely to recover. Some have found anthrax most prevalent in cases of turnip feeding, others in constipation from dry food. Thus the most varied, and often opposite, causes are supposed to be at Ayork to produce anthrax or braxy; of the occasional determining influence of these different causes, as noted by various observers, there can be no doubt, but it is now certain that there ia one factor without which none of them can produce the specific disorder. This one factor is the anthrax bacillus, which may remain in the system awaiting its time for manifestation of its presence by fatal results, and the various circumstances above alluded to are those under which it finds its opportunity, either of access to the body or of action in the body. Plethora is extremely favorable to development of the organism, and temporary

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disturbances of vitality of the sheep seem to enable it to make headway. Chauvoau has commented on the apparent immnnity of Algerian sheep from charbon (anthrax), and has hoped from it to learn in what resides nature's means of prophylaxis. The disease has heen thought to be infectious and contagious, but this is still debated. Roche Lubin succeeded in conveying the disease to a sheep from a cow at the distance of eight metres ; Boutet was successful in conveying the disease by cohabitation ; sheep tied to windward of the grave of an anthrax patient have become affected; and in sheep which reoccupied a stable tnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;after closure for twenty days the disease broke out on

the fourteenth day. Feser found that lambs may with impunity suck an antln-ax-affected ewe, but that the milk is virulent when injected subcutaneously or on gaining entry at an abrasion. Barthelemy and Renault tried the effects of cohabitation in gloss-anthrax, the form which most frequently seems contagious, but did not succeed in conveying the disease. Renault hung up the remains of anthrax carcases in a confined space, but sheep enclosed with them did not become affected. Pastures contaminated with blood and other fluids from anthrax carcases, also water containing the bacilli or their spores, are the most common infecting media; thus the animal becomes more formidable after death to its fellow-sheep and animals of other species than before death. Malignant carbuncle in man results from the entry of anthrax blood into small wounds, even almost imperceptible scratches ; woolsorters' disease* results from inhalation of pulverised anthrax

* Aitken, in his ' Science and Practice of Medicine,' says, quot;The sorting of alpaca and mohair has long been known to be attended with considerable risk to life. Also the sorting of all wools and hairs whicb are dry, dusty, and more or less filthy from contamination with decomiiosing animal matter, particularly if 'fallen fleeces' are present; and all kinds of goat's hair,camel's hair, low-class East Indian, Persian, and such-like wools, are injurious to bealtb : (1) from the dust and fine short hairs which arise from them exciting chronic disease of the lungs; (2) from the amount and virulence of poison from decomposing animal matter that is liberated producing a low form of pncmnonia (septic pneumonia) ; (3) from a specific blood poison derived from the fleeces of animals which have died from anthrax producing the rapidly fatal disease now known as ' woolsorters' disease.' quot;

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matter from the wool of diseased sheep ; a case is recorded of a shepherd, in bleeding' a braxy sheep, getting a drop of blood in bis eye, not washing it out, and dying from anthrax in three days. These are illustrations of the necessity there is for extreme care in dealing with anthrax carcases or anthrax products. The flesh is very dangerous as food in conditions where it can be eaten imperfectly cooked, and it has frequently proved fatal to dogs, pigs, and men ; but when thoroughly cooked or specially prepared it is constantly eaten without appreciable ill effect. Thus it is stated that quot; mutton hams,quot; or braxy hams, by some esteemed a delicacy, are prepared by bleeding the carcass of a sheep which died of anthrax, skinning, cutting up, washing, salting in a barrel, and subsequently smoking it for the market, where it finds a ready sale and is not known to do any harm. The annual loss from this disease in Scotland has been put at 150,000 sheep ; in certain low-lying lands it is considered, in spite of every precaution, to kill 4 per cent, of the sheep ; Gamgee says hill braxy is as widely distributed in the world as the hill races of sheep. There can be no doubt of the almost universal prevalence of the disorder, which will (in Great Britain) ere long be established by its more thorough and careful recognition, since it has recently been included in the Contagious Diseases (Animals') Act.

Post-mortem examination shows a dark, tarry condition of the blood and imperfect coagulability ; congested and enlarged state of the lymphatic glands ; bladder full of bloody urine ; red serous effusion in the various cavities, and gelatinous extravasations along the course of large blood-vessels, as at the root of the mesentery and in the groin and axilla. Petechiaa and blood extravasations in the substance and on the surface of organs (especially in the tissues of the skin), and dark blood intermingled with the contents of viscera, are also present, the body undergoes decomposition rapidly, the process having commenced even before death, thus the odour of the carcass is very offensive. The liver and spleen are gene-

DISEASES OF THE SIIEEP.

rally enlarged, and contain petechite or extensive blood extravasations. (Edemata present before death may seem to have quite disappeared when the autopsy is müde. The lesions arc different in various cases, and not definite.

Splenic Apoplexy is described by Dick as frequent in sheep, whereas Youatt mentions it as more frequent among cattle than sheep in England, the reverse being the case on the Continent, especially in France. In this form of anthrax the animal is evidently out of sorts, stands quot; all of a heap,quot; with the back bowed and the four feet together, and when the flock is made to move the best falter and pant. There is distress of countenance, a dull and heavy state of the eyes, grinding of the teeth, moaning, almost incessant bleating from pain, frequent rising and lying. A tendency to tympany after feeding, fteces soft and intermingled with mucus and blood ; the fleeces of some will be perhaps noticed to be stained with the red urine of the affected animals. The gait is faltering, the wool clapped, the mouth dry and perhaps the scat of ulcers or pustules, the breath is most offensive. If an attempt be made to withdraw blood it is found black in colour, and it comes away very slowly. Dick describes the animal as lying mostly on the right side, as suffering pain when pressed on the left side, and as quot; mopping with the lips ;quot; he also makes the rather extraordinary statement that the quot; viscera of the abdominal cavity sometimes burst.quot; Different cases differ somewhat in their symptoms and course, but the majority are extremely rapid in their progress, although the disease has been known to extend over four days. The spleen is seen after death to weigh from eight to twenty ounces, its normal weight being about one-tenth of this ; it has been found ruptured, with escape of blood into the abdominal cavity.

Gloss-Anthkax, also termed Blain, is less often seen in sheep than in cattle ; cases of it may occur sporadically or enzootically. It seems more frequent on the Continent than in Great Britain. The special symptoms are slavering, a mixture of blood and thick mucus in the

mim

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saliva, which is highly offensive; gangrene along the sides of the tongue, with vesicular prominences containing putroscent gas ; sloughing, ulceration, or abscess of lymphatic glands in the affected parts. Swelling of the head and neck occurs to a marked degree, and the animal is in imminent dano-er of suffocation. This formidable condi-tion has been especially found among sheep in Galloway, the G-rampians, and Skye (Hogg), and was attributed to infection, atmospheric influence, exposure, and bad food, also to supernatural influences. Gamgee has found shelter, and twenty grains of nitre per hog daily, with bran and bruised linseed, very effectual as a preventive.

External Anthkax, carlmncular fever, anthracoid erysipelas, is rare, but described as affecting especially the head and the udder. Another favourite locality is the inside of the thigh, where inflammation sets in, and gangrene (commencing apparently at the glands of the groin) extends to the walls of the belly and along the thigh, causing death in a few hours, the most thriving of the flock falling victims to the disorder, of which high fever and stiffness or well-marked lameness are the leading symptoms.

The intestinal VARIETY, enteromycosis, of anthrax is that in which the bowels are the seat of extensive extravasations, and the faecal evacuations consist almost solely of anthracic blood.

Treatment of anthrax is seldom effectual. Gamgee reminds ns that if sheep when first (and early) noticed to be diseased be made to constantly move about, an attack may be warded off. Blood-letting has been found of benefit; the rough method of cutting off the ears or tail at their roots is barbarous, and is ineffectual because sufficient blood will not be obtained ; the jugular should be opened, and even from it the flow will be sluggish, and, we are warned, the amount of eight ounces should not be exceeded. Friction about the head and to the extremities may be of some use, free administration of salt and carbolates, sulphites or hyposulphites, intravenous iujectious of ammonia and corrosive sublimate, doses

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

IIlaquo;

of carbolic acid, large doses of catliartic agents, also of oil of turpentine and other stimulants, have occasionally apparently been of henefit, but the suddenness of attack, rapidity of progress, and inaccessibility of the parasitic cause of the disease, render curative treatment of anthrax of sheep almost hopeless. Prevention consists in reducing the plethora of the animals as soon as possible by cathartics, low feed, and even bleeding and sctoning. Bleeding is generally considered the best method in emergency. Transfer from the pasture where the disease was acquired should be carried out if practicable, and as thorough a change in the diet made as possible. It will probably prove an economic measure to at once dispose of all sheep in high condition on an invaded pasture to the butcher.

Among the benefits which the genius of Pasteur has conferred on agriculturists is that of quot; anthrax vaccination quot; for the protection of sheep from the ravages of the disorder. The balance of evidence is very strongly in favour of this measure, which is becoming very extensively adopted as a routine matter of sheep management in France and other countries, to such an extent that Pasteur has a difficulty in meeting the demands of farmers for supply of his special lymph. This vaccine is sent out in closely-corked tubes, each of which contains sufficient to inoculate 50, 100, 200, or 300 goats or sheep, according to size. With this is sent a suitable Pravaz syringe for hypodermic injection. This instrument is first filled with the fluid, the stylet is removed from the needle, which is fixed on the syringe, then the vaccine is shaken and drawn into the syringe, so as to fill it completely, by slow withdrawal of the piston.

For sheep and goats, when the syringe is quite full the little brass marker on the stem of the piston must be placed at the division marked 1. An assistant must then take hold of the animal which is to be inoculated and hold it firmly by its forelegs in the required position (see Fig. 6). The operator must next insert his needle under the skin in the middle of the right thigh, and push

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the piston until the marker touches the syringe. The inoculation of the first animal is then complete. The syringe is drawn hack, the brass marker is placed at the division marked 2 on the stem of the piston, and the second animal is operated upon, and so on, each syringe holding enough to inoculate eight. When empty the syringe must be filled up again in the same way as before. With a little practice a man would soon be able to inoculate 150 sheep per hour. Twelve or fourteen days after the first operation the process must be repeated with the second vaccine, but this time the injection must be made in the left thigh of the animal, i. e. in the one which has not been already operated on {vide M. Pasteur's circular with the vaccine). The details above given are extremely minute, and unnecessarily so for the veterinary practitioner, but they have been found essential for the agriculturist, as vaccination for anthrax is not without its dangers. No tube should be used later than the evening of the day on which it was opened. Every care must be taken to ensure that the animal be inoculated with the first vaccine before it receives the lymph, or the latter may prove fatal. The details in full may be read in vol. iii, No. 9, of the ' Quarterly Journal of Veterinary Science in India/

Among the many interesting experiments as regards anthrax made by French workers, the following deserves notice : the sheep, as being small and easy to handle, has the misfortune to be convenient for such researches. Chauveau took animals known to bo refractory to the anthrax poison, secured them almost completely from infection (by protective inoculation) and then injected into the vein enormous quantities of anthrax bacilli. The respiration immediately became painful, the head was extended, the mouth was opened and foamed, its mucous membrane became cyanoscd, a moaning expiration was kept up; sudden panting movements of the sides were accompanied by a very rapid pulse and stupor ; defascation was repeated several times, becoming diarrhocul ; bacteria were found in the blood fifteen minutes after transfusion.

DISEASES OF TUE SflKKT,

If!

Fig. 6.The vaccination.

Fig. 7.Withdrawal of tlio lyinpli from tube.

Fig. 8.A vaccine tube.

FlO. 9.Withdrawal uf lymph.

Fig. 10.The syringe.

Illustrations of Pasteur's anthrax vaccination (adapted from those of the circular with his vaccine).

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but they were few ; after two to six hoars they could not be found. One sheep, imperfectly protected, died from true splenic fever in about sixteen hours ; another died in twelve hours but not of true splenic fever, for no culture of the organisms could be obtained, and two hours after death scarcely any trace of them was found. Four died in 46 to 100 hours, of local proliferation of bacilli in tho pia mater producing meningitis. The two remaining sheep recovered, made good mutton, and wore eaten. Thus, bacilli in such cases rapidly disappear from the blood but are not destroyed, as they enter some parenchymatous organs, and if the subject survives the operation more than three days they disappear altogether. The surface of the brain seems suitable to growth of the organisms, being somewhat similar to that of cultures, different from natural disease ('Veterinarian/ 1881, p. 183). It is right to state that many scientific workers, notably those of Germany and Great Britain, have not attained anything like M. Pasteur's published success with his anthrax vaccine. Klein, for example, found that of sheep vaccinated according to the instructions some died, and the rest were not protected from the disorder. Thus we can at present hardly consider Pasteur's method as to be adopted universally, though that it promises to lead to most important results must be conceded. Other methods of lessening the activity of the virus, such as those suggested by Chauveau and Toussaint, and also Klein and Roy's culture of the bacillus in the white mouse (whereby it loses its fatal activity on sheep), may possibly supplant Pasteur^Js in the future; Klein has found that blood of a mouse dead of anthrax, of whatever source, does not kill sheep, but if culture be made of the bacilli of the blood of such a mouse the bacilli of this new culture, with or without spores, kill sheep. Also if a culture of bacillus of the blood of a guinea-pig be established and kept at 42deg; to 43deg; C. (107-6⁰ F. to lOO-ü⁰ P.) for two or three weeks it loses, in many cases, its fatal action on sheep; but if the bacilli of such a culture be afterwards allowed to form spores, or if a new culture is made, it proves again

#9632;Squot;quot;!quot;

SBP

^^^

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

i ll

virulent to sheep. The same holds good also for those bacilli anthracis wliich, owing to the admixture of certain antiseptics^ lose their virulence, though they do not lose their vitality. Such bacilli are capable of starting cultures, in which the new bacilli, although not so plentiful, still possess virulent action (* Report on the Relation of Septic to Pathogenic Organisms'). Toussaint's method of protection (which is efficient against intravenous injection of millions of bacilli) consists in subcutaneous injection of anthrax blood freed from bacilli either by filtration, heat, or even antiseptics. He prefers the action of heat, 131deg; F. for ten minutes, adding to the blood 1 per cent, carbolic acid, and waiting two or three days before injection. An interval of ten days between vaccination and test inoculation should take place. The resulting immunity certainly lasts three months (' Veterinary Journal,' September, 1880).

The most important means of repression of this very serious disorder which the practical farmer can adopt are to avoid, for pasture purposes, fields where it prevails as a result of previous contamination, to early report occurrence of cases, and to adopt fully all the prescribed measures, to avoid pollution of pastures, buildings, streams, amp;c., with blood, excreta, and other animal matters from carcases, and to destroy all such matters by fire, sulphuric acid, or other powerful corrosive. The alkaline sulphites and hyposulphites, also carbolic acid and its compounds, have been considered to have some value as internal disinfectants for protection from this disorder.

Emphysema infectuosum,/ie-ema^osepsis, Zlt;/acfc leg, quarter-ill, leg evil, black sjmuld, is an anthracoid disorder familiar in young cattle, and not rare among sheep in some localities, such as the Lowlands of Scotland, and the Midlands of England (Gamgee). The disease is vulgarly called a quot; shot o' blood,quot; and was described long ago by Sir George Stewart Mackenzie as beginning at the hoof or the knee, which part swells, and the animal becomes extremely lame. The skin turns a blue colour, and is raised as a blister with dark-coloured contents, which is

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succeeded by an ulcer. Empliysemata, commencing at the seat of swelling, set in and extend rapidly, and the constitutional symptoms resemble those of anthrax so closely that until quite lately the two diseases were considered the same. Now, however, differences are recognised in the form of the bacillus, that of quarter-ill {Bac. emphy, infect.) being larger than that of anthrax, less frequent, more localised in the effusions, and absent from the spleen. Dowdeswell adds to this list of distinctive characters in the ' Thirteenth Annual Report of the Medical Officer Local Government Board/ that it is also freely mobile, has no effect when inoculated into the rabbit and cat (animals which are killed by the anthrax organism) ; it readily passes from the mother to the foetus, inducing the disease in the latter ; it is anferobic, cannot grow in the presence of oxygen, and causes well-marked local disease when injected into the subcutaneous tissue, but when injected into the blood induces slight and transient disturbance, ¹nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;while it appears to confer on the organism an immunity

against a natural attack of the disease, but such immunity does not extend to anthrax and vice versa,. Black quarter is enzootic on low-lying pastures liable to be flooded. It seems to be communicated in the same way as anthrax, and affects especially young and thriving animals. Seton-ing seems more effectual in this disorder than in anthrax as a preservative, and age apparently exempts from attack to a marked extent. Satisfactory results have been obtained from intravenous injection of blood of affected animals as a prophylactic in cattle, but the greatest care has to be exercised lest any of the blood fall into the areolar tissue. As the disease is intercom municable between ox and sheep by inoculation, this prophylactic method will probably prove of value for ovines. MM. Cornevin, Arloing, and Thomas introduced this process ('Veterinarian,' 1881, p. 186).

Eindeepest for some time was considered to be a disease of bovine animals only, but it is now known to be communicable to other ruminants, including sheep and goats. The researches of Professors Pritchard, Varnell, and

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Gamgoe in Great Britain, and of various continental observers^ have established tbis beyond question. As compared with cattle, however, the sheep is much less susceptible, and may often graze freely on pastures occupied by cattle affected with rinderpest, although very liable to suffer if shut up in sheds with such cattle. Out of a number of sheep subjected to inoculation in Vienna only 45 per cent, became affected, but it is found that in some outbreaks and in some localities, sheep seem to exhibit more than the usual susceptibility. This is especially the case when the animals are overcrowded. Semmer, of Dorpat, noted the following lesions in a sheep killed eight days after inoculation by means of a hair steeped in the subcutaneous connective tissue of a sick calf:hyper-asmia of mucous membrane of abdomen and intestines, tumefaction and cell-infiltration of intestinal glands and follicles, cloudy infiltration of the kidney epithelium and liver-cells; globular bacteria in the corpuscles and serum of the blood. The virus of the disorder is apparently not materially altered by passage through the system of the sheep, and the disease is freely retransmis-sible to cattle. Incubation of rinderpest is more often prolonged and variable in sheep than in cattle ; it has been found to range from five to eight days in inoculation cases, and from five to twenty days when the disease is acquired by cohabitation or contact. The phenomena are those of increasing debility, which at last becomes extreme, gradual loss of appetite and cud, deep congestion of the visible mucous membranes followed by discharges from them, eruptions similar to those in the mouth of cattle on the labial and gingival mucous membrane, erythematous and papular eruption around the anal and genital orifices, extending over the perinosum and udder. A short, husky, painful cough, grinding of teeth, faoces liquid and red, paralysis of the tail, sanguiuolent diarrhoea in 50 per cent, of the cases, are other indications which have been recorded. The febrile symptoms and marked sinking of the vital powers are seen in sheep as in cattle. We can afford to be more favorable in our prognosis of riuder-

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pest among sheep than when it breaks out among bovine patients ; in some outbreaks 80 per cent, may die, but the average is put at 50 per cent. The third or fourth day is considered the most critical time, but the patient may succumb to exhaustion on the fourteenth ; it is noticed, however, that sheep may rally although very far gone.

Treatment, both preventive and curative, presents no special features ; the sick must be nursed carefully and treated with stimulant tonics, strict measures against contagion and infection must be enforced. The flesh of rinderpest victims, unless obviously deteriorated by progress of the disease or use of medicines, may freely be utilised as human food.

FOOT-AND-MOÜTH DISEASE, ECZEMA EPIZ0OTICA, INFECTIOUS

Aphtha is a well-known panzootic ; among sheep it may appear simultaneously with the outbreak in cattle, or be either antecedent or in succession to it. In its general features the disease differs little from that of the ox, the virus and its means of diffusion being the same,but there are a few points in connection with the disorder as it specially affects sheep which it is desirable to remember. Youatt, in his classical work on sheep, lays stress on a quot; curious coincidence between thrush in the mouth and foot-rot,quot; from which observation we may infer that he saw the disease although he did not fully recognise its nature. He quoted some French authors who mentioned outbreaks of aphtha in which the sheep were off feed, had a flow of thick stringy saliva from the mouth, general symptoms of being out of sorts and feverish, pustules in the mouth, nose, and gullet, with consequent difficulty in, and interference with, swallowing, also rapid loss of condition, lameness, shedding of hoofs, and ulceration of the cleft. It has been since observed that the mouth very frequently is not the seat of eruption in sheep, although probably more frequently so than is supposed, because this part is often not examined in consequence of the impression having become general that no lesion will be found there ; another reason probably for its not often being seen is that the mouth and foot symptoms are constantly found

#9632;^^^

#9632;HSW

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

not to occur simultaneously. The feet are the parts earliest and most severely affected, and the lesions in tliem from this disease are more serious than those found in cattle. These lesions somewhat closely resemble those seen in contagions foot-rot, but the differential diagnosis of tlie two disorders will be hereafter described in dealing with the latter. Ergotism in America has been found to rather nearly resemble foot-and-mouth disease. The constitutional symptoms are often less severe than in cattle, but the soreness of the feet may result in very serious inconvenience as regards feeding, and so the animal may fall away considerably in flesh. Cases are sometimes seen where the skin of the knees becomes ulcerated from pressure and friction due to constant kneeling to feed, and acute suppurative arthritis is set up in the carpal joints, causing the animal to be permanently crippled, or to succumb to starvation or exhaustion. Williams has recorded an instance where foot-and-mouth disease virus seemed to lie dormant in the clothes of a shepherd for one year. As the disease is principally manifested in the feet it is more prevalent and severe in wet weather than in dry ; often a sharp frost suffices for complete removal of its contagious properties. As an actual source of loss to the farmer, foot-and-mouth disease in sheep is not nearly so important as in cattle, but loss of condition, crippling, a few deaths, expense of treatment, and restrictions to sale and movement, render this sheep disease a troublesome and unsatisfactory one. The treatment to be adopted is the same as for the ox.

Eabies is frequent and serious, because sheep and dogs are intimately associated, and the former are very liable to be attacked by the latter, since they are inoffensive creatures and little able to escape or defend themselves. Fortunately, their fleece is to an extent protective. Yet dogs which understand sheep usually attempt to seize one of the limbs, or a part, the face especially, where the wool will not protect the victim from their fangs. Thus sheep dogs, or dogs which have learned to worry sheep, are more formidable as a cause of rabies in ovine patients

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than are other dogs j and when a dog has worried and attacked a great many sheep^ but killed or eaten none, the shepherd and owner should be apprehensive and try-to learn more about that dog with a view to adopting timely precautions with the bitten. These precautions comprise excision and cauterization of all the bites, the sheep being sheared for their detection, and careful management and watching of the suspected up to three months, the maximum period of incubation. Perhaps hereafter the Pasteurian system of prevention of rabies will become practically applicable to sheep. Fortunately, as being naturally inoffensive, and even under the disease little inclined to bite, sheep are not a serious means of rabies propagation ; however, their saliva is virulent, as Prof. Simonds long ago proved by inoculation of a rabbit with it, and as has been amply confirmed by various observations of the same nature but with other subjects of experiment. Men handling rabid sheep should be careful to avoid lt;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; inoculation with the saliva, both from living animals or

carcases. The period of incubation varies considerably. Haubnerhas made some exact observations on the subject; he found it over one month in 8 per cent, of his cases, two months in 18 per cent., and up to sixty-eight days in 2 per cent., and Vatel found it to extend up to seventy-four days (Fleming) ; roughly, it varies from two to twelve weeks, not presenting those extremely prolonged incubations which have been recorded in some species. However, in the ' Veterinary Journal/ December, 1879, p. 442, is recorded a case of apparent dormancy for fourteen months. The earliest symptoms observed in sheep are, the animal being somewhat off its feed and having increased sexual appetite, condition is lost rapidly, and the patient is dull and in a state of semi-stupor. In ewes there is generally early paralysis, and the animal dies quietly ; lambs are carried off in convulsions. In male animals, and sometimes females, there is an early stage of fury shown by excited appearance and fierce attacks, mainly by butting and charging, occasionally by biting and nibbling at objects, animate and inanimate. These attacks may cause

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

the forehead to become extremely sore, but this apparently remains unnoticed by the animal. There is mucous discharge from the nostrils, flow of ropy slaver from the mouth and accumulation of froth about its angles, thirst may or may not be present, the appetite is depraved, and there is a tendency to eat dirt and tilth. The bleating is altered in toue, being a high and plaintive note; the pupils are dilated ; the patient is very nervous and excitable, especially at sight or sound of a dog, but will charge at him as readily as at anything else. Tenesmus is present. Tremors, panting, and drowsiness occur, and the animal becomes weak in the loins and then paralysed, and paralysis of the jaws sets in in some cases (Pecle, 'Veterinarian/ 1871). Evidently there are in the sheep the hallucinations seen in other species ; there are painful sensations at the seat of the bite (the animal gnawing the part and tearing the wool), but the patient shows no dread of water. Death occurs in from two days to a week from manifestation of symptoms.* Post-mortem examination

* Randall carefully observed the victims in an outbreak of rabies and recorded the results. He found the average period of incubation to be twenty-one days. He noted as tbe earliest symptom ungovernable salacity exhibited by behaviour of the animal, even though a female, in the manner of a ram in heat, the similarity to this natural phenomenon being exact as regards uiovements, postures, and vocal utterances. Tbe rabid ewe showed none of the usual indications of rutting. Attempting to ride her companions, ako maiiift stations of rage and turning to fight with any animal attempting to mount her, remained characteristics of the animal until she became too weal; to behave thus, but even then never entirely ceased. Rumination was from invasion to death totally suspended ; there were complete refusal of food, depraved appetite, manifested by ingestion of wool, gnawing the bars of the pen, eating dung, and ingestion of urine and post-mortem discharges, absence of mastication, instead of it a peculiar hasty snatching and bolting of indigestible matters. No thirst, no dread of water, (icccs normal but scanty, urine scanty, and slight unnatural glistening of the eye, were symptoms noted. The latter Randall seems to consider present before other manifest symptoms. Irritability of the bitten parts and recrudescence of scars was noticed on the second or third day, after which the violence increased rapidly. The sheep opened their mouths and gnashed their teeth when attacking a stick or a man, but did not seem to bite their companions. On the fifth or sixth day they began to exhibit weakness and less ferocity; this hitter symptom, however, generally lasted long after the animal was physically able to make attacks. Oue case seemed

Iraquo;

IV.

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frequently shows no special morbid lesions, but in various cases those characteristic of the disease may be seen in the brain and its membranes, throat, alimentary canal, and other parts. We need here merely remark that though lesions are sometimes seen in the rumen associated with accumulation of foreign bodies, the abomasutn is of the stomachs most frequently the seat of ulceration and extravasation with presence of coffeo-colom'ed slime. Fatality among the bitten is sometimes 100 per cent., Youatt considered that on average not more than one in three of the bitten sheep will become affected. The use of animals in the early stage of the disease as human food is apparently harmless. Renault caused sheep to eat the flesh of affected cows, but did not thereby induce the disease, and numerous cases are on record where the suckling of lambs by rabid or inoculated ewes did not cause them any harm.

SCROFULA, Tuberculosis, Consumption.It has elsewhere been insisted on that, although this disease is constantly mentioned in works on the sheep, we have no distinct evidence that true tuberculosis is a disease of ovincs. Several disorders have been described under this heading, but incorrectly :Firstly, the state known as quot; pining,quot; which is either anthrax or the result of astringent materials acting in a poisonous manner on the system ; secondly, there is the disease vulgarly known as quot; Evil,quot; described by Spooner as a hard swelling of the submaxil-lary glands, succeeded by small pustules on the head and neck, which break and discharge white matter, perhaps being succeeded by a second crop, almost uniformly fatal by its constituting a drain on the system but occasionally benefited by iodide of potassium internally and iodide of

to manifest vaginal irritation on the sixtli day. Sometimes blindness occurred, but only wlien the wounds made by the dog were near the eye. Apparent healing of the scabs, slight general trembling when standing quite quiet, frothing from the front of the mouth, and ropy saliva dripping from the lips of one case, were noted on or about the sixth day. Daring the last day or two staggering, inability to rise, laboured, stertorous, or irregular breathing set in, but no stupor, paralysis, or convulsions was seen to precede death. The cases averaged eight days in duration.

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

mercury externally. We must leave to future research to determine what is really the nature of this condition. Thirdly, bronchocelo or goitre has been described as scrofula. Walley distinctly states that scrofula occurs in the sheep. The only indubitable instance of the disease which is to hand is one of artificial production in a lamb as a result of Ingestion of milk from a tuberculous cow, mentioned by Bollinger in ' Archiv f. Experim. Path. u. Pharmacologie,' 1873, p. 356.*

Rheumatism.Youatt in one place speaks of quot;a thousand proofs of the occurrence of this disorder in sheep,quot; but elsewhere of it being rare, owing to the protected state of the skin. The general opinion seems to be in favour of its somewhat frequent occurrence among lambs before weaning, associated with some irregularity of the milk of the ewe, also among lambs after weaning and old sheep from exposure to cold and damp due to carelessness or accident. It is described as seen both in elevated and in low-lying marshy places, and as assuming an acute or a chronic form. The descriptions of the acute disease closely resemble those of the conditions known as Scoli-asis, as wo have elsewliere described them. Gresswell (⁽ Veterinary Journal,' May, 1883) describes an outbreak in which he found the internal temperatures ranging from 104deg; F. to \Q7-hdeg; P., the knees and hocks were mostly affected, there was discharge from the eyes and nostrils, the urine was dark, and the bowels constipated. . Although the plastic products in scoliasis resemble those of rheumatism, metastasis and porcellaneous deposits have not been noted in that disorder, and there is rather a marked tendency to suppuration of joints. There are, therefore, some grounds for the belief that scoliasis and rheumatism are not one disorder. Acute rheumatism of sheep most frequently affects the neck and loins, is metastatic, and tends to recur. The loins become stiff and weak, and the neck bent permanently to one side. In chronic cases

Dun (' Journal Royal Agricultural Society,' 1856) speaks of scrofulous lung, throat, joint, and osseous disorder in sheep due to hereditary influence as undermining the animal's constitution.

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stiffness of tlie gait, especially during cold damp weatlier, is observed. Death sometimes occurs from pyrexia, but as a rule the disorder tends to become chrouic, and the animal must be prepai-ed for the butcher. Treatment comprises the alkaline carbonates and iodides with sali-cj'late of soda internally, and stimulating applications externally.

Milk Sickness or quot; the Trembles.quot;This disease, described in America as affecting cattle in new States and on virgin soil, also is noticed in the sheep. It is due to a spiral organism in the blood, and is detectable in animals apparently well by the tremors, almost amounting to convulsive attacks, which result when the animal is made to take a run. In severe cases the tremors are at once detectable without making the animal run. The disease is communicated by iugestion of the flesh to camivora and mankind. It disappears when the soil is brought under cultivation. Much remains yet to be learned about it. Haubner has described an enzootic malady of sheep occurring in Em'ope, known as the quot; trembling disease quot; or quot; lumbar prnrigo.quot; This is markedly associated with locality, disappearing from sheep when removed from such places as it inhabits, which are generally low, damp valleys, subject to inundations or encircled by mountains, and provided with a luxuriant A^regetation, or else are sandy regions with light soil and insufficient pasturage (Fleming's 'Sanitary Science and Police/ vol. i, p. 30). Law has added to our knowledge of quot; trembling quot; by his contribution on the subject to the ' Veterinary Journal/ September, 1877. He notes as symptoms : decubitus, which is characteristic, the head resting on the ground, sweetness of breath, bloodshot eyes, staring coat, great prostration, and extreme muscular weakness, especially marked in sheep, which often seem quite unequal to the task of rising. The worst cases lie prone with head extended on the ground, and are utterly indifferent to all sense of fear or danger. The wildest whine and allow themselves to be handled without the slightest effort at resistance or escape when prostrated by the disease. All the organic func-

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

tions are impaired, marked constipation is present. Mild cases have a haggard appearance, drag their limbs slowly and stiffly, and may after four or five miles drop dead.

Actinomycosis.Bollmgor has mentioned this disease as possible in the sheep. Hardy had a case among some rams on a heath farm {' Veterinary Journal,' April, 1885, p. 281). MacGillivray, of Banff, has not unfrequently seen gangrenous stomatitis, similar to the disease of that name as it occurs in calves, among sheep ('Veterinary Journal/ January, 1881).

Strangles.A disease in every respect resembling ordinary regular strangles in the horse has been described as affecting hoggets, but as being very rare. Treatment is as for the disease in the horse.

Influenza.A possible equivalent pathologically of the disorder known as influenza in the horse, is an epizootic which prevailed and was investigated in New South Wales in 1834-5, causing the death of a large number of sheep. It was seen, both in elevated situations and on marshy soil, during rain at the latter part of spring, after a dry winter with severe fi-osts. It proved fatal to 50 per cent, of the animals attacked. If the animal survived the third day it gradually recovered, but almost always with loss of all the wool; relapses sometimes took place on change of the weather.

Symptoms.The sheep becomes evidently out of sorts, eyes watery, and Schneidcrian membrane red; frequent sneezing is present, and a watery discharge from one nostril, which soon becomes glairy and clammy. Mucus collects around the eyes, encrusting the lids. The animal goes off the cud, hangs the head, and is uneasy, constantly changing its place or posture. The symptoms increase in severity; the discharge accumulates round the nostrils, obstructing respiration, the nostrils swell. There is troublesome and painful cough, the bead is rested wherever convenient, the visible mucous membranes turn purple and discharge less, but the flow is of a bloody character; tremors, stupor, and coma precede death, which occurs in from six hours to three days.

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Autopsy shows rapid decomposition o£ the carcass, the skin purple, the Schneiderian membrane and the lining membrane of the facial sinuses inilamcd and covered with lymph, the membranes of the brain congested, and the heart engorged with black blood. In some cases the whole lining membrane of the air-passages was inflamed, inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Dry iasces accumulated in lumps in the rectum.

Treatment.Bleeding and salts, repeated when necessary, sufficed to cure cases when taken early, but bleeding as a prophylactic was not a success. Isolation was enforced, and the disease ceased. Details of the outbreak are given more at length by Youatt.

Several records of disease among sheep which assumed an asthenic character, with special affection of the mucous membranes, thus entitling it to be ranked as influenza, have been given by Spoonor. (a) In one of these Darby describes an outbreak which proved very fatal, four or five dying in the flock daily, and the disease being espe-¹nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;cially^r prevalent in marshy places. In acute cases closed

eyes, disturbed respiration, purulent nasal discharge, early prostration, pulse 80100, thick discharge from the mouth, and temporary blindness were present, and the patients exhibited amaurosis and rotatory movements before death. Other sheep exhibited the chronic form, the eye being dull and vacant, the animal either partly or entirely off feed, debility extreme and progressive, curved back, and the patient liable to lean against the fence. Autopsy in acute cases showed, besides turgescenco of the vessels of the brain, more or less extensive disease of all the mucous surfaces, the lungs engorged with blood, the mauyplies distended with food. In clu'onic cases the lungs were found adherent to the walls of the chest, serous effusion in the cliest, the liver and spleen enlarged, the lining membrane of the trachea purple and covered with frothy mucus, and inflammatory patclies throughout the whole alimentary canal. Cathartic salines, vegetable tonics, and narcotics, with complete change of diet, sufficed for cure.* (6) Clayworth's outbreak also took place in * (a') Randall, describing fully and well an epizootic among sliecp in 1846-7,

DISEASES OF T1TE SHEEP,

marsheSj but they were mucli exposed, and near the sea; it occurred among young stock for the most part, and the disease was most prevalent in March and April. His patients were dull and out of sorts, with thin mucous discharge from the nostrils and oyes, the visible mucous membranes highly congested, grating teeth, and staggering gait, they fell on to their knees if hastened, and then rolled over on to the side with head drawn back, grating the teeth all the time. Then diarrhoea often set in or the dung might be coated with mucus; occasional cough was present, there was a rale in the throat and a flow of frothy mucus from the nose and mouth. Animals which were not treated died, those properly supported recovered.

The epizootic form of catarrh mentioned by Youatt might properly be described as quot;influenza,quot; which must be taken to mean quot; not clearly understood by us ; quot; so also might the epizootic and euzootic outbreaks of pneumonia and pleurisy which have been described from time to time, and of which the following may be taken as examples :

(a)nbsp; nbsp;The 183G outbreak, observed by Eoche Lubin in Saint Afrique, destroyed many sheep, and was fatal to two thirds of those attacked, even though the cases were treated from the commencement. It seemed to result from housing sheep throughout the winter under most unsanitary conditions in hot sheds, and letting them periodically out into the cold to drink half-frozen water, which they did with avidity. Post-mortem examination showed lung consolidation and sometimes hydrops pericardii.

(b)nbsp; nbsp;This is apparently very similar to the disease described by Wiltshire, of Natal, as quot; heart water,quot; and which is apparently frequent among sheep and goats in South

sajs: quot;I am not prepared to aver that it was identically the same with the 'distemper,'whicli used to sweep off 2Ü40 or 50 per cent, of carelessly managed flocks as often as once in five or six winters, and whicli, though greatly mitigated in the frequency and severity of its visitations, continues to destroy more American sheep than all other maladies combined. It is, indeed, the only malady which proves mortal on a large scale. But except that the ' distemper' of the ' bad winters ' sometimes closes with dysentery I never saw any difference.quot;

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Africa. He found post mortem normal rigor and not much swelling of the carcass; in some cases small caseous nodules along the course of the intestines ; the gall-duct ruptured in two cases and once almost impervious; bile dark; liver dark-coloured, congested, and soft; spleen dark but firm ; gelatinous clot in the pericardium, of a straw colour and slightly opaque ; blood but little altered, if anything thinner than usual; endocardium more or less ecchymosed ; straw-coloured serum in pleural sacs, lobular pneumonia and clear gelatinous matter in places beneath pleura pulmonalis. Froth in the bronchi. (c) A severe outbreak of epizootic catarrh occurred in Queensland in July, 1884. (J) Seron observed ensooticjmeumoiiia among sheep which, after being accustomed to every hardship, were confined in ill-ventilated and undrained cotes in January and February. They became very feverish, had the muzzle bent towards the side, the nostrils clogged with yellow mucus, which the animal constantly tried to get rid of, the loins very tender. In twenty-four to thirty hours the attack proved fatal, and the lungs were, on investigation, found to have their outer portions consolidated. Sometimes the left lung only was affected, the right being quite free from disease. (e) In the ' Veterinarian,' vol. x, is recorded an outbreak of enzootic pleurisy, the deaths having been principally in a low marshy district in spring and autumn, most frequently after turnip and cabbage feeding, and seldom after grass or dry diet. The attacks proved rapid and sudden, they were almost invariably fatal, autopsy showing plastic lymph and serum in the pleural sac, and the lungs free from disease. The thin-skinned Leicesters were the principal victims. Sym-toms : Pulse hard and very quick, respiration difficult, a low short cough, dull countenance, head pendulous, nose forced against the ground, bowels confined, visible mucous membranes red, pain and grunting when the animal is compelled to move, and it generally remains recumbent. In one case streaks of blood from the nostrils.

On perusal of these records one cannot escape the conclusion that there is no element of specificity about such

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caseSj uniformity of simple causes acting on a number of animals contemporaneously fully suffices to explain the apparent enzooty of tlie outbreaks.

In the 'Veterinary Journal/ September, 1881, will be found an account of contagious pleuro-pneumonia in Angora goats at South Africa, recorded by Duncan Hutchcon. This account is well worth careful perusal. We are told quot; neither sheep nor cattle can be made to take this disease. Sheep have been kept with infected goats during the whole course of the malady through the flocks, and not one has been observed to be affected with its typical form. But several sheep which had been suffering from tubercle in the lungs died, and the pathological appearances in their lungs incline me to believe that the immediate cause of death was a modified form of the disease.quot; Information as to whether this guat disease occurs in Asia lliuor (whence Angora goats come) is a desideratum. In Morocco a virulent lung disease of goats prevails, and is termed quot; bayoor.'^J It does not attack sheep. Prophylaxis is said to be effected by placing a piece of diseased lung in a slit made in the ear of an unaffected goat, and subsequent slight cautery, but what the latter is and how applied has not been specified ('Veterinary Journal,' September, 1887).

Septjcvemia. : Sewage poisoning.The contamination of pastures with sewage matter is very liable to give rise to outbreaks of anthrax, and when that sewage consists of sud water from mills or the liquids from slaughter-houses, it may contain mineral or vegetable poisons and so actually pro-dace ordinary poisoning j sometimes, however, it seems to give rise to a sort of septkaiinia or general systemic contamination which assumes various forms. Quite recently (' Veterinary Journal/ July, 1888, p. 54) Carless has described the evil effects of sewage w^rate:r as considerable loss of condition, both of flesh and wool, and in the case of ewes tainted with it at lambing time, always a considerable fatality from congestion of the womb. Brown, as we have seen, is inclined to think some forms of braxy septicaemia.

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We have previously noted that under certain conditions variolous matter seems to develop locally and not to in any appreciable way affect the system, although the local products are capable of conveying the disease. Similar phenomena have been noticed in other diseases, such as glanders and anthrax, when inoculated on unsuitable subjects. We have now to deal with a remarkable instance of a disorder of a contagious character and communicable by products, but apparently not in any way affecting the constitution in general or producing blood contamination. We may term it a topical contagious disorder.

The Contagious Foox-eot is a disease which for a long time has been confounded with ordinary foot-rot, and the existence of which is even now denied, especially in Great Britain. Accumulated evidence as to its occurrence has been effectual in securing its recognition by the profession, and practical action against its spread will in the future no doubt be more frequent than hitherto. On the Continent of Europe its prevalence has been remarked for a long time, and under the names crapaud and pietin it has been the subject of careful inquiry by French veterinarians. It is said to have been diffused by the Merino breed of sheep, although not known among such animals in Spain; under favouring conditions it becomes epizootic, but even under ordinary influences it seems to be widespread. The conditions which give rise to and aggravate ordinary foot-rot are considered to favour its occurrence, but we have elsewhere shown how to distinguish one from the other, and we have further entered into tho subject of its differential diagnosis in all necessary detail. We have specially shown what evidence there is to lead us to conclude that it is not simple foot-and-mouth-disease. Prof. Law (* Veterinary Journal/ September, 1876) shows that contagious foot-rot is communicated by sheep which have suffered from the disease for months, which is contrary to foot-and mouth-disease, also it is not conveyed to other ruminants and pigs, but sheep only suffer. The evidence as to there being a contagious foot-rot, collected and recorded by Law, is most valuable, and deserving of

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careful study. He discusses the nature of the contagium. He argues that the disease not being eczema epizootica, nor foot mange, nor (as Morel has suggested) due to some animalcule acquired from the pasture^ it may be a fungus, an organic germ, or cell-elements of the diseased surface which have taken on themselves unnatural potential energies. What it is remains an open question. If it were an insect derived from soil or herbage quot; it would attack animals only at particular seasons, when they had attained a particular stage of existence, would disappear in winter, would reappear year after year on the same soil, and could never be rooted out of a locality by the simple dressing of the feet of diseased animals.quot; There is no evidence of the occurrence of specific fever in this disorder, but it is believed to be communicable by contact and inoculation, and yet to sometimes originate spon-inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;taneously. The contagium is a fixed one, and the period

of incubation has been variously stated at from three to fifteen days. Certain races, especially Merinos (Randall), are most liable, and in America it has been noticed as most severe in summer. The discharge from the feet in which the contagium resides, and which is said to come from pimples, pustules, and vesicles between the hoof (Fleming) is yellow, sticky, and of a peculiar ammoniacal odour. Spontaneous recovery usually occurs in from a month to six weeks, but the disease is liable to recur, each attack, however, diminishing the susceptibility of the sheep. Death takes place in some of the moi'e severe cases from exhaustion and debility, and we find in the disease all the complications and sequelae which are seen in cases of ordinary foot-rot. Natural influences, such as heavy rain and sharp frost, seem to purify pastures by washing away, diluting, or destroying virus; pastures, washing pens, cattle ships, roads, litter, railway waggons, fairs, and other places and articles are liable to act as conveyers, and the disease is mainly transmitted by contact of the sound with the diseased. As regards transmission, some well-judged remarks by W. C. Spooner deserve to be quoted, quot; When the horn is dry and strong, and free

THE BLOOD.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;75

from cracks and fissures, and the skin above also sound and properly lubricated with the unctuous secretion which is here particularly supplied, there is no disposition to absorb foreign matters, but, on the contrary, a power of resisting their influence, and thus we cannot be surprised that the foot-rot matter has no effect under such circumstances. AVhen, however, the oily secretion is washed off the skin is in an irritable and probably sore state from the friction of the wet and dirt between the clees, the horn long at the toe and ragged underneath, and particularly the upper or coronary portion which unites with the skin and consequently is veiy thin. When this part is blanched, weakened, and probably in some degree separated from the skin above, we cannot be surprised that such a state of the parts must greatly expose them to the action of any infectious matter from without,quot; Thus, for prevention the feet should systematically be kept in good order, and to prevent introduction of the disease the obviously necessary measures of quarantine, inspection, isolation of the sick, and chloride of lime foot-baths for the suspected or those which may have been in contact with the sick should be enforced. Standings should be freely dug up and disinfected and other measures adopted which may be considered necessary for eradication of a fixed con-tagium. A diffusion of knowledge as to the contagiousness of one form of foot-rot, and information as to its differential diagnosis, is evidently a measure necessary for lessening the general prevalence of foot-rot.

[In concluding this notice of blood diseases of the sheep, we must refer the reader to the accounts, which for convenience have been given hereafter, of the following disorders, for they may, and probably will, hereafter find a place in this chapter of any work on sheep diseases, (a) As non-specific disorders of the hlood

Wirquibus, a form of urtemia.

Rickets, a defective state of bone due to blood poverty.

Cutaneous asphyxia, carbonic acid poisoning.

Hsematozymosis, a form of necraemia.

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

;

(b) As specific hluod affections

Erysipelas, due to special cocci. AphtLa maligna, duo to micro-organisms. These diseases may be readily found in the text by reference to the index or table of contents].

]

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CHAPTER III.CIRCULA.TORY AND LYMPHATIC.

THE CIRCULATOEY SYSTEM.The circulation of the blood in the sheep is seldom disordered, and although conditions of disease have been found after death their symptoms, causes, and other clinical features during life have not been observed. The fact that a largo proportion of sheep are destroyed when young, and before the heart and blood-vessels show signs of wear and tear, accounts for infrequency of circulatory disorders, and again, the sheep is not, like the horse, subject to circulatory emergencies nor is he prone to rheumatism. Vierordt showed that the round of the circulation in the goat is accomplished in about thirty-eight seconds. The heart presents some slight features of anatomy worthy of comment, especially the large size of the moderator muscular pillars in the right ventricle, more considerable in proportion than in the ox; also the presence of an os cordis generally extending farther round the root of the aorta than this horny basis in the ox; the average weight of the heart is 5|7 ounces. In the ' Memoires de l'Acad. de Dijon,' vol. i, p. 107, is recorded a case of Traumatic pericarditis in a sheep due to the passage of a needle from the rumen into the heart, in a similar manner to the same accident as commonly seen in milch cattle, and in the ' Annales des Sc. Nat.' for September, 182G, is recorded how the spikes of the feather grass, a species of stipa, collecting in the rumen may there excite inflammation, and may penetrate thence into the pericardium, and so prove fatal, as was exemplified by considerable flocks in Hungary. Fatty degeneration

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

of the heart is said to occur in animals overfed for show-purposes. It is generally only fatty infiltration. This, with the fact that in inflammation of the chest structures the pericardium is almost always more or less involved, constitutes the sum of our present knowledge of heart diseases of the sheep.

As regards the blood-vessels; on post-mortem examination redness of the lining membrane of the arteries, calcification of their walls (especially in the vessels nearest the heart giving rise to complex attacks and sudden death), also aneurisms have been seen, but are not known to have clinical importance. The venous system has not been observed to bo the seat of disorder.

The LYMPHATIC SYSTEM is well developed, and doubtless frequently its vessels are traumatically inflamed in cases of foot-rot, maltreatment of simple wounds, and blood disease. Abscesses along the course of the lymphatics and at the seat of the glands are not infrequent, and should be treated in the usual way. Perhaps the most ordinary situation in which such inflammation is seen is in the intermaxillary space constituting the disorder which has been described as strangles or Stran-guillon. This is not, apparently, the specific disorder known under that name in horses, but seems to be associated with teething, as it occurs most frequently in hoggets (lambs between the weaning and first shearing). The abscess must be brought to a head and encouraged to discharge freely, the system of the patient being supported with stimulant tonics. The disease is rare and not looked on as a serious condition.

Youatt describes Tabes Mesenterica as occurring in lambs, and is inclined to consider it tuberculous. The balance of evidence is against the occurrence of true tuberculosis in the sheep, and such cases as are described by the author just mentioned were probably due to nonspecific causes, especially parasitic invasion. The symptoms are said to be, belly large and somewhat tender, bowels irregular, loss of condition, and a voracious and depraved appetite ; lambs especially being affected. Treat-

CIRCULATORY AND LYMPHATIC.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 79

ment comprises tonics, stimulants, gentle laxatives, careful nursing, and alteratives, such as mercury with, clialk and the iodide of potassium. Animals thus affected, however, are scarcely worth treatment.

APPENDIX.THE DUCTLESS OR BLOOD-VASCULAR GLANDS.

Little special knowledge with regard to these organs in the sheep has been obtained. The spleen is proportionately small as compared with that of the horse and ox, and even with carnivora, which generally have a smaller spleen than herbivora (Crisp). It sometimes is the seat of hydatids, which are not known to cause inconvenience, Tochenlin, of Baden, long ago recorded Inflammation op the Spleen of sheep as prevalent in the late summer and early autumn, after the heats of summer and about the time when the animals are shedding their wool. The disease may possibly have been the abdominal form of charbon, but there are some features of difference in the description given of splenitis from that of ordinary anthrax. The symptoms comprise uncertain and staggering gait ; eyes red, watery, and half closed ; bowels constipated ; off feed and cud ; swelling of the flank ; quick breathing, and extreme and rapid emaciation. Death occurred suddenly or in the course of a few days, post-mortem examination showing gangrene of the intestine, liver soft and engorged with blood and bile, distension of the rumen with putrid food and gas; spleen gorged with blood, softened, enlarged, sometimes ruptured, and quot; filled with tubercles and ulcers quot; (whatever that means!). Treatment comprised shelter from the sun, good pasture, avoidance of long journeys and of disturbance by dogs, also mild stimulants and aperients. The attacks were possibly due to blows, falls, long journeys, sudden changes of weather, frequent change of pasture (especially to coarse, rank feed), damp and ill-ventilated houses, and extension of inflammation from neighbouring structures. The detailed

r*''

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

account, as translated from the French, may be read in Youatt's work on the sheep, and is curious. Degire, in a paper on Laparotomy, mentions extirpation of the spleen as having been performed on a goat.

The thyroid bodies are found enlarged in cases of debilitating disorder, such as rot; and in early-dropped and half-starved lambs they are constantly enlarged. Goitre in sheep as an enzootic has been referred to by Baillarger, and, more in detail, in Spooner's work, where is mentioned a report of its occurrence during the spring in South Downs, where it could be traced to no error in food or water of the ewes. They began to fall off in condition some six weeks before lambing, and every lamb was born with enlarged neck, varying as regards position of the tumour, and ranging in size from that of a walnut to that of a hen's egg. Many gasped once or twice after birth, struggled a little and died, with the lungs not pervious. Others did well, the swellings being loose and almost pendulous, the breathing spasmodic and difficult, and mucus trickling from the nostrils. One died in a fat condition. The disease was enzootic, probably due to conditions of the soil. Some of the ewes subsequently had enlargement of the neck. Randall speaks of it as common iu American lambs, but rapidly yielding to spirits of camphor or tincture of iodine. An article in the ' Veterinary Journal,' xv, p. 128 (from the 'National Live Stock Journal'), tells us that affected lambs are quot; softquot; when born and liable to be ascitic. A rowel on the top of the shoulders and excision of the thyroid are said to have been effectual surgical means, and nitre and salt useful as preventives. The condition is considered to be hereditary.

The other ductless glands (thymus, adrenals, amp;c.) have not yet been recorded as being diseased in sheep.

raquo;gt;

iagt;

EESPIEATOKY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;81

CHAPTER IV.THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.

The nostrils of the sheep are small and circular, but flexible and capable of being much reduced in size to keep out dust and insects ; the nasal peak is single as in the horse. The opening of the organ of Jacobson on the floor of the nasal chamber is large. The large ethmoid cell forms, as in the ox, a well-developed so-called quot; middle turbinated quot; bone. The maxillary sinus is not large, and in hornless sheep the frontal is small but in the horned considerably developed, extending over the cranium and into the horn-cores, but not so far as in the ox. The sheep can breathe ordinarily through the mouth as well as the nasal chambers, the latter are posteriorly not separated from one another. The pharynx, larynx, and trachea have the same shape as in the ox, but are even less developed, and, therefore, much less highly developed than the corresponding parts in the horse. With the simplicity of the lai-ynx is associated the want of inflections and modifications of the voice of the sheep. The rutting ram and the ewe fondling her young give short grunts, and the bleating of a sheep separated from the flock is a familiar sound, but it is insisted on that the sheep is altogether a silent animal. The chest is rendered fairly capacious by the horizontal manner in which the ribs stand out, the width and flatness of the sternum, and the diaphragm being attached to the internal surfaces of the ribs far back as in the horse, and not as in the ox. The anterior bone of the sternum is a well-marked manubrium; there are thirteen pairs of ribs. Youatt refers to the first bone of the sternum and its

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

coverings as follows : quot; From the front of the sternum is a projection not seen in the horse, or rather occupying the situation of the prominent convexity, the cariniform cartilage in the horse. It is partly cartilaginous, but more muscular and cellular and flabby, extending between the forelegs of the animal in a horizontal direction, and termed the hrishet. It is justly reckoned a very important part in the sheep, although it is never proportionally so much developed as in the ox, for the animal that will accumulate much fat and flesh about the brisket will not be deficient in other parts. There is a joint between

i I

I 

Fig. 11.Thoracic Viscera of a sheep (after Chauveau). 1. Eight lohe.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; -i. Heart in pericardium.

2.nbsp; Left lobe.

3.nbsp; Trachea.

5.nbsp; Carotids.

6.nbsp; (Esophagus.

the brisket and the proper breast-bone, which permits a lateral motion to the right or the left, and allows the free progression of the animal notwithstanding the protrusion of the sternum.quot; The amount of carbonic anhydride

fllaquo;BWraquo;TSMiPraquo;Jlaquo;quot; PU

EESPIRATORY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;83

exhaled has been estimated by Lassaigne; he found it in one hour in an old goat about one tenth that of the horse, and one eleventh that of the ox. In a sheep eight months old it was 55^ litres by measure, and 3'41 oz. by #9632;weight. Gamgee is our best authority on refined thoracic exploration in sheep. Ho tells us with regard to auscultation that in the sheep as in the horse the true respiratory murmur is audible as far as the second last rib ; that the mobility of the shoulder allows of the examination of the anterior part of the chest with a fair amount of thoroughness j that the anterior lobe of the right lung being large, and the heart entirely surrounded with pulmonary tissue, the vesicular murmur is stronger and less confused with cardiac sounds than in the horse and ox; that the sound behind the shoulder is not more powerful on the right side than on the left ; and that the supcradded sounds are similar to those met with in the horse and ox, but subcutaneous crepitation is less frequent. The views of the same observer as to peecussion may be summarised as follows :The special features in the sheep are (1) clearer resonance over the fifth and sixth ribs in the lower region on the left side, due to the left lung overlapping the breast; (2) the resonance maintains its clearness and depth more posteriorly than in the cow, owing to the position of the diaphragm; thus in the superior region the sound is less clear than over the eleventh, but detectable as far back as the twelfth or thirteenth rib, in the middle region the sound diminishes from the eighth to the eleventh rib, where it is lost, in the lower region it is gradually feebler behind the seventh as far as the tenth, where it is replaced by dulness ; on the right side posteriorly the resonance of the abdominal viscera is not so likely to interfere with the proper appreciation of that of the lung. In arrangement of its crura and general shape the diaphragm of the sheep resembles that of the horse rather than that of the ox ; disorders of this muscle have not been recorded. Succussion [shahincj) and mensuration of the chest of the sheep are applicable methods of exploration, but have not been

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utilised to any practical and appreciable extent; diagnosis of chest-disorders in the sheep has hitherto been crude in the extreme ; they are said by Youatt to be rare in the sheep, owing to the protected state of its skin, but subsequent experience has not confirmed this view of infrequence of respiratory diseases.

Nasal Catarrh, vulgarly called quot; snuffles/'* affects sheep which have been exposed to vicissitudes of climate, especially in winter. It is denoted by frequent snorting and sneezing, discharge from the nose and eyes, laboured breathing with protrusion of the head, loss of appetite to an extent, but not much fever. The newly-yeaned ewe and recently .dropped lamb especially are liable to suffer in this way. The disease readily yields to proper nursing, but when neglected in winter catarrh sometimes affects simultaneously the greater part of the flock and persists until more genial weather and the animals being put on fresh grass in spring. Its prevalence among a number of sheep at the same time has given rise to the impression that it is contagious, but this is erroneous, the number of animals sickening at once depending on their being contemporaneously subjected to errors in hygiene, a, phenomenon very familiar in ovine pathology, as in the cases of pleuritis, rot, and hoose. In such prolonged prevalence of the disease some cases prove fatal by the inflammation extending down the air-passages, and on post-mortem examination the Schneiderian and tracheal mucous membranes are found ulcerated and covered with pus, also the sinuses and turbinated bones are full of pus, the lungs exhibiting the usual indications of inflammation. These severe lesions gave rise to the impression that such cases were allied to glanders in the horse, but, apart from their being explicable as due to ordinary causes, various experiments have amply proved

* quot; I early found that depletion in catarrh in our severe winter months rapidly produced that fatal prostration from which it is next to impossible to recover the sheepentirely impossible without bestowing an amount of time and care on it costing far more than the price of any ordinary sheep. The next course is to prevent the disease by judicious precautionsquot; (Randall).

EESPIEATOEY SYSTEM.

not only that chronic nasal catarrh of the sheep is not glanders, hut also that glanders of the horse is not conmiunicable to the sheep. Nursing, stimulants, and tonics suffice to cure nasal catarrh.

OzaiNA or Nasal Gleet is a continuous slight limpid or a copious glutinous discharge from the nostrils, very common in the sheep, and almost invariably due to parasitic invasion of the sinuses of the head, sometimes called (Estriasis. Two forms of parasite take up their abode in the sinuses, the least frequent is Pentastoma tanioides, which also affects the horse, mule, and dog. Its larval form, termed Pent, denticulatum, has been found in the liver and mescnteric glands of the goat and ox, and the liver of the cat. The more frequent is CEstrus ovis, the sheep-bot, the larval form of a species of gadfly, a valuable

Figs. 1218.After Bracy Clark's original figures illustrating life-history of (Estrns ovis.

12.nbsp; The attack.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;15 and 16. The fly.

13.nbsp; The grub.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;17. A wing magnified.

14.nbsp; The larva.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 18. A common fly, fur contrast.

memoir on which (together with other bots) was published by Bracy Clark in the ' Transactions of the Linnasan Society,' vol. iii. Since the production of that paper few additions have been made to our knowledge of the subject,

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altliougli frequent mention of the gadfly and its effects, in veterinary and agricultural periodicals, show its practical importance. The nasal Eot is said to be infrequent in Merinos, because of the small size of their nostrils. The gadfly, CEstrus ovis, may be seen on walls and railings near flocks of sheep from the middle of May to the end of July, especially near copses and in wooded countries. It is a dull-coloured iusect, with head and thorax together about as long as the fi ve-ringed abdomen; its back is brown, with small points and patches of a darker tint, its under surface dark-brown, with a spot at the centre of each abdominal segment. The wings are two in number, almost as long as the entire body, and nearly completely enveloping it, variegated with spots and stripes, and having small horny internal portions which envelop the poisers or balancers, small chitinous organs representing the posterior pair of wiugs in all Diptera. The head is large, and bears two large greenish eyes, between which on the dorsal surface arc three ocelli arranged in the form of a triangle. The rest of the head is yellow and spongy in appearance owing to its perforation by depressions, with a dark spot at the bottom of each. Antennse two, bulbous at their bases, short; a few hairs on the head, many on the body, sides, and legs ; on ventral surface of head three small pi'ojections arranged like a triangle ; no proboscis nor appreciable mouth. Habits as a rule sluggish, but during attack on the sheep active, one male is supposed to impregnate only two or three females and then die, females to deposit their ova and then die. A few ova (or possibly larva;) only are probably deposited on each sheep, the margin of the nostril being instinctively selected as the best spot, and the act being accomplished in dry weather and during the heat of the day. The agitation of the sheep during attack probably renders the process of egg deposition very precarious, so that but few are put on each sheep. The actual process is difficult to watch, as the sheep are very shy at this time and thoroughly upset. They avoid the onslaught as much as possible by getting in the roads during hot dry weather

EESriEATOKY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;87

and lying in the dusty ruts, holding their heads close to the ground ; in other circumstances they pack together as closely as possible in a dense phalanx^ with heads towards the ground, and they stamp and snort freely. The external ones hold their heads down between the forelegs and the muzzles against the ground, and the whole flock is in a state of intense agitation, even though only a single fly be the assailant. As a sheep falls a victim he becomes agonised, may throw himself down, but generally breaks away from the rest of the flock at a gallop, holding his head towards the ground after shaking it, snorting violently, and stamping furiously in getting rid of his adversary. He looks about then anxiously lest the fly pursue, and examines the grass lest the fly be hidden in it ; sight of the pursuer alters the direction of the gallop. Bracy Clark states that the nostrils become very sore and inflamed from repeated attacks of the fly, and from rubbing against the ground. Riley affirms positively that the larvfe are deposited viviparously on the margin of the nostrils. In a few days the eggs are hatched, and the young larvEe (scarcely visible to the naked eye) forthwith crawl into the nostrils (by means of two hooks), and commence to feed on the mucus. They traverse the nasal chambers, and enter the sinuses, where they develop; generally but few (17 or 8) are found in each sheep, but in some years and some localities they are very numerous, and may muster over a score ('Veterinarian/ 1871). The young bots are of a white colour and transparent, and the larva becomes darker with age ; at the posterior extremity are two brown patches or chitinous plates in the posterior stigmata which, with the anus, are enclosed in a kind of fleshy ring. The adult bot, as obtainable in June from the horn-cores, is somewhat larger than the common stomach bot of the horse but smaller than the warble bot of the ox. It consists of eleven segments or rings, which are of a brown colour owing to two dark transverse lines on the dorsal or convex surface of each segment; of these lines the anterior is narrower and shorter than the posterior. At the end of each ring are a few short stems or

88nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

bristles, and below tliem some small, round, dark spots. The inferior or flat surface bears small red spines on tbe soft parts between tlie rings, inclined backwards and probably intended to promote progression of tbe animal, and render it more irritant. The anterior or smaller end bears a pair of brown strong hooks, the large end is blunt and forms a prominent fleshy margin or sucker over the posterior cavity enclosing the brown patches which Bracy Clark terms horny plates, and which he assures us are occasionally cleared of mucus and pus by the sucker closing over them, and he further states that the latter opens again frequently with a slight snap from the sudden admission of air. The animal moves rapidly in a ver-ynbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; micnlar manner, also probably by gripping with the hooks

and dragging the body towards them, the inferior roughnesses increase the grip on the smooth mucous surface. During its residence in the sinus the larva gives rise to disturbance by its presence and migrations, probably irritation of the seroid lining membrane is essential to secure it food, for in health the secretion of the mucous membrane is slight. Opinions differ as to the severity of the effects of bots on the sheep ; Youatt minimises them, and even suggests that bots serve to avert apoplexy by acting as derivatives to the brain, as thought by Clark, and also to keep the nasal passages clear by the constant flow of discharge. Clark speaks of the lining membrane of the invaded sinuses becoming dense, white, and more or less inflamed ; he notes that this change has occurred more in the maxillary sinus than in the frontal, and infers that during life the parasites inhabit the former, but after death crawl into the latter; ho also remarks that young and old larvaa are generally simultaneously present. Randall, writing of this disease in America, tells us that the term quot; grub in the head quot; covers many fatal cases in the spring of the year, but ill effects from it are really rare. Symptoms: loss of condition without explicable cause in early spring, bloody mucus from nose, irregular movements, twisting head occasionally as though in pain. He recommends for prevention :

EESPIEATOEY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;89

(1)nbsp; nbsp;Furrows in pastures.

(2)nbsp; nbsp;Sprinkle the sheep's salt over tar.

(3)nbsp; nbsp;Fumigate with tobacco smoke from the tail of an

ordinary pipe.

(4)nbsp; nbsp;Irrigation of tobacco water by means of a syringe. Other observers have found severe distress when the

cestri are numerous, and enumerate, among the other symptoms, occasional cough of a choking-like nature, frequent sneezing, impeded respiration, swelling around the anterior nares, effusion into the submaxillary areolar tissue, great depression (leading in some instances to semi-coma), loathing of food, and diarrhoea (Eds. 'Veterinarian,' 1871), the result even proving fatal. Butchers, farmers, and others often persistently state that the quot; maggots quot; have been found in the cranium, and even in the brain-substance. This seems scarcely possible, but Dr. Cobbold received some carefully recorded cases of maggot in the brain, and it is just possible that absorption of the cribriform plate may occasionally occur. Bots sometimes penetrate the walls of the stomach of the horse, and work among the tissues around. Whitworth (' Veterinary Journal/ 1880) notes as useful in diagnosis the occurrence of larvae agglutinated by mucus around the nares and of others lying on the ground of the pasture.

French observers have recorded convulsions due to these parasites and giddiness, distinguishable from that of sturdy by the troublesome sneezing of the animal. Besides in the sinuses, any part of which may be invaded, the parasite may bo found in the convolutions of the turbi-nated bones in some cases, in which situation it may be on its journey out of the animal. Inhalation of the fumes of burning tar, especially if they be intermingled with those of sulphur, causes early expulsion, and proves particularly useful when resorted to for animals showing early indications of invasion. Exhibition through the nostrils of glycerine and oil of turpentine has been found useful. Trephining at the root of the horn for removal of the organisms and for injection of fluids uncomfortable or noxious to them is sometimes resorted to with benefit,

DISEASES OP THE SHEETquot;.

#9632;r

lir

for the most mature larvse generally take up their position in this situation. In the ordinary course of things migration from the sinuses between April and the end of July causes recurrence of the active symptoms of discomfort exhibited by the sheep. This migration is instinctive. On expulsion from the nostrils the larval oestrus if insufficiently developed dies ; if mature by active movements it works its way into the soil (or, according to Bracy Clark, remains adherent to a blade of grass), and becomes a pupa or chrysalis in about forty-eight hours. This pupa is more uniformly brown than the grub ; after a period varying from five to eight weeks a small portion of the head end becomes detached, and the oestrus fly, or imago, escapes and seeks its mate. Warm weather is favorable to these changes, and in cold weather many individual oestri are lost. This species may take up its abode in the goat or the deer ; it has been known from the most ancient times, and has been esteemed as a remedy against epilepsy. A knowledge of the life-history of the parasite will suggest means for lessening its prevalence, which, though evident, are seldom practicable. Destruction of the flies and the larva?, also application of non-poisonous fly dressings or fish oil (Spooner) about tLe muzzle might be resorted to with benefit in invaded localities and during seasons of extreme prevalence. AValker recommends to feed the sheep on salt from two-inch augur holes bored in a log, the surface of which is smeared with tar, so that the sheep got a dressing every time they partake of the salt. Inflammation of the Larynx, in which the trachea is to a varying degree involved, is not rare during the changeable weather of the British spring and autumn. It is denoted by some fever but not very marked, by panting, protrusion of the muzzle, open mouth, and frequent, painful, urgent, sharp, dry cough ; catarrh or bronchitis may be present as complications. Youatt twice performed tracheotomy on sheep in emergency of oedema of the larynx with satisfactory results. As a rule, nursing, stimulating applications to the throat, and saline febrifuges are sufficient to cure such cases.

;|;

P^! !#9632;

EESriRATOKY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 91

Inflammations or the Eespieatoby Organs in the Chest are not uncommon, but are, as a rule, imperfectly diagnosed. It is certain that the sheep suffers much from Pleurisy, for we have one recorded instance, as a specimen of many, where three hundred sheep of a flock shorn in February became thus affected, and thirty of them succumbed. Dick mentions Hydkothorax in his list of diseases of sheep, but he generally found it in association with dropsy of other parts of the body, and specially prevalent in enzootics of rot. Sporadic Pleueo-fneumonia is not very common, but is seen in hilly and damp localities from exposure and want of proper shelter, or neglect of salving or clothing sheep in cold climates. However, it seems that pneumonia and pleurisy are much more frequently independent of each other in the sheep than in most other domesticated animals. True Pneumonia and Bronchitis are very severe and frequent, the former is due to ordinary causes in the majority of cases, the latter is generally, but not by any means always, parasitic. Pulmonary consumption or 'phthisis is, we venture to submit, doubtful as to its occurrence in sheep, the balance of evidence being against these animals ever suffering from tubercular disorder. In making this statement we are aware that wo flatly oppose the statements of previous writers on ovine pathology. They describe phthisis as destroying hundreds of thousands of sheep every year, one lung in three examined at the butcher's shop being thus affected, and that it proves very fatal to rams and ewes over three and four years old, but in younger sheep simply causes a cough, which does not interfere with the animal's feeding nor with his attaining fair marketable condition. Youatt, whose authoritative statements in this matter no one seems to have hitherto dared to question, considers that perhaps the tubercles stimulate the lung to increased function, and so promote rapid conditioning, and he speaks of phthisis causing increased cough, progressive anaemia, and occasional diarrhoea, and proving quot; the winding up of turnsick, the companion and the child of rot.quot; The same authority tells us also that the disease

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

#9632;

L #9632;

prevails in low and moist pastures, and most in the spring and autumn when the seasons are changeahle, and he hereby gives us a cue to the real nature of the diseased state to which he refers. It must be premised that of late years our ideas on the subject of tubercle have undergone a very considerable change, in that we now accept it as the characteristic morbid product developed by the BacilJ/us tuberculosis of Koch. We no longer believe that in the absence of this organism simjde irritation and ordinary inflammation of the lungs can develop phthisis. We also know that many inflammations of the lung produce such morbid appearances as would in days gone by have been considered phthisis; for example, true pneumonia affecting the air-cells causes little white masses in the lungs more or less caseous or softened. Again, calcareous deposits like vomicffl in the lungs are sometimes due to flukes, and (it will be observed) many of Youatt's consumptive cases were associated with liver-rot. Again, parasitic bronchitis is a disease which has only attracted attention as a scourge of lambs in late years, but it most certainly is not a new disease, and we must conclude that the majority of Youatt's cases of quot; phthisis quot; were of this nature.

Simple pneumonia has been noted to take on a gangrenous character very rapidly, and hence has been termed quot; rot of the lights quot; by butchers and shepherds. It is very frequently acute congestion, probably with some pulmonary apoplexy, due to overdriving, chills after the animal has been overheated by hard driving, want of sufficient protection after washing in cold weather with east winds prevalent, or after removing the fleece in unsuitable weather. The disease is a familiar one in bleak, cold, and (particularly) damp situations. It is highly probable that in many flocks poisoning by applications for the scab, also blood-poisoning from impervious coating of the skin, perhaps also pulmonary anthrax, have been mistaken for simple pneumonia. An attack of true pneumonia commences with frequent and troublesome cough, unwillingness to move, heaving of the flank and other signs of

lii

li ^:

KESPIKATOEY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;93

laboured breathing, full aud quick pulse, and refusal of food, also loss of cud. In this congestive stage bleeding may be resorted to promptly, and diffusible stimulants administered. Soon, however, the symptoms become aggravated, fever is present, thirst considerable, and there is foetid discharge from the nose, the patient grinds its teeth as though in pain, and may not be completely off feed. Ere long the animal commences to stagger, to become dull in the appearance of the eye, and to show signs of delirium ; the subcutaneous tissue at the loins crepitates on pressure, and exhaustion shortly carries the animal off. It has been noted that, unlike the horse, the sheep while suffering from pulmonary disease may be given laxatives without fear of fatal diarrhoea supervening. Treatment must be conducted in accordance with general principles in other i-espects, but the special liability of this disease in the sheep to assume a gangrenous character indicates the urgent need for the stimulant tonic rather than the purely sedative line of treatment. In chronic pneumonia treatment is seldom worth resorting to, as the animal is never likely to be useful for breeding purposes or even for fattening. However, as this is said to be a frequent disorder of tropical sheep in zoological gardens in Great Britain, we may note that the iodide of iron, iodide of potassium, and common salt persisted in have been found useful in such cases. Hydatids in the lungs of sheep are not rare ; they seldom cause any inconvenience but sometimes induce nutritive changes and mild chronic pneumonia.

Simple Beonchitis is a disease from which adult sheep suffer severely, according to Gamgee, and lambs are very liable to it from too early exposure or prevalence of inclement weather. It is denoted by a moist wheezing cough, fever, tenderness of the throat and belly, and great rapidity of breathing. Auscultation determines the presence of mucous rale throughout the chest. Treatment must comprise nursing (especially shelter), laxatives, belladonna, and stimulant tonics.

Paeasitic Bkonchitis, Husk, Hoose, or quot; Snots quot; resem-

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

j,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;bles tlie disease of the same name in calves, but is due to

different species of strongyle, a fortunate point wliicli lessens inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; the total prevalence of each of the disorders and limits

their possibility of spread. Two forms of parasite have specially been found in the lungs of the sheep in connection with this disorder, Strongylus rufescens and Str. filaria ;*#9632; ;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;the latter is by far the more frequent and occurs also in the

goat, camel, and some other ruminants. A considerable amount of confusion seems to have originated from the term quot; lamb disease quot; being applied to this disorder and also to parasitic diarrhoea, and it seems that the strongyles

,-*

of the alimentary canal have been confounded with those of the bronchial tubes, the two forms being frequently simultaneously present. There is an ominous silence on the part of helminthologists as to adult Strongyli filariio being found in the alimentary canal, but practical observers have no hesitation in stating that adult filariss do occur there, and when in the intestines give rise to dysentery, either independent and fatal, without either worms or eggs being detectable in lungs or bronchi by the naked eye, or else the combined lung and bowel diseases cause rapid sinking of the patieut. It seems probable that quot; the lamb disease quot; is really two disorders quite distinct from each other, though frequently contemporaneous, namely, parasitic diarrhoea, elsewhere described, and hoose. Careful observations are required to thoroughly settle this point, which is a most practical one, and essential to proper understanding of the disorder. The Strongylus filaria is one to two and a half inches long ; sexes distinct; female white, male browish yellow ; body uniform in size throughout greater part of its length, but tapering at each end. Head short, stumpy, rather angular, not tubercu-lated, armed ; alimentary canal straight; tail of female pointed ; vulva opens near anus and receives the oviducts, which contain ova and live young (Williams). Thus the strongyle is ovoviviparous and it has been estimated that three hundred embryos may come from one adult female. Eggs and embryos have been found in the alimentary canal, * Koch describes a third form, Fseudalius ovalis.

KESPIEATOEY SYSTEM.

and it is said the parasite may undergo its full course of development from ovum to adult there. quot;Williams has quot; on two occasions seen the parasite in the cavities of the heart and in the blood-vessels/' presumably in the embryonic

Fia. 19.Lung worms in sputum.

state, and he notes emboli in the blood-vessels from presence of Str. filaria. Grey has utterly failed to find traces of the parasite in the blood. On post-mortem examination of lambs the parasites are found encysted in the parenchyma of the lungs and also free in the bronchial tubes. In the adult sheep the parasites are for the most pai-t curled up and encysted in masses which have erroneously been called

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

tubercles. These quot; tubercles quot; are described as invariably in the lung parenchyma or connective tissue and varying in appearance^ according to their age, from small vesicfe containing fluid, through cysts with granular contents, to hard and gritty masses varying in size from that of a pin's head up to that of a hemp seed or even larger, studding the substance of the lungs. These are evidently the quot; phthisical tubercles quot; described by Youatt, and his account of their frequency will modify the views of those who hold that hoose in lambs has become much increased in prevalence of late years. It does not seem to be clearly established that the parenchyma, and not the air-cells, is the seat of these parasitic nodules, on the contrary Grey's researches tend to the latter view and to show that the caseous material is altered epithelium. There is much to be learned as regards development of this strongyle as of all other nematodes. Cobbold considers quot; there can be little doubt that the young of the strongyles which occasion husk and lamb disease undergo their primary changes of development, either within soft mud alone, or within the bodies of larval insects and minute entomostracans inhabiting ponds, ditches, and running streams.quot; Certainly eggs and embryos are expelled through the respiratory passages of the sheep and so reach the pastures, and the conditions under which the disease is developed are in direct relation with locality and certain conditions of pasture. It is probable then that the young parasites find their way into the system from pastures, and the questions arise : (1) by what route do they reach the lungs, and (2) must each parasite have traversed that route to gain the bronchial tubes ? The most commonly received view is that the ova and embryes are ingested with food and water and the eggs hatched in the stomach, that some of the embryos remain in the alimentary canal and become adults (a view which we have seen is doubtful), that others penetrate the walls of the canal. The idea that they pass thence directly to the lungs has been rejected, but it is presumed that they pass in the round of the circulation and, with the instinct found in parasites of almost all kinds, select

lt;

EESPinATORY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;97

the locality most suitable for their further development^ the lung parenchyma, wliere they remain for a time, and when adult escape into the bronchial tubes and set free their ova and embryos ready for expulsion from the host. It is said that in the lamb only are the tissues penetrable by the strongyle, so that the nodules found in adult sheep are relics of the individual parasites whose aggressions the host has managed to outlive, but the facts that filaria are found in the tubes of adult sheep and that in their lungs nodules in the earliest or vesicular and the granular stage are found, militate against this view and render it probable that lambs succumb most because they have least constitutional strength for resistance to the parasites and least expiratory vigour for their expulsion. The density of the adult tissues doubtless lessens the number of ingested embryos which succeed in reaching the lung. But (1) is there no alternative route to the lungs, and (2) cannot the embryos set free in the lungs develop inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;into adults without leaving those organs ? The only possi-

ble alternative route is through the larynx and trachea. It has been supposed that the young worms enter the nostrils of grazing animals, and if two or three can pass into the lungs (whether by crawling or being drawn by the rushing incurrent of air down to the lungs) they there reproduce ovoviviparously after they attain the adult stage (Moffatt and Grey), and so may produce enough parasites to prove fatal to the patient, the embryos undergoing development while they are encysted in the parenchyma of the lungs, to penetrate into which they are furnished with boring apparatus. This latter view is not by any means so ridiculous as it has been made out to be, and the physiological impossibility of its occurrence is anything but proven; particles as small as ova and embryos can be inhaled without irritation, and it has been remarked how little the parasites in the bronchial tubes irritate the adnlt sheep. Thus, though we by no means refuse to accept the view commonly received, we must remember that that view has to bo more firmly based on experimentation and exact observation than it is at present.

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

Biological research for the elucidation of economic problems is in the present day practically a matter of providing sufficient funds for allowing a specialist to devote his time and attention to study, by means of the micro-scope, of low organisms. It is to be trusted that ere long this method wäll be adopted as an outcome of individual liberality, public-spirited movement of agricultural societies, or Government action, and the secrets of the life-history of Strcmgylus ßlaria thus made known, to inform us how to thoroughly prevent the disease, instead of, as now, groping empirically in darkness and losing annually enormous numbers of sheep from parasitic bronchitis. What has been done as regards the liver-fluke should be done concerning the filaria, we should face the question of extermination in a business-like manner and not rely on the happy chance of some self-sacrificing student of natural history ultimately selecting this form of life for study. Special skill is required and the country should pay for obtaining it. Ercolaui has made some researches on the organism ; ho finds that it can resist the effects of dryness for thirty days, and on being remoistened will show signs of vitality ; it also can resist immersion in spirits of wine and in a solution of alum and corrosive sublimate. Grey has shown that the oi'ganisms have most remarkable powers of vitality; they are active long after the lungs turn putrid. Alois Koch, the distinguished veterinarian of Vienna, has written a monograph on parasitic lung disease of sheep. Some observations on the lung-worm of cattle render it probable, according to Dr. Cobbold, that the common earthworm may be the intermediate bearer (or one of the bearers) of the lung-worm of sheep. Walley cannot endorse these views, and Grey considers the assumption of an intermediary bearer superfluous. Practical observation has shown that natural pastures, especially those with strong clay and other retentive soils, low marshy and woody grazing lands and meadows frequently flooded and which have been overstocked are those on which the disease occurs, and yet that it is occasionally seen in dry summers and on good

¹ . #9632;

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;99

pastures, particularly when the ponds are nearly dry and full of animalculae (Youatt). It occurs most in lambs and hoggets, the weak and neglected licing the first to succumb, but adult sheep are not exempt, and the disease has been noted specially in pregnant ewes at or about the time of parturition. It is much more prevalent in some seasons than in others, and the degree of prevalence varies in different localities according to season. In the natural pastures of some of the Colonies it has proved most fatal; in Australia salt with fodder, and salt marshes or soils, seem to prevent its occurrence or to cause animals fed on them to be exempt from its ravages as from those of rot. Thompson, of Aspatria, has noted its special occurrence on grounds where Agrostis vulguris, the white-topped grass, prevails. The disease is seen especially in autumn and in animals allowed to roam and feed during the night and early morning. In some seasons the losses amount to 50 per cent, of the lambs dropped. A fairly well-verified instance of an infected ram introducing the disease in a flock of ewes by living among them and especially by feeding out of the same troughs, may be read in the ' Veterinary Journal,' May, 1876, p. 336. In the same paper the writer gives an instance of conveyance of the disease by hay from quot; swails quot; or swamps.

Symptoms.The presence of parasites in lung tissue of adults may not excite appreciable irritation, though chronic occasional cough may be present, and the animals at length be sold to the butcher as prime mutton. In lambs there are fits of most distressing and almost continual coughing, difficulty in breathing, rubbing the muzzle against the ground, and progressing anaemia, denoted by marked pallor of the visible mucous membranes and the animal becoming weaker and thinner until at length dysenteric purging and dropsy set in as antecedents to death. Our prognosis must be based on the strength of the patient, and on the number of parasites presumed to be present and causing distress.

Treatment.In spite of the imperfect knowledge of the parasite which we have above mentioned a number of

100

DTSEASES OF THE SHEEP.

valuable facts as to prevention and cure have been ascertained. Thompson suggests for eradication of the similar disease in the calf, a measure which is here also applicable, dressing the land with crushed rock salt in the early spring months at 5 or 6 cwt. per acre, also causing all rough grasses on old-laid grazing pastures to be mown in autumn and converted into ensilage. The farmer must consider whether these measures are suited to his farm and practicable. Lambs in seasons when the disease threatens or prevails should be kept from natural pastures and old layers such as have been previously fed over by sheep, hill-sides and dry pastures should be preferred, and good food should be given to support the system. The affected should be separated from the rest in some way or other, preferably by housing or bringing into a straw-yard, the straw of which. Dr. Cobbold suggests, should be subjected periodically to the action of boiling water and salt solutions. Both pasture and source of drinking-water should be changed, and salt one and a half to two ounces with lime-water six to eight ounces per sheep daily must be given and supplemented when necessary by more active tonics, such as sulphate of iron, ten to twenty grains to each lamb. Turpentine may be introduced into the stomach to destroy embryos in the alimentary canal, and, perhaps, when thus used it proves of benefit by exhalation from the blood. The following mixture has been found very useful : 01. Tercb. gij, 01. Lini 3,), Zing. Paly. 3j, 01. Caryoph. gtt. v, in linseed gruel repeated several times at intervals of some days. Various antiparasitic fumes may be inhaled, the simplest being those of tobacco smoke, tar fumes, and sulphur vapour, but iodine and chlorine are the most effectual. These are generated and administered in the same way as to calves, two or three fumigations being generally necessary. Stephen, of Carruther (quoted by Gamgee), suggests to put about forty lambs at a time into an air-tight house, to place tar, sulphur, and turpentine in a pot of burning coals suspended by a chain from the ceiling and brought as near to the heads of the lambs as possible, let the fumes fill the house, and add more ingredients as required, the

EESPIEATOBY SYSTEM.

101

animal being kept in for twenty-five minutes each time, and tlie process tlirice repeated. The intratracheal method of administration of remedies has been found specially valuable in this disease. It has been thus described in the ' Veterinary Journal ' for February, 1885, quot; Introduce the needle of the syringe about half way down the cervical

Fig. 20.lutratraclieal iujection syringe.

portion of the trachea without regard to an interanuular space, and inject the fluid slowly. The exhalation can be at once detected at the nostril. The animal appears to suffer no inconvenience beyond a slight cough. So far I have not found it necessary to repeat the operation although some of my cases were suffering from advanced broncho-pneumonia.quot; The following is recommended as a dose for a lamb :Acid. Carbolic, gtt. vx ; 01. Tereb., mxvxxx, Chlorof., TUviijxv ; 01. Olivas, f.5Jss ; repeat daily for three days. Chloroform is known to be deadly to parasites, therefore the effects of two or three admiuistratious at intervals should be tried. Walley urges that intratracheal injection cannot meet the worms embedded in the lung tissue and inflammatory deposits. Gamgee recommends among other methods of treatment ether inhalations and camphor drinks. The destruction of infested lungs of sheep or lambs which are killed while suffering from this disorder, or to which it proves fatal, should be by fire ; and strong brine or hot water should be thrown over soil or floors contaminated with expectorations in which embryos and ova abound. Thompson, as we have seen, considers a good spring dressing of pastures with salt all that can

102

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

be desired, but Grey's observations tend to establisli a remarkable degree of resisting power in the embryos.

As regards tlie Strongijlm rufescens, tlie following summary from an interesting record by Dykes, of Welling-borougli, from No. 2 of the 'Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics/ will doubtless be acceptable to our readers.

Symptoms.Animal noted to quot; drucken/' to isolate itself, respiration quick, short hacking cough on forced exertion, eyes bloodshot, wool tends to become detached in patches, especially in region of loins ; sometimes suddeu death. Wanders down hedgerow or lies in some quiet, sheltered spot; when with its fellows stands apparently motionless, legs slightly abducted, back arched, head dependent, eye dull and expressionless, conjunctiva and sclerotic injected, small accumulation of gelatinous material at inner canthus, and the neighbouring integument in some cases is excoriated by it. Extremities colder than natural. Wool dry; where it has become removed the surface is abraded.

Post mortem are observed, perhaps peritoneal ecchy-moses. Lungs large, sometimes indented by ribs, to which in places firmly adherent from localised pleuritis. Lung tissue lighter than normal, glistening and resistant to the knife; indurated in areas, the larger of which are mainly opposite pleuritic adhesions. Nodules dirty or reddish grey, and not sharply circumscribed. Softening and subsequent formation of vomicee may occur; emphysema, congestion, and oedema in other parts of the lungs, intense bronchitis in places. Eggs, largo numbers of young strongyles and adult worms of both sexes in the less altered parts of the lung tissue. Animals of all ages succumbed.

Four or five air-passage strongyles of sheep have been described, but the two already referred to are the most important ; the following descriptions may be found useful:

(a) Strongylus filaria, wliitish, vulva a little behind middle of body, male caudal pouch has its posterior rays trilobed^ middle bilobed, anterior divided. Ovoviviparous.

laquo;raquo;^#9632;^Pi

EESPIEATORY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;103

{h) Brown's long strongyle, 67 inches long.

(c) Strongylus rufescens, oviparous; discovered by Leuckhart, described as causing verminous lung disease of sbeep by Eailliet ('Archiv de Physio!./ series iii, t. 4, p. 519). Body very slender^ of a reddish-brown tint. Head not wingedj mouth surrounded by three papilliform lips. Male from 1828 mm. long, its caudal pouch excised bebind, and offers two slight lateral notches in front; posterior rays or ribs short and indistinct, middle divided into two, anterior split but reunited. Spicules curved and transversely striated. Female 2535 mm. long; its tail terminated in a blunt point, vulva situated immediately in front of anus at the base of a small eminence. Oviparous : eggs ellipsoidal (brown, granular), from 75 120 mm. long by 4ö^-82 mm. broad ; their proportion varies greatly. Embryos Lave characteristic curved tall as described and figured by Railliet. Eggs invariably in infun-dibula and air-cells, sometimes sparsely scattered, but more often in groups. Embryos vary in size, but give no indications of attaining sexual maturity in the lungs.

Ova many times too large to pass through the liver capillaries. quot; The affection is a verminous pneumonia, not a verminous phthisis quot; (Laulauie).


	104	DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

CHAPTEE V.THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

Constructed on the ruminant type and agreeing in tlie main, as regards anatomy and physiology, with the digestive organs of the ox, there are, yet, minor differences and special features in the sheep which require notice. Prehension is performed by the lips, tongue, and teeth. The lips are thin and fine, they bear hair and feelers, except the upper one at the central line, where is the cleft which splits the lip into two and forms a constantly moist channel running from the nostrils to the mouth. This cloven condition of the lip enables the sheep to graze on very short grass, so that it is commonly said quot; the sheep will thrive where an ox would starve.quot; An indirect result of this anatomical feature is of importance to the agriculturist ; the close manner in which the sheep crops the fodder improves the grass of a pasture by making it throw out lateral shoots, whereby it gets a better bottom. Good grasses for sheep are notoriously the crisp, firm, dry pasture of uplands. The dental pad is firmer, smaller, and less spongy than that of the ox; the organ of Jacob-son, with the duct of Stenson, is well developed in the sheep as in other ruminants, and it has been conjectured to be a special sense organ serving as a guide in the selection of wholesome food and a warning means against poisonous plants. Although rudimentary in mammals, its fair size in all ruminants would seem to indicate that it still has a physiological value, however limited.

The teeth present the ordinary ruminant arrangement, and in the fcetal lamb rudiments of upper front teeth can be found. In the adult the teeth are regular and somewhat uniform in shape, presenting black crusta both on molars and incisors. The latter are longer, narrower, and

ll-,i___quot;-I _

DIOKSTIVE SYSTEM.

105

Fig. 21.Alimentary canal of sheep (Spooneb).

A.nbsp; nbsp;(Esophagus.

B.nbsp; nbsp;Sacs of rumen.

C.nbsp; nbsp;Keticulum.

D.nbsp; nbsp;Omasum.

E.nbsp; Abomasum.

F.nbsp; nbsp;Pylorus.

G. Duodenum.

H. Floating small intestine.

I. lleo-ea;cal valve.

J. Colon. K. Cajcum. L. Uectuui,

106

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

more upright than those of the ox, and present sharp cutting edges of a gouge form, which renders them highly useful for cutting of the fibrous food of the animal and, as noticed by Eandall, for scooping or prising out turnips and other roots. They are somewhat loose, and Youatt hints at the presence of special muscular fibres in the

Under 1 year old.

1 year old.

If years.

2i years old.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;3i years old.

Figs. 2226.Natural size ; from Simonds ' On the Age of the Ox, Sheep, and I'ig,' illustrating replacement of incisors.

gum to act as erectores dentis. This observation has not been confirmed, nor is Youatt's statement that in epizootics and diseases of the digestive and respiratory systems especially the teeth fall out, now accepted as correct. Teething

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

107

may cause disinclination to suckj in which case pressing the back of the thumb-nail so as to compress the gum against the tooth edge or lancing the gums is required. Williams reminds us, when teething animals unaccountably fall out of condition, to carefully inspect their incisors, molars, and gums. Incisors are broken, or even drawn out, by accident, and molars may become carious, even lost, as the effects of disease, and these lesions are not uncommon in old sheep, such as the guide wethers of pastures in the North, but such losses are local and accidental, not due to disorder of the system. Simonds draws attention to the effects of hroken incisors. Sheep with this condition are in Norfolk called quot; chrones;quot; they require constant care and attention, and must be fed from mangers. A broken incisor may cause displacement of the other teeth, and may lacerate the pad even to the bone. The age of sheep can be determined with a fair amount of accuracy by means of the teeth, especially the incisors; breed exercises considerable influence, consequently we hear of early and late varieties, and have to make allowance accordingly. The following are the estimates arrived at by the most reliable observers :

Dentition Table of the Sheep.


Kmd of tuoth.	Observers.
	Kreuzer.		Simonds	Gurlt.
	Temporary.	Permanent.	Permanent.	Temporary. Permanent.
Incisor, central first intermediary second intermediary corner Molar, 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th	' Before or aquot; few days , afterbirth . 14 days after birth 23 weeks f Before or a 1 lt; few days (_ after birth J	Years. 24 3J 4J 14 24 35 4-i 2^ 45	Years. l-U 14-2 24-31 3di	Birth to 8 d. 814 days 1021 days 34 weeks 1014 days 08 days 3i weeks	1216 mos. 1824 mos. 242i years or later 33\| years or later If2 years Do. Do. 35 weeks 912 mos. 1824 mos.

108

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

The signs of age in the sheep are found in the wear, loss, and general state of the teeth, thickness and width of the mouth, large size of the belly, and hollowness of the loin. The following Table shows the different names, according to age, sex, fyc, given to sheep :


	Male.
Events,			Female.	TtftnmrL-a
	Uucustratcil.	Castrated.	Female.	Ivt.iUitl h.-i.
Birth to	Tup Iamb	Hogg lamb	Ewe lamb	A sheep until wean-
weaning	Ham lamb Pur Iamb Heeder		Gimmer lamb	ed is a lamb.
Weaning to	Hogg	Wether hogg	Gimmer hogg	Hogget wool is
first shearing	Hogget	He-teg	Ewe hogg	wool of first shear-
	Hagerel or		Sheeder ewe	ing.
	hoggerel		Ewe-teg
	Tup-teg
	Lamb hogg
	Tup hogg
First to	Shearing	Shearing	Shearing ewe	A ewe which has
second	Shearling	wether	Shearing	ceased to give
shearing	Shear hogg	Shear hogg	Gimmer	milk is a quot;yeld
	Diamond ram	Wether hogg	Theave	ewe;quot; taken from
	Dinmout	Wedder hogg	f Double-	the breeding tiock
	Kam tup	Two-tooth	\ toothed owe	she is a quot;draft
	One-shear	wether	' Double-	ewequot; or draft
	tup		lt; toothed gimmer Gimmer	gimmer.
Second to	Two-shear	Three-tooth	Two-shear	Ewe if in lamb or
third	ram	wether	ewes	with Iamb; if not,
shearing		Two-shear wether		a quot; barren gimmer ;quot; if not put to ram are yild gimmer (Scot.).
Third to	Three-shear	Four-tooth	Three-shear	__
fourth	ram	wether	ewe
shearing	Three-shear	Three-shear	Winter ewe
	tup	wether	(Scot.)
Afterwards	Aged tup	Full marked, Aged	amp;c.	After fourth shearing. quot; Aged quot; or three winter.

These names differ somewhat according to the relations of time of shearing to time of tooth eruption and replace-

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merit, also the fact that lambs are sometimes shorn in the first year and sometimes not introduces some confusion. Thus the Scotch terms are somewhat different from the English ones.

A quot; ripe quot; sheep is one fit for the butcher. A quot; broken-mouthed quot; sheep is one in -which the teeth are beginning to drop out. Randall suggests that -laquo;-hen but two or three teeth remain they should be removed; he found that English sheep become broken mouthed three or four years earlier than Merinos. The teeth are shed in consequence of insinuation of gravel at the roots of the incisors, loosening them or causing them to snap off. When teeth are lost the gum hardens to compensate for them.

Aphtha is a disease of much importance in the sheep. Perhaps under this heading have been included several conditions, some of a simple nature, others very complex and probably specific, of frequent occurrence, and of much interest in their practical relations. Youatt was familiar with simple aphtha or thrush in the mouth, and gives a good practical description of it. He refers to malignant aphtha, as described by Paulet, in which vesicles were seen about the nose, mouth, and other parts of the head, and extended by continuity of structure down the windpipe to the lungs, also to the record by Columella of a similar disease, often assuming an epizootic character, consisting in malignant nlceration of the lips and mouths of lambs supposed to be due to eating grass covered with hoar frost, and readily amenable to treatment, of a simple character in the case of weaned lambs and older animals, but fatal to sucklings. Simonds in his lectures used to give a good account of the disorder, describing it under three forms: simplex, maligna, and anginosa. Brown more recently describes also three forms, which he terms the vesicular, pustular, and gangrenous. Walley {' Veterinary Journal/ August, 1888) considers the term malignant aphtha unsatisfactory, and suggests the name pustular fever or contagious ecthyma for the disorder. It is evident that, especially by the earlier authors, three conditions have been mistaken for aphtha. Foot-and-mouth

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disease was described by Seyard and referred to by Youatt under this heading, and we know that it is still termed epizootic aphtha by the French and Italians. Further, Walley in some of his cases observed catarrhal inter-digital inflammation, such as is known as quot; dew scald,quot; and though he considered it quite independent of the aphtha, evidently suggests the need for differential diagnosis from foot-and-mouth disease. However, the tendency to such confusion is less as regards the sheep than the ox, owing to the less frequency of mouth-lesions in eczema epizootica in the former animal. Simonds points out that there is no reddening around the mouth eruption in foot-and-mouth disease, the vesicles are larger and fewer, and not conical (acuminate). Sheep-pox is so like the disease that Walley would have suspected some cases as variola had he not been aware that no importation of disease could have taken place. Finally, Simonds' aphtha angi-nosa seems to he gloss-anthrax or the throat form of charbon, and to he the same as Brown's gangrenous form. Eliminating doubtful cases we can describe the simple form of the disease, and then may proceed to the malignant, which seems about to assume a separate place in classification, among the specific disorders.

Aphtha Simplex or thrush in the mouth, also called stomatitis, is a disease seen specially in lambs (most frequently in suckling animals), occasionally in older sheep, as vesicles in the mouth generally in successive crops due to proliferation, degeneration, and desquamation of epithelium. Ulceration, but no serious general or local mischief, occurs ; the membrane of the tongue is specially affected (Axe), and in general the eruption is confined to the buccal membrane, benign in character, and lasting only a few days. Some animals seem to suffer little, others have high fever, suffer too much pain in the act of browsing to permit of their feeding freely, and wander about unhappily. The mouth and eyes are red, and the former is the seat of eruption. Blood-stained, sticky saliva in small quantity trickles from the mouth, the breath is offensive, and the animal falls away in condition. It may

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even prove fatal, though rarely; post-mortem examination shows the lining membrane of the abomasum red and dropsical, the lungs consolidated and the seat of blood extravasations. Axe traced one outbreak to blight of tares and the larvae of insects ingested. Acrid vegetable matter has been supposed to have a locally irritant action when ingested, other cases have been attributed to gastric and intestinal irritation, and the mouth fungus known as O'idium, albicans has been considered the cause of the disease. This fungus certainly is present at the seat of eruption, but whether as a producer of disease or as an accompaniment has not yet been established. Treatment comprises laxative doses of Epsom salts, followed by the nitrate or bicarbonate of potash internally, and the topical applications of borax and honey, alum solution, or tincture of myrrh. A good plan is to put nitre mixed with common salt and such other remedial agents as are considered necessary, into a trough, and to allow the affected animals to lick in the medicine when they will.

Aphtha Maligna. (Simonds), pustula/r fever v. contagious ecthyma (Walley).This disease sometimes assumes formidable proportions, causing the death of even 30 per cent, of the animals attacked. Simonds, in 1852, observed that the buccal eruption in lambs was associated with disease of the teats and udders of ewes, familiar to shepherds as quot; chapped or cracked teats;quot; he further observed that it is a blood dyscrasia due to bad food or feeding, occurring in all weathers, but probably as a result of improper manuring or unfavorable atmospheric conditions, especially unusually severe winter weather. Evidence is tending to the conclusion that these causes are predisposing and that the disease is transmitted by a contagium. In Saxony shepherds leave the crook on the ground overnight, in order that in the morning they may see whether or not it is covered with honey dew, to which they attribute aphtha. In Canada the disease has been found in connection with amoebae, which were also observed in the water in which the sheep frequently stood; but few, if any, natural waters are devoid of amoebae, so these can

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hardly yet be accepted as the cause of the disease. Eeynault has seen the disorder spread rapidly among groups of lambs, and has propagated it merely by depositing O'idium alhicans on the buccal membrane, especially if the mouth was acid. quot;Walley has investigated the disease carefully. He confirmed the view that the dam is first affected, and worked out the pathology; we condense the following information mainly from that published by him. In the ewe there is first erythema of the affected parts, udder and thighs ; next probably vesicles form, but this is douhtful, at any rate this stage must be very short. Soon appear discrete or scattered and separate pustules, varying in size from that of a vetch seed to that of a large pea, and succeeded in from one to two days by a sore, which gradually enlarges circum-ferentially so that confluence occurs. A scab covers the sore, and under it ulceration progresses, and may constitute very serious destruction of tissue if the teat be irritated by the hand of a milker or the mouth of a lamb, or if the thigh and udder irritate each other by friction. In other cases there is slight erythema, and a distinct formation of discrete papules all over the udder and teats j on each of the papules a slight pustule may form at the summit. Sometimes the papules disappear with slight desquamation of cuticle, and there is no breach of surface. In the lamb the eruption occurs on one or both nostrils, on the edges of the lips, and on the labial aspect of the gums. On the skin, first there is a raised patch of inflamed tissue, then a rapidly spreading sore, which becomes covered with a detachable scab. On the buccal membrane, after the inflamniatory and ulcerative stage croupous masses develop and may be mistaken for granulations. In other cases these masses are very considerable in size, and they may so destroy the gum and exert pressure on the teeth as to cause them to become loose or even to drop out. As regards constitutional symptoms, the ewe suffers from fever, sometimes mild, but not uncommonly severe, the temperature being at IOC⁰107deg; P.; in complicated cases death ensues from exhaustion, septicteniia.

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gangrenous mammitis (quot; udder clap quot;), septic pneumonia, or low inflammations of the serous tissues. The lamb may be feverish, but usually there is no material interference with nutrition ; in severe cases he is out of sorts and suffers from catarrh, stiffness of limbs, and profuse exhaustive diarrhoea, and sometimes pulmonary, pleural, or peritoneal disease of a low type occurs as a complication. Autopsy may show dropsy of the pericardium, thorax, and abdomen, extravasations in different parts of the system, omphalo-phlebitia, muco-enteritis where profuse diarrhoea has been present, lung lesions resembling those seen in swine fever, and sometimes small abscesses in the liver and lungs (Simouds). Among ewes, only those with or in lamb suffer to any marked degree from this disorder, and, except in being transmissible from dam to offspring, it closely resembles varioloid or pustular fever of cows. The ulcers of the lips of lambs resemble those which occur in calves from sucking cows with foot-and-mouth disease, and, apparently, also those seen in gangrenous stomatitis. A remarkable feature is conveyance of the disease from ulcers to parts which come in contact with them, as from lip to lip in the lamb, or from udder to thigh in the ewe; inoculation with discharge from one of the ulcers determines the characteristic ulcers when applied to ulcerated parts of the skin anywhere about the body. Treatment is simple except when the cases are aggravated by neglect, exposure, bad feeding, or other debilitating and deleterious influences. The cases must be taken early, isolated, put on different diet, sheltered, and fed well. The lambs must be removed from the ewes, fed artificially, and treated as for simple aphtha ; in cases of diarrhoea they must have skim milk and lime-water, also malt to promote digestion. The ewes must receive laxatives, chlorate of potash or hyposulphite of soda, and nitre, and the milk must be drawn off regularly. A form of septic mammitis different from the infective ovine mammitis described by Nocard, may result from entry of decomposing material into the teat, or may ensue from the milk-ducts being blocked up by scab. The latter must be re-

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moved, tlie milk syphon used if necessary, and, if gangrene threatens, the teat should at once be amputated, for the change begins generally at its root. The sores should be touched with nitrate of silver and afterwards dressed with mild astringents. In lambs oinphalitis or omphalo-phlebitis may be occasionally simultaneously present, but apparently quite independent of the disorder just described. By thus informing us Prof. Walley has considerably increased our information of malignant aphtha, but it is evident much remains to be added to our knowledge, especially as regards the comparative pathology of the disorder.

The tongue of the sheep is less frequently in use, and not so important functionally for prehensile purposes as that of the ox, hence, perhaps, its less liability to disease. It is shorter and less protrusible than that of the ox, and not constantly required to pass over the muffle to clean and defend it. Bolliuger writes of actinomycosis of the tongue of the sheep, but seems somewhat doubtful on the point. As we have seen, examination of the state of the tongue is useful in diagnosis.

Eanula, or inflammation of the frsenum and gum, is recorded by Prof. Dick as troublesome and pi-otracted, and leading to mortification ; also as needing prompt treatment by scarification, and dressing with solutions of alum, borax, and tincture of myrrh. Williams figures a tumour in the mouth of a sheep, which he describes as benign epulis. It was painless, of slow growth, mechanically interfered with mastication, and in structure resembled the tissue of the gum.

As regards the salivary glands, they are larger in proportion than those of the ox, a condition probably bearing a direct relation to the drier nature of the sheep's food, and to the fact, insisted on by Varnell, of the contents of the rumen being more moist than in other animals which chew the cud. The subinaxillary gland is much smaller in proportion than in the ox ; the molar glands, superior and inferior, are very large, and Gamgee draws our attention to the fact of the sublingual gland in the pig, ox, and sheep being sometimes double. This is probably what Youatt

I.~~sfc~~raquo; ^

_ '.

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refers to when he points out a special quot; gland, almost pecu-liar to the sheep, behind the lower jaw and deep in the hollow which exists there, extending upwards as far as the fatty matter that encircles the eye, and opening on the palate opposite to and behind the last molar tooth.quot; Two convergent parotid ducts are described on each side. Evidently a plentiful flow of saliva is essential for digestion in the sheep. Pakotiditis is not frequent, and when occasionally seen yields readily to a dose of salts, and fomentations followed by stimulants externally.

Choking is sometimes seen among sheep fed on roots but is far less frequent than in the ox, probably as much on account of the difference in method of eating as on the articles used for food. The probang is, however, an article requisite for sheep practice, and should be used when necessary, as follows :Place the sheep on its rump with the shoulders resting between the knees of an assistant, who must hold the forefeet, then fix the gag in the mouth or use the hand as a gag, and pass the bulb gently through the mouth and pharynx into the gullet. The usual precautions must be observed as in the ox. When this does not afford relief, ocsophagotomy must be performed in the usual way, the wool being clipped off over the obstruction and the ccsophageal wound closed with catgut sutures. The wound subsequently should be protected with a bandage, and soft diet given for some time. In the 'Eecueil de med.vet./ 1828, p. 229, is a case recorded where return of non-ruminated food occasionally, painful regurgitation of the cud, and comparatively easy passage of food when masticated for the second time gave rise to suspicion of oesophageal obstruction, and a fibrous tumour was found between the muscular and mucous coats of the gullet just where it enters the thorax, and was removed by operation successfully. Eandall describes an impromptu probang: quot; The best instrument now attainable on most farms is a strong, flexible, elastic rod of hickory or elm, made perfectly smooth and not far from five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. A little bag of flax seed is firmly secured to the lower end, and on dipping the rod into hot

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water to limber it for use, tlie bag becomes perfectly smooth and slippery. Some wind the end of tbe probang with tow and dip it in oil.quot;

Tbe experiments of Spallanzani and Tiedemann tend to show that no food is returned to the mouth from the rumen for re-mastication under fourteen hours after it was swallowed ; and that dry food will remain in the rumen for thirty hours, and the average retention of the food in that viscus is sixteen to eighteen hours. The sheep requires remarkably little water, a fact which adapts him for dry countries, such as the Deccan and Australia ; even on dry food he will go a long time without drinking; no water is required for him on succulent pasture, and food containing excessive moisture is a familiar cause of disease, mainly of a dropsical nature. The paunch of this animal is probably never less than half full, as judged by observations on the carcases of sheep which succumbed to burial in snow, and under other forms of starvation. The amount of saliva poured into the rumen has experimentally been found to be enormous.

Loss of the Cud is sometimes present without appreciable cause. Dick attributed it to gastric acidity. In such cases a cathartic may bo administered to restore the natural function. In lambs as in calves the rumen is, it must be remembered, small, and the cud is not chewed until the animal gradually gets on solid food. Deopping the Odd is sometimes seen in sheep, in which case disease of teeth should be looked for and, if present, attended to. Teüe vomition, i. e. return of material from the abomasum into the mouth, is rare, except during the death struggle. The wool-eating habit is a symptom of indigestion in the sheep. Chalk and salt in the fodder has been found to cure the habit in the course of a fortnight.

Hoven, or Tympany of the Eumen, is as severe a disease as in cattle, but not so frequent, because most sheep being generally out at pasture are not so liable to indulge in excess of green fodder as cattle freshly turned out. The drinking of cold water, dew on grass, frosted roots or root-tops, and mangolds before matured are frequent causes

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; ]17

of hoven (Walker). However, any abrupt change to palatable diet, especially such as contains much moisture, turnips and clover for example, may bring it on, from which may be inferred the important hygienic rule that changes of diet in sheep should be made gradually. Fermentation of food in the rumen causes this condition, and it has been supposed that acidity of the contents of the viscus is counteracted and absorption of the gases eSected normally by the alkalinity of the secretions and the absorbent and alkaline characters of soil necessarily ingested with the grass eaten by the sheep. When food is unduly retained, as for example in cessation of rumination due to systemic disease, hoven occurs as a complication; it also is a complication in prolonged choking.

Symptoms.The sheep is unwilling to move and evi-deutly suffers abdominal pain, he is dull and breathing laboriously. The belly is blown out and the left flank tympanic.

Treatment.In the early stages, causing the animal to run about for a time maybe effectual in dispersion of the gas. In confirmed cases the hollow probang may be passed or the rumen punctured as in the ox, a smaller instrument being used, but the same precautions taken. Youatt insists on the inadvisability of resorting to the shepherd's rough puncture with a pocket knife, because, owing to the churning action of the rumen, the wound in it will be removed from juxtaposition with that of the abdominal walls and the contents of the stomach will escape into the peritoneal sac, ultimately giving rise to chronic peritonitis and death. As an illustration of the innocuousness of the same operation performed with trocar and cannula, he gives a case in wliich he punctured the rumen seven times in four days and the sheep recovered. The animal having been relieved by operation, antiferments and absorbers of gas combined with stimulants may be given, the most effectual agents being chloride of lime, carbolic acid, chlorate of potash, ammonia, and the hyposulphite of soda. After-treatment comprises purgation and avoidance of the causes of the attack by change in system of feeding.

118

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

Ik li

Plenalvfa, or (listension of the rumen with food, is much more frequent and results from sudden transference from poor to rich pasture and other influences which cause rapid eating, as when animals are put on and left on turnips. Hawes, of Taunton ('Veterinarian,' 1840), records the effects of eating new wheat. He was called in to attend a flock which, the day before, had strayed into a field of standing wheat and fed on it freely. Twenty-eight died that day and as many more were almost dead; the sick had been given Epsom salts and castor-oil. In all fifty-eight died in five days, the rest were hied, purged with 01. Liui, and recovered, but many threw their lambs afterwards. Post-mortem examination showed the abomasum and bowels highly inflamed, the spleen like a mass of coagulated blood, with its structure destroyed, and the rumen distended with wheat, barley, and straw. Axe, in 1880 (' Veterinarian,' p. 198), described a disorder of ewes, wide spread, fatal in character, and rapid in its course, affecting the best bred and best fed breeding stock, perhaps due to the high feeding resorted to by farmers with a view to prevention of rot. He associated the outbreak with feeding on mangold tops in a frosted or otherwise damaged state. The attacks occurred suddenly and proved fatal in at most three or four hours ; sometimes premonitory general signs of disorder were noticed, unsteady movements, local emphyse-matous swellings, hovcn, fever, and cold, moist, sodden, leaden-coloured skin; paralysis, convulsions, and loss of consciousness immediately preceded death. Post-mortem examinations showed the blood firmly coagulated, congestions and extravasations, and the liver, kidneys, and intestines more or less cedematous and softened. It will be observed that these outbreaks in many respects resemble anthrax, but in the former the cause was clear, and in the latter the balance of evidence was in favour of its being¹due to the mangold tops ; we must remember the resemblance between these food-generated disorders and anthrax, and be careful in diagnosis. Ordinary plenalvia is denoted by symptoms somewhat similar to those of hoven, the dis-

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tension is less and the flank not tympanic but pasty on pressure. The animal is more dull. Olver, of Truro, recorded, in the ' Veterinarian' for 1871, the deaths of several aged Shropshire ewes, pregnant and in good condition, from eating maize, which was found accumulated in the rumen to a great extent, in an unbroken and dry condition. The animals lay in unnatural positions, were off feed, breathed with difficulty, were dull, stupid, unwilling to move, tympanic, and with confined bowels. Treatment consists in removal of the mass by pumping water into the rumen by means of the stomach-pump, so as to cause regurgitation or passage of some of it on to the omasum, cathartics to arouse the action of the rumen, together with other parts of the alimentary canal, and stimulants to excite the activity of the peristalsis of the rumen, ammonia being especially useful for the purpose, because it also suffices to combine with and condense any gas set free, for hoven always somewhat complicates such cases. In case these measures prove ineffectual, and while the animal yet retains strength, ruminotomy or paunching should be performed in the usual way as for the ox, only about two thirds of the contents of the viscus being removed. After-treatment comprises careful feeding and nursing for a time, for liability to intermittent hoven may be a sequel. In this, as in other formidable operations on the sheep, we must always consider whether it would not be better to destroy the animal, so as to save the meat before much medicine has been given or fever set in. Ähitis, true inflammation of the rumen, is rare.

Faedel bound, grass staggers, called also quot; drying up,quot; imfaction of the faik or manyplies, occasionally occurs in sheep as a result of abrupt changes of diet or undue acridity or astringency of food. Where death is due to this disorder autopsy shows the contents of the omasum dry and considerable in quantity and the leaves of the stomach arc congested or inflamed, the brain and spinal cord (with their membranes) also being the seat of congestion. This state of the third stomach must not be confounded with physiological dryness of its contents, nor

120

DISEASES OF THE SII1CKP.

must the case be dealt with as wholly gastric. The symptoms are largely those ofquot; nervous derangement. At first there are cough, diarrhoea, and signs of general disorder. Next obstinate constipation sets in, and fever. The sheep stands with neck outstretched, eyes protruded, froth or slimy discharge from the mouth, and mucus tinged or streaked with blood flowing from the nostrils. Cerebral disturbance, denoted by delirium and violence, succeeds a period of stupor, and the patient becomes rapidly exhausted. In observation of these nervous symptoms combined with the disturbance of the bowels and the absence of the usual signs of hoven and plenal-via, lies correct diagnosis. Treatment should consist in endeavours to support the strength and restore tone to the omasum and remove its contents by washing rather than by active purgation ; frequent administration of doses of warm water swallowed slowly, oil, and gruel are of benefit. Enemata and external stimulants may prove useful; sedative agents have been recommended to control nervous excitement. Dysentery is considered likely to set in as a sequela, especially when the disease has resulted from accumulation of soft and putrid vegetable matter, so frequent doses of salt water are recommended as after-treatment.

Calculods and other Conceetions.Hair balls, the result of felting of wool and food materials, are of not infrequent occurrence in the rumen of the sheep, but seem to cause no inconvenience. Guttridge (' Veterinarian,' vol. xii), records considerable fatality among sheep turned out on turnips where nearly the whole of the intestinal canal, the rumen, and the abomasum were filled with sand and undigested food, which gave rise to inflammation. The symptoms were off feed, out of sorts, and heaving of the flank. Youatt suggested that acidity of the stomach might have induced the earth-eating. In the abomasum are found not infrequently brown, yellow, or red bezoars with a soft velvety coating, and composed of a mixture of wool, mucus, and earthy matter arranged in concentric layers around some foreign body as a nucleus.

IJ.Ljraquo;^.----

Inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; !nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;W^-raquo;^F

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They sometimes are as many as twenty in number, and are most frequent in September and October, months when the wool is being shed. The wool of which they are composed may have been ingested with the food or by animals licking and nibbling themselves or one another. Lambs may get it by sucking the long wool near the udder, therefore the careful shepherd removes this wool when the ewe is about to suckle. The facts that these accumulations are more frequent in some seasons than in others and that they are not seen in the fasces, are adduced as evidence that they must undergo solution in the stomach or bowels. They seem quite harmless, and are considered by the ignorant as of value for charms. Youatt mentions a popular error in France that they cause rapid wasting and death, and were bought from butchers for the felonious purpose of throwing them before the sheep of an obnoxious owner. Such error was easily disposed of by the demonstration that if thrown before sheep the animals will not eat them, and that if they did, the rumen, not the abomasum, would be the stomach into which they would pass.

Abomasitis, inflammation of the true stomach, occurs in irritant poisoning and as a result of feeding on acrid and coarse herbage. It is usually combined with dysentery, producing gastro-enteritis, similar to the severe cattle disease known as pantas or moor evil. Rupture of the abomasum, has been described as resulting from a fall of unusual violence in a young lamb suffering from sturdy.

Impaction of the Abomasum with milk curd in the sucking lamb is a very fatal and prevalent disorder of serious importance, but exactly similar to the state resulting from similar conditions in the calf. It depends on a want of proper balance between the supply or the quality of milk and the digestive powers. It results from use of cow's milk or giving the young animal too much milk in the attempt to prepare it early for the market. A dense mass of curd, amounting to three or four pounds in weight, has been removed from the stomach in such cases after death. The lamb is unwilling to move, dull, panting, costive, and has its belly swollen. Treatment consists in giving plenty

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of thin gruel and horning down alkaline warm solutions, or administering them by means of a Read's pump. An oleaginous dose must follow, and stimulants may be given throughout the attack. After it the ewe and lamb should for a time be put on dry pasture. Amphistoma conicum is the most frequent of parasites in the rumen of the sheep and goat.

The intestines of the sheep are long and tortuous, being twenty-seven times the length of the body (90 feet in all, of which 6570 feet are small), and arranged in the main like those of the ox. The total percentage weight of internal organs to the body has been put at 7^ for the stomach with contents (against ll^in ox and 1^ in pig) and 3^ for intestines and contents (against 2| in the ox and 6^ in the pig). Thus, the total alimentary canal and contents constitutes about one fifth less than in the ox and nearly half as much again as in the pig. In the ox the stomach is to the intestines as 4 to 1, in the sheep it is as 2 to 1, and in the pig as 1 to 5. There is more quot; internal fat in the sheep than in the ox, and much less than in the pig; an ox or sheep in fattening will increase 50 per cent., whereas a pig will increase 100 per cent.; he, however, develops less bone during fattening. The total carcass during the process of fattening augments more than the total offal; the water of the body lessens, ; the fats, nitrogenous and saline matters increase slightlyquot; (Lawes). The Peyer's glands of the sheep are large, the patches being sometimes eight inches long, they are very numerous in the neighbourhood of the ileo-ca;cal valves.

Colic, called in America quot; stretches,quot; in its several varieties is a complex symptomatic condition considered to be rare in the sheep, which rarity has been attributed to the food being so thoroughly prepared in the stomachs that acrid and indigestible matters seldom find their way into the bowel. Randall tells us that some farmers lift the sheep up by the hind legs, and in that position shake it a little, to cure colic ; others drag the animal about by the hind legs. Attacks of this disease become habitual in some sheep. Epsom salts, warm tea, castor-oil, and aloes

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in severe cases are useful; prevention may best be effected by giving green food even once or twice a week. Strangulation is seldom seen ; of abdominal herniie, exomphalos is the most frequent, but even it is not of common occurrence. The symptoms of colicky pain are moaning, grinding the teeth, uneasiness, frequent getting up and lying down, and striking the belly with the hind feet. Lambs show these symptoms much more commonly than adults, as a result of errors in dieting, such as overfeeding with cow's milk, or with that of a foster mother, or even its own dam. When lambs are first put to grass colic may be induced by acrid herbs or the unusual nature of the diet. Antispasmodic and carminative agents, such as ginger, peppermint water, and warm gruel usually suffice in such cases, but an external stimulant to the belly, enemas, and a cathartic also may be required.

Enteritis.Whether or not it will hereafter be proved that in the sheep as in the horse true enteritis is seldom seen, the general opinion at present is that it is not uncommon as a result of exposure to wet and cold, excessive purgation, and excess of stimulating or acrid nutriment. Certainly some forms of braxy have been considered enter-itic, but Youatt mentions strangulation, intussusception, hernia, rupture, and ascites as found post mortem in cases where from the cascum to the abomasum, often including it and the other stomachs, there was distinct inflammation and sometimes gangrene. The liver also was generally enlarged considerably and inflamed.

Symptoms.The indications of colic are present and aggravated, the pulse quick and small, muzzle, horns, and limbs cold; bowels confined. The sufferer strikes the belly with his hind feet, lies down after frequent undecided attempts to do so, stamps on and scratches the ground, looks round at the sides, falls suddenly and rolls on the back, and remains so for a time, then suddenly starts and scrambles on to his feet again. The strength is rapidly lost, and delirium and amaurosis precede death. Violent purgation, difficult to control, may follow in non-fatal attacks of this nature.

#9632;

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Treatment.Apply stimulating applications to the belly or foment freely, give opium in gruel or mashes. In severe attacks bleed early, give enemata, control subsequent diarrhoea by means of stimulant tonics.

Diaeehcea, the result of mismanagement and neglect, is somewhere spoken of as quot; the very pest of sheep.quot; It may be described under two headings, according to the causes from which it results, simple and parasitic. Simple diarrhoea may depend on organic change or be purely functional, and it very frequently is to be encouraged as nature's effort for removal of offensive irritant matters from the alimentary canal. Abundant and over-succulent diet, irritant and indigestible ingesta (such as unripe grass), changes of diet of any kind, climatic changes, exposure (especially after shearing or washing), are common causes in the adult ; with ewes in lamb mangolds may bring it on. There are some pastures known as quot; tart quot; or quot;scouringquot; lands, which always produce this effect, and so have to be ploughed up as unfit for pasture owing to their geological formation and the chemical characters of the soil. Diarrhoea among full-grown sheep is most common when the new grass comes up in the spring. The disease is usually complicated with dysentery, or terminates in an attack of that disorder.

Symptoms.Expulsion of faeces frequent, painless, normal in character, and free from blood or slime, and not of very offensive odour. No fever, appetite a little sharper than usual, and only a temporary stop to thriving of the animal. In lambs, curd in the stomach sometimes causes diarrhoea, with profuse white-coloured evacuations, a condition vulgarly called quot;white skit.quot; The quot;green skitquot; occurs later as a result of exposure to cold due to want of shelter, and of errors in diet at the time of weaning, and proves fatal in less than twenty-four hours in many cases.

Treatment.Great judgment is needed in dealing with this disorder, for if the evacuation is an effort of nature to get rid of irritants, it is manifestly advisable not to do anything to check the flow from the bowels. In all cases the sheep must be taken up and skeltered as most con-

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venientj and tlie strength supported by light diet, such as will be readily digested in the stomach, and stimulant tonics. In adults the flow will not need active treatment unless there be much pain and the evacuations contain much mucus, the animal being off feed, dull in the eye, sluo-onsh and slow in movement, and the fleece lookino; quot; un-kindly.quot; Then,with nursing and stimulants maybe judiciously given sulphite of soda, chalk, mercury with chalk (followed by linseed oil in nutritive doses), and rhubarb. Sulphuric acid has been found of benefit in obstinate cases, and so has ipecacuanha. Sometimes the disease is cured by turning the sheep out on astringent pastures or giving them cotton cake.* Invariably if sheep purge for longer than twenty-four hours they should be moved to a drier pasture or put on hay and corn or other dry food. Lambs require specially careful nursing, must be removed from the ewe, and given boiled or skim milk and malt. The quot; sheep and calves' cordial,quot; a well-known preparation, also will be of benefit. Parkinson in his old book on ' Live Stock' mentions a prevalent superstition that green skit may be cured by tying a green willow wand around the neck of an affected animal, and white skit by similar use of a ivhite willow wand. The attitude of the veterinary practitioner to such popular ideas must be similar to that of Cromwell when he told his men to keep their powder dry ; they must be tolerated, since they secure more hearty co-operation in the essentials, nursing and medicinal treatment.

Parasitic diarrhoea is a derangement of great and growing interest on account of its frequency, its extensive distribution, and its fatality. Many outbreaks of fatal diarrhoea due to Tsema expansa are on record, and more constantly come to hand. In 1855 Cox recorded one, in 1877 an enzooty in Central Park was described in the * American Veterinary Journal' (as quoted in * Veterinarian,' August,

* Astringent medicine for diarrhoea in sheep (Robert Smith in his prize essay #9632; On the Miinagemcnt of Sheep')Logwood Jiv, Ext. Catechu Jj, Cinnamon 51), Water Oiij ; boil for quarter of an hour, strain, and add laudanum 60 gtts. Dose, Oj, morning and evening as long as flux continues.

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1877). The intestines of the lambs throughout almost their whole extent were filled with tteniiE, fifteen feet long, and which would fill a twelve-ounce measure glass. The animals were two or three days out of sorts, they then became affected with convulsions, would turn round in a circle, and drop dead. Cross, of Shrewsbury, in 1877, dealt with scouring in lambs, where the semi-liquid fseces contained innumerable segments with double sexual organs and unarmed tapeworm heads.* Cobbold ('Veterinarian,' 1876, p. 675) mentions being consulted concerning loss from worms of 1200 sheep out of 8000 on a farm two hundred miles to the north-west of Sydney. Tasnias of several fathoms in length were found in the intestines together with certain nematodes. This reminds us of the fact recorded by Gamgee that in Australia, especially on overstocked land, trenise occur in lambs and give rise to an enzootic which proves fatal to many. The tapeworm segments may often be seen on the washed soil after a heavy fall of rain. The parasites cause pain and emaciation, and predispose the animals to other disorders. They cause loss not only by fatalities, but by reduction in value and amount of fat, flesh, and wool. Dr. Charles Curtice {' Veterinary Record,' vol. i, p. 59) observed young and adult tapeworms in immense numbers in 87 per cent, of western sheep and lambs examined in Colorado in 1887. The sheep were diseased in direct relation to the prevalence of the parasites, which he thought new and similar in species to that found in the Brazilian deer, but which probably is our old friend T. expansa. It prevailed from Oregon and Wyoming on the south and Nebraska and Kansas on the west, was present from May to January in the duodenum and gall-ducts. It was thought to take from six to ten months to mature. Of the nematodes of the alimentary canal of the sheep Gamgee mentions Strongylns cernuus, Ascaris ovis (found once in Yienna), Dochmius hypostomtis,

* Eivolta (' La Clinica Veterinaria,' Jan., 1879) describes a new ta;nia of the sheep, T. ovilla; this is distinguishable from T. expansa and T. denticu-lata by the form and position of its uterus; thus, there are three mature tenia; of the sheep.

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DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

127

found in the intestines, and Strongylus filicollis (in the small intestines). Cohbold considers only two nematodes of pathogenic importance in this relation, and shows that they, by means of the oral armature, beliave as veritable intestinal leeches, and produce fatal anasmia. These forms are St. contortus, red and white thread-worms quot; marked like a barber's pole,quot; found principally in the abomasum.

Fig. 27.The whipworm of ruminants (Cobbold).

a. Male. h. Female, c. Head and neck. d. Spirally curved tail

of male, with long spicule protruding from cloaca.

and for three or four inches along the small intestine, but more or less abundant along the whole length of the gut; and St. hypostormis, a black worm about the size of a small needle scattered along the intestine. These are figured in Dr. Bancroft's report to the Agricultural Society of New South Wales for 1871, St. contortus being recognisable readily by its large lateral hood-lobes and the peculiar one-sided position of its posterior hood rays (Schneider and Cobbold).

Tricocephalus affinis is frequent. Simonds has shown

128

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

that when a number of sheep at one time suffer from diarrhoea, and much mucus is passed, and their appetite is increased by the disease, it is generally due to these worms, which come away entangled together, and form large lumps or masses. They burrow their heads in the mucous membrane, exist principally in the cascum and colon, and are male and female, the young being hatched within the intestinal canal. Sclerostoma also occurs in the large intestine, and causes diarrhoea. Simonds used to describe the St. contortu-i as Äbomesi ovis v. Filaria denticulata. Williams, at the Scottish Veterinary Medical Association's meeting of November 12th, 1884, read a paper on Parasitic gastric catarrh, or Gastrorrhosa para-sitiea due to this parasite. The principal symptoms observed were great thirst, diarrhoea (with evacuations like muddy water), constant desire to urinate, and urine as clear as water, progressive aiueraia, cedema of the head, and abdominal pain. Strongylu* filaria was concomitantly present; Gerlach considered the two forms were in intimate relation. The worm is cylindrical, red or white, tapering very gradually towards its anterior extremity, where is a mouth unprotected by papillEB or other appendages. Male smaller than female, having bilobed terminal bursa. Each lobe ovoid, and with five ribs, left lobe bears a smaller one supported by two ribs. Spicules two, each tapering to a point slightly curved outwards, and bearing a small knob. Female, body tapers very suddenly to an extremely fine point, in front of this the genital opening with two papillas, the left the larger. Uterus convoluted.

Treatment.Picrate of potash, 520 gr. daily (Zum) or 2 grs. daily for three days (Rabl); kamala ; or Chabert's oil (1 pint with oil of turpentine 3 pints) one teaspoonful per diem.

Prevention.Plough up or salt all infested places.

In treatment of outbreaks of tfenia invasion we may adopt the method, successfully resorted to by Cross, of giving turpentine, areca nut, male fern, and linseed oil to each animal, and, when necessary, following it up with cordials ; also changing the pasture every week. Gamgee

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suggests to reduce the number of sheep kept, improve their sanitation, and give to each a drachm of turps in linseed oil, linseed tea, or thick gruel. Where practicable, thorough destruction of the fasces with ova and parasites by burning should be carried out, but we need much more knowledge of the life-history of both strongyles and taenia before we can adopt thoroughly effective measures against this serious disorder. Sulphate of iron and salt suggest themselves as likely to be useful preventives.

Bloody Flux, Dysentery, or quot;Clingquot; is a serious scourge of sheep, the result of obstinate or neglected diarrhoea, also of continued Ingestion of coarse and unwholesome food such as sheep are driven to by semi-starvation when turned out on coarse uncultured pasture and on marshy and ill-drained meadows. Fever is present, rapid and extreme wasting and debility, the bowels rumble greatly. Thin but adhesive faeces, laden with mucus and often containing blood, is passed with pain; evacuation is followed by tenes-mus ; the belly is painful to pressure, swollen, and feels lumpy, and these evacuations mat the wool of the tail and thighs, whereby these parts become plastered and sometimes ulcerated. Flies are attracted and maggots develop in the ulcers. The animal does not cease feeding but suffers from thirst and depraved appetite; it may die in a few days from commencement of the attack, or prolong its miserable existence to five or six weeks, ultimately succumbing to exhaustion. Sometimes the wool becomes so matted over the anus that, in spite of efforts, faeces cannot pass ; the animal is then said to be quot; pinding,quot; and its condition may escape notice, the obstruction resulting ultimately in death, or the careless attendant may produce fatal result by overdosing with purgatives to overcome the supposed constipation. Youatt, who cautions us specially in this matter, tells us that it is found most frequently in lambs sucking from highly fed ewes. It may yield to the forcible expulsive efforts of the animal, but then soreness and ulceration result. In cases of dysentery, therefore, excess of wool on the tail and thighs should be cut off and these parts be kept clean, chalk may be dusted over

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the wounds, and turpentine or other substance to keep off the fly applied, a solution of tar iu oil being useful for the purpose. A thorough change must be made in the surroundings of the animal, especially as to the nature and digestibility of the diet; linseed oil, at first in laxative, afterwards in nutritive doses, must be persisted in, and may be combined with such mild laxatives and liver stimulants as rhubarb and ipecacuanha. Opium in the form of tincture, combined with stimulant tonics, may be administered when there is much pain ; mashes, gruel, linseed tea, and dry grass may bo given to the animal as food. Strychnia has been found of benefit in promoting recovery when these cases take a turn for the better ; it, of course, needs to be given with great care and in average practice must be superseded by bitter tonics such as beer, gentian, and chiretta combined with the astringent metallic tonics, such as, especially, sulphate of iron. Sulphuric acid may replace the metallic sulphates when its action can be watched. Docking and powdered earth to the parts may be necessary to prevent quot; pinding.quot; In America clatting (tagging) is adopted for all sheep in the spring when they are liable to scour. The best position for tagging, and the only safe one for a pregnant ewe, is on its side on a table or large box covered except at one end, and with the breech of the sheep placed at the opening so that the tags will drop into it as they are cut. Tagging on the feet is very inconvenient (Randall). In India the bael fruit and quot; white oats quot; (the fruit of Wrightia antidyttenterica) are found of great benefit in this disorder. Robert Smith recommends in treatment of dysentery, bleeding only in the earliest stage and with the greatest caution, then, in order to produce a reaction or perfect change of the system, he excites the action of the skin by immersing the animal in a tub of hot water for fifteen minutes, afterwards giving castor-oil Jj, laudanum, gtt. xxx, in a little gruel, taking care that the animal be kept warm by wrapping and placing in a warm shed. Subsequently we must support the strength, and gradually accustom the animal to mixed feed. To prevent dysentery, change the pasture and do not quot; run

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it too thick.quot; The old method of bleeding and giving full doses of physic in these cases is now utterly obsolete. Ee-covery is very gradual, and great care of the sheep must be exercised for a long time after it is well to prevent relapse, and to get it to fatten or to recover constitutional vigour for breeding purposes.

Constipation of a prolonged character may be seen in adults, the result of excessively dry pasture or dry feed ; in lambs it must lead to suspicion of gastric derangement. Enemata should be given, in which act freedom from obstruction of the anal passage will be ensured ; the injection should preferably be oleaginous. In younger lambs two or three spoonfuls of hog's lard is a good purgative. Cow's milk, or any milk given artificially, tends to constipation; the first milk of the mother, it is said, sometimes has this effect, and so has a lamb surfeiting itself on a full udder after straying for some hours. Cathartics do not act rapidly enough; an injection of milk warmed to blood heat, with a sufficient infusion of molasses to give it a chocolate colour, should at once be administered with a small syringe, say two ounces at a time for a small lamb and three for a larger one. The lamb is held up perpendicularly by the hind legs, so that the forefeet but just touch the floor, during, and for a moment after, the injection .... this generally gives prompt and entire relief, but if not, give half a dozen teaspooufuls of thorough {Eupatorium perfoli-atus) tea, or pumpkin-seed tea when the urine is retained (Randall). Linseed- or castor-oil, combined with aromatics, should be given by the mouth and the animal given moist, laxative diet, and carefully watched lest enteritis or dysentery supervene, for prolonged constipation is sometimes a fore-runner of serious disorders. In newly-born lambs, sometimes non-passage of fasces necessitates either a mild laxative through the system of the ewe or given directly to the lamb, or mechanical unloading of the rectum may be necessary. Impbefojbatb Anus (Pkoctatresia) may be present at birth and prove either relievable by surgery or hopeless on account of non-development of the rectum.

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H^moerhoids or Piles, tumours detectable in or within the anus, and denoted by blood on the feeces, disinclination to move the hind legs, and fever, have been recorded by Dick and Gamgee as seen in the sheep. Cathartics, clysters, and laxative diets are recommended in such cases. Sheep's dansr is remarkable for the small amount of water it con-tains, the solids of eachkind being more considerable than in the dung of other herbivora. The water amounts only to 58 per cent. ; of the solids no less that 36 per cent, is organic matter containing quot;902 per cent, of nitrogen ; the mineral matter is 6 per cent., and '62 per cent, of phosphoric acid is estimated to be present. Yonatt reminds us of the uses to which sheep's dung is put in consequence of its properties and composition. It serves for cleaning wool previous to dyeing, also to prepare cotton and linen for receiving certain colours, in consequence of its mucous and other albuminoid elements. Again, it is most valuable as a manure, preferable to that of cattle in that it contains more animal matter in a smaller compass and falls to the ground in the form of small round pellets, such as can be readily diffused over and mixed with the soil instead of over-manuring spots, but leaving other parts of the pasture uninfluenced, as does the pultaceous mass discharged by cattle. It is thought that not only the dung and urine from sheep prove of benefit to the soil, but also wool and yolk left on the ground. In some places sheep are much folded on arable land to manure it, but this practice is less frequent than formerly, for, by controlling rest and feeding, it is supposed to interfere with the health of the sheep and prevent fattening; it is now resorted to mainly on unenclosed and down country, but not unfrequently the sheep arc folded on clover, tares, and roots.

Walley exhibited, in 1878, a fibrous tumour from the abdominal cavity of a sheep, the mass weighing thirty-six pounds (' Proceedings of the Scottish Metropolitan Veterinary Medical Association').

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APPENDIX I.THE APPENDAGES OF THE ALIMENTARY CANAL.

The Pancreas of the sheep has not been observed to be frequently the seat of disease, though Youatt records having noted in it induration and quot; tubercles,quot; which may be a possible source of indigestion.

The Liver is similar in shape to that of the ox, but larger. It is one twenty-fifth part of the weight of the animal, and said to be double the weight of that of man in proportion to the size of the animal. It has been stated that the liver is universally proportioned in size to the lungs, but this does not hold in the case of the sheep and ox for example, and is a very rough statement. The pancreatic and common bile-ducts combine before opening into the intestine; the daily (?) production of bile is estimated at 178 grains (containing 9^-408 solids, and so much as 6 per cent, of sulphur according to Strecker's analysis) for every pound of the weight of the sheep. Landerer examined a biliary calculus of a sheep, twelve grains in weight, of a brownish-yellow black with green spots. It tasted bitter, coloured the saliva yellow, fused when heated. Swelled under the blow-pipe flame, emitted a muck-like smell, and left behind porous scoria) mixed with lime salts. Seventy per cent, consisted of cholesterine, gall mucus, resin, colouring matter, and phosphate and carbonate of lime in residue (Morton).

Jadndice is said by Dick to be more frequent in the sheep and dog than in other domesticated animals, but in the former animal it in a very large proportion of cases depends on a special cause, the liver-fluke. Certainly, in tropical climates the horse suffers more from liver disorder than the sheep, as the latter has generally to range far and wide for scanty feed. In Great Britain especially, but also in other countries where sheep industry has attained a high development, the liver is very liable to acute or chronic degenerations of a fatty character, or else partaking of the disease seen in man as acute yellow atrophy of the liver.

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This seems to be the nature of the fatality which often occurs among highly bred sheep, especially pregnant ewes, when high fed on cakes and Swedish turnips for some time. Such a form of plethora results from overfeeding, and is referred to by Williams in his work on ' Veterinary Medicine.' Animals in this state are verging on disease, and should have their diet lowered gradually and the system reduced by cathartics. Outbreaks from overfeeding resemble anthrax, but no bacilli are found on examination of the blood, and change of food with administration of cathartics suffices to check the fatality. An example of this is the outbreak of disease recorded by Dick as reported by Chalmers, of Tarves (Aberdcenshire). It occurred among black-faced mountain sheep on marshy or mossy-bottomed pasture. Death occurred in sixteen to twenty hours, and if the animals remained alive longer they usually recovered. Among the symptoms was the sick being conspicuous by a raising of the back, later purging set in, the evacuations being first black, then green, and later bloody. Tenesmus was also present.

Hepatitis is found in an acute form, and although when chronic it generally depends on fluke, is sometimes due to ordinary causes. Those cases in which it has been mentioned as epizootic and in which salt has proved effectual for both prevention and cure, were probably liver rot. The sporadic disorder is said to occur most frequently on low-lying, rich meadows, and to be due to over-nutritious food. It is denoted by fever, acute jaundice, and pain on pressure of the right side, also lameness of the right foreleg has been described as present in this disorder. Treatment must be active, consisting of bleeding, purging, and reducing to spare diet; preventive measures must be resorted to with the rest of the flock lest they become affected.

Echinococcus cysts are of constant occurrence in the liver as well as lungs and spleen of the sheep, just as in the ox, camel, and other herbivora. They cause some organic disturbance of the organ, but do not materially interfere with its functions, nor are they as a rule detectable during

gt;l'

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

135

the life of the animal. Dr. Hjaltelin states that hydatids occur in more than every fifth sheep in Iceland. They have there hccn seen in every third sheep over three years old; in one district they are found in every adult sheep. Livers containing these hydatids should be burnt lest dogs eat them and become infested with the Ttenia echinococcus, future larva3 of which might invade man and cause disease. An interesting case of liver hydatids may be read in the 'Veterinarian' for April, 1876.

Fio. 28.Hydatids encysted in lungs and liver of sheep (after Cobbold).

Fascioliasis, Liver Rot, Fluke Disease, Cachexia aquosa verrainosa. In the whole range of veterinary studies we find no subject of greater interest and importance than that with which we next have to deal. The disease known in English-speaking countries as quot; the rot quot; is sadly familiar to the agriculturist, and associated in his mind with bad past years and possibly ruinous future ones; the mere estimate made (of course on extremely uncertain data) by Youatt that in Great Britain more than 1,000,000 sheep annually die of this disorder, and by Hamont that the annual fall of the Nile causes loss by rot of 160,000 sheep

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{'Veterinarian/ vii, pp. 557 and 587) will serve to illustrate the dimensions which this disease assumes, and the value which a clear knowledge of it may have in the present and future. It is said to have heen introduced into the colony of Victoria in 1855 by German imported rams, so even countries where it is not yet found must he apprehensive of invasion and careful to study the subject. From the most ancient times sheep-owners have reckoned on this disorder as one of the necessary ills with which they have to contend, and have resignedly submitted to the heavy tax on their flocks which it implies ; until quite of late years it has ordinarily been received with a resig-

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and in some countries, such as Burma, sheep husbandry has been found impracticable on account of it. As a rule the results of careful observation have sufficed to enable the shepherd and flock master to hit on expedients for keeping the losses of sheep from rot within reasonable limits, but in some years an unusual extent and severity of the disorder, a quot;jack rot,quot; as farmers term it, occurs, the flock being exterminated and the owner ruined on many a farm and sheep-walk. It is quite unnecessary here to record years of special prevalence in Great Britain, but we may remark that farmers everywhere have had experience of rot in many a year memorable to them on account of severe losses, and that this experience varies in accordance with climate and physical conformation of different localities. To the practical veterinarian rot is specially interesting as one of the most frequent, extensive, and serious of sheep diseases, and one in which his services are of value for prevention and cure ; to the comparative pathologist no disease has a more instructive history, whether as illustrating practical results of scientific research in medicine, the typical phenomena of parasitism,

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bearings of diseases of lower animals on the health and wealth of mankind. Under these circumstances, it will be conceded, the study of rot demands detailed and careful notice, which we shall endeavour to make as concise

It d

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as possible and as can be combined with thoroughness. Hippocrates, the father of medicine (veterinary as well as human), was familiar with rot, and considered it due to hydatids, a mistake which has been made again in very recent years. Subsequently views were advanced which were much less near the truth, but they are worth notice because they illustrate how a disease which might in days gone by have fairly been considered specific has now definitely assumed a position in classification as due to parasitic invasion. This is a result secured by pathological research, and is parallel to the great advance in knowledge of blood diseases occurring in the present time, whereby microscopists have informed us of the true nature of such diseases as anthrax. As the spirit of progress, by leading to pathological anatomy, resulted in solution of the pathology of rot, so in later years and by using even more refined methods of research, it has made known to us bacteria and their pathogenic effects, and so in years to come it will, by applications of instruments now known to us but as quot; scientific toys,quot; reveal the true nature of such obscure disorders as influenza and contagious sheep foot-rot. The observations of Hippocrates were not carefully followed up by his successors, they ignored the practical methods followed by him, and followed out the theory. Meanwhile losses of sheep compelled farmers to make practical observations, resulting in the usual strange notions about disease when they gave rise to surmise as to causes, but contributing to the history of the disorder not a few sound observations and deductions.

While shepherds and farmers put rot down to the malign influence of hobgoblins, witches, and other supernatural beings, members of the schools of medical philosophy found that it depended on quot;the ebb and flow of the humours,quot; quot; determination of bile,quot; and other such nominal cloaks of ignorance, of which one crops up unexpectedly in the writings of Prof. Dick, who assents to the definition of rot by Prof. Coventry (who held the Chair of Agriculture in Edinburgh) as follows : quot;A direful ruin of the general health and constitution which supervenes from deficient or

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depraved aliment.quot; This, it will be noted, is merely the conclusion that agriculturists had long ago arrived at when they determined to call the disease rot, a short and expressive name which has received almost general acceptation. quot; Among shepherds, ' rot' was a very popular term for several widely different diseases, and was, no doubt, in those days convenient for covering gross ignorance. So it was that we had the ' rot' or ' great rot,' ' hydropic rot,' ^f pelt rot,' 'hunger rot,' ' glanderous rot, quot;blood rot,' and other kinds of rot. These terms are meaningless, or at least inexpressive, and should be discarded quot; (Fleming, 'Live Stock Journal Almanac,' 1881). Flukes have long been known ; thus Arnulpbus described them in 1542. Locally it has received special designations, such as coathe (Dorsetshire), iles (Cornwall), bane (Somersetshire), and, according to Youatt, the quot; watery poke,quot; Avhen the throat becomes swollen, the animal being described as quot; checkered.quot; The popular French name is pourriture, but to veterinarians in France it is known as watery cachexia; in Germany it receives various names such as Egelseuche, Fäule, and Leberkrankheit. These names have value as conveying popular ideas on the disease, and also for recognition of it. Cobbold leads us to infer that although rot now seems to be more constant as an epizootic in Australia than in England it was originally imported into the colony, not having been known there before the year 1855. This is a matter which ought to be settled authoritatively in so far as circumstances and records will permit, for it would be an important illustration of diffusion of disease by trade in live stock, just as within the last couple of years horse-pox has been conveyed into the United States by imports from France. That excellent observer Youatt gave the nature of rot most careful and detailed consideration, and the argunients by which he arrived at the conclusion that miasmatic gases from, decaying vegetation produce chronic inflammatory changes in the liver, whereby the organ becomes a suitable nidus for flukes (which are epi-phenomena but, as such, aggravate the pre-existent disorder) are well worthy of detailed

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study. Simonds holds a somewliat similar view, in that he considers the liver must be to an extent abnormal for the parasites to produce their effects on it. Cobbold adopts the view that the parasitic invasion is the essential and sole cause of disease, and the tendency of modern opinion is in favour of this view. The question which here arises is a very general one applying to the whole field of parasitism, and well known as that embraced in the views of susceptibility, immunity, and the efficacy of vaccination. As regards rot we may content ourselves with the remark that the arguments against the disease being essentially parasitic apply only to the earliest and non-fatal stage of the disorder, and are seldom sound as regards it. Thus Youatt states, quot;If the fluke follows the analogy of the entozoa and parasites it is the effect and not the cause of the rot. The ova are continually swallowed by the sound animals and the diseased ; but it is only when the fluids are altered, and sometimes essentially changed, and the condition of the digestive organs is materially impaired, that their appearance is favoured, or their multiplication encouraged. They resemble the birds of prey that hasten the death and the demolition of the fallen deer, but who were not concerned in bringing the animal down.quot; The first part of this picturesque argument is pure supposition, for we have no proof that the fluids are altered and digestion impaired before fluke invasion resulting in rot. No doubt any slight structural disorder of the liver before invasion by lessening its bile-producing power will shorten its period of efficiency as compared with what it would have shown had the flukes attacked it in an unweakened state, but we have no evidence that the healthy liver has resistant powers against fluke invasion as Simonds and Youatt imply or state ; on the contrary, we have evidence that the healthy liver may and does generally contain flukes, as Youatt in his next argument correctly but inconsistently shows. Again, it is begging the question to say that the analogy of other parasites supports the view that flukes are the effect, not the cause of rot, for exactly the same question

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arises in connection with all parasites found in disease, and in the present day we look on them as essentially causes of disease, and term them pathogenic. It is believed, for example, that a fluke has as much right to live in the bile-ducts of the liver as a rabbit in a warren, but that at times circumstances lead to excessive supply of flukes resulting in liver disorder just as rabbits at times become too numerous and constitute a rabbit plague, with the important difference that rabbits can breed in the burrow, but flukes can not breed in the liver. It is excess of parasites, not simple presence of the parasites, that gives rise to rot; Youatt himself suggests that a few flukes may be of benefit to the liver quot; as exciting it to a more uniform secretion of good bile,quot; and he notes a reliable observation that in autumn few sheep were absolutely without a few flukes in the liver, sheep in better condition than the rest were sure to have them, and that they were numerous only in those showing the early symptoms of approaching ailment. With characteristic frankness Youatt admits that he never saw quot; the liver of a rotted sheep in which the fluke-worm, or traces of his previous existence in the liver, were not sufficiently plain jquot; and we fancy the third argument brought forward, that rot can freely be artificially produced at will, as by feeding a rabbit on cabbage or other watery food, must in the present day be unhesitatingly rejected as a fallacy.

We would lay stress on the fact that while we cannot accept the views that rot commences as a simple inflammation of the liver, and that flukes are an effect of this pre-existent disease, we freely admit that rot is not simply fluke in the liver. It is a disorganisation of the liver resulting in constitutional disorder, such as might arise from other causes than the fluke, but practically does not do so. Hence to all intents and purposes we may deal with rot as fascioliasis, i. e. the pathological state which results from fluke invasion. Constitutional powers of resistance are simply such as would be available against ordinary liver disorganisation of a subacute or chronic character, and pre-existent liver disorder is simply impor-

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tant as lessening the general resistant powers of the constitution. The fluke, it must be admitted, is a most active and specially severe cause of liver disorder, and, as Youatt has pointed out, it acts in several different ways : (1) it causes irritation and disorganisation, and so undermines the strength j (2) it distends, and in that way weakens, the bile passages ; (3) it forces its way into the smaller passages against the stream of bile, and interferes with the relations between minute bile-ducts, blood-vessels, and liver-cells;

(4)nbsp; it obstructs the flow of bile and so causes accumulation;

(5)nbsp; it clogs up the ducts with excrement and spawn ; and

(6)nbsp; nbsp;consumes the nutritive juices. Thus fascioliasis in severity and intractability proves the most severe of all forms of rot, but we can conceive that a less marked form would result from certain non-parasitic influences sufficing to fully account for symptoms of rot occasionally occurring without the presence of flukes, although the symptoms shown differ only in degree, not in kind, from the indications of fascioliasis. We well remember Professor Simonds laying stress on the fact of livers coming into the Royal Veterinary College during a rot epizootic in a high state of bile and blood engorgement, but with no adult flukes in the ducts. The animals from which such livers were taken seem to have died from acute congestion of the liver produced by invasion of countless minute young flukes, and these could be detected on the point of the knife after section of the liver as small masses of yellow jelly which might well have been considered to be inspissated bile. An observation made by an old but careful worker at the pathology of rot may here be noticed; he states that young flukes may be found in the ducts of the liver as a whitish thick liquor that appears all in motion ; examination with a pocket-glass confirms the view that this liquor is composed of the young flukes (^f Bath Society's Papers,' vol. ii, p. 118, quoted by Youatt). Thus true fascioliasis may be present and no adult full-sized flukes detectable in the liver, also fatality in such cases may take place after acute liver derangement, and be reported as quot; sudden death,quot; and attributed to other causes; it is only in extremely fatal seasons, or

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in localities notorious in connection with the genesis of rot that such cases are seen. We find described a condition mentioned as quot; water rot,quot; in which the liver is pallid, streaked with white here and there, and containing no flukes. This, we are told, predisposes to the attack of fluke, and is induced by wet weather and want of nitrogenous food. Such cases may be non-parasitic chronic hepatitis, but are much more frequently true fascioliasis cases in which the fluke has left the liver, but not before producing such considerable changes as are beyond the reparative powers of the system, and ultimately prove fatal by their anasmiatmg influence.

CaM.ye,v.Farmers found that rot proved prejudicial to their interests, not only as causing loss of saleable wool, mutton, and pelts, but as disturbing the working of the farm routine by cutting short the supply of manure for the production of which alone sheep were kept by many. Loss thus being experienced severely and in many ways, the causes of it were eagerly sought for and a number of empirical but most valuable observations were made ; their soundness has been confirmed by scientific observation and experiment, errors have to an extent been eradicated, and supplementary results have been obtained from exact study of the disease and of the parasite which occasions it. It is evident that the fluke is the sole cause or producer of true fascioliasis, the determining causes are very numerous and are the conditions most favorable to multiplication and spread of flukes, and to their entry into the organism of the sheep. In the first place rot is enzootic, directly associated with locality and affecting numbers simultaneously ; it only in very bad years proves epizootic (or apparently so) by extending over large tracts of country, widely spread in spite of soil, water supply, nature of pasture, and other such local conditions. Ordinarily, the enzootic influence resides evidently in the soil and in the conditions of the pasture ; low marshy lands, pastures when drying up after flooding, stagnant pools, badly drained spots in otherwise sound pastures, even accumulations of wafer in ditches and in the footprints of cattle in mud are

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known to be dangerous to sheep; wherever there is a moist spot of a swampy character fluke may be acquired, even a small, unnoticed pond may be the source of the disease on a pasture. Such stagnant spots are especially seen on tenacious soils with clay on the surface or as a subsoil; they occur between, and at the foot of, hills; they can be got rid of by drainage and increased by neglect. In very wet seasons, when the floods are out, swamps and marshes and such low-lying pastures as in ordinary seasons are quot; unsound,quot; become covered with water and quite safe for sheep so far as rot is concerned ; on the other hand, pastures on uplands or even highlands, ordinarily quite safe, then become moist and marshy in a state which makes them quot; unsound.quot; Thus, with an unusually wet season, such as a rainy summer, a moist autumn, or a very wet winter, the disease may be expected, and excess of rain long continued is a fruitful cause, and is specially operative as a cumulative influence when there is a succession of wet seasons. We can well understand its prevalence in certain parts of Australia and other new countries liable to flood, and where sheep must range over a vast tract of undrained soil and long-standing pasture. quot; First the flood, then the pestilence,quot; is commonly exemplified in the prevalence of rot in the Nile Delta, in association with the fall of the Nile ; and another useful proverb to remember in this connection is that quot; many a frost and many a thaw betokens many a rotten ewe.quot; With regard to the time of year when rot is acquired, this varies somewhat in relation to locality, climatic influences, and so on. It is remarked that a flock may be turned into meadows in early spring with impunity, whereas grazing in such meadows in autumn would be almost certainly fatal; towards the end of spring is the critical time, and by the end of November few fresh cases are observable ; the disease is acquired in May and June in Great Britain (especially the southern part of England), and fatalities occur in autumn and winter ; if there is much wet towards the commencement of summer, the outbreaks may be delayed, but, as we have already seen, such untimely downpours prove a cause of serious

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mortality. Overstocking of land increases the liability to outbreak, even though the excess of animals be of species other than sheep ; this probably does not so much depend on increased contamination of pastures by diffusion of fluke eggs with droppings (for practically no flock is absolutely free from fluke, and the parasite may occur in horses and cattle as well as sheep), but from the necessity for sufii-cient food driving sheep to the longer and less sweet grasses of moist places, whereas, by choice, they would have eaten only the short, crisp grasses of dry portions of the pasture. Also, it causes the sheep to crop the herbage even closer than usual. Over-grazing land is a cause of rot, and Thomas suggests that the liability of the ovine species to rot is in direct relation to the degree in which it grazes more closely than other species. quot;Hog-jawedquot; sheep, which cannot crop closely to the ground, are seldom affected with rot. Thompson, of Aspatria, says that parrot-mouthed or quot; shuttle-gobbedquot; sheep are seldom affected with rot because the malformation of the lower jaw prevents them nipping the herbage so close to the surface as usual with sheep, and the larvae are more frequently on the lower part of the grass stems. Probably the grand provision of nature whereby, with few exceptions, the ewe with lamb at side seems to enjoy immunity even on the worst ground, referred to by Youatt, depends on the fact that milch ewes generally receive a liberal allowance of artificial food, such as enables them to dispense with coarse, bitter grass from doubtful places in pastures. Luxuriant pasture is said not to be dangerous, but this statement must be received with much reserve ; a meadow on a good, uniform slope, having satisfactory natural drainage, is practically always sound, and the same remark applies to light, non-retentive soils^ properly drained by artificial means.

It is certain that in places where the larvae of flukes prevail, such as the ditches of country lanes, stagnant ponds on commons, and so on, sheep may pick up the disease with grass or water in an hour or two ; this is a matter to be specially borne in mind, as it may have

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important bearmgs on tlie retumabiKty of affected sheep as unsound at the time of purcliase, and also as pointing to the importance of exercising discretion concerning where sheep are allowed to graze and drink while on journeys or in strange places. Sheep do not convey the disease directly to other sheep, but food and water contaminated by rotten sheep may in due course become a source of danger to the flock, also to various animals in which the mature fluke has been found, i. e. the ox, horse, goat, rabbit, camel, deer, ass, hog, dog, guinea-pig, kangaroo, and other mammals, in some of which at times true cases of fascio-liasis are seen. Various causes have been supposed from time to time to produce the disorder, but arc now considered to have only a very indirect influence, if any. Thus, we are now sure that weak sheep are not specially predisposed to parasitic invasion, though they are the most liable to suffer fatally from it; damp food operates only in so far as it is liable to be a conveyer of fluke embryos; evaporation of water and the presence of decomposing moist vegetable matters arc insufficient in themselves to generate it; no one breed is specially predisposed, but the heavier races may suffer most from, the nature of the land on which they generally pasture ; the disease is not hereditary, contagious, nor infectious. Young sheep give evidence of the disease more than older ones.

The fluke, which is the sole cause or immediateraquo; producer of fascioliasis, is termed douve by the French, bis-cuiula by the Italians. Its teclinical name is Fasdola hepatica or Distomum hepativum, and it belongs to the Trematode section of the ill-defined group of Annuloida. In non-scientific language it is a flat-worm, non-segmented, and shaped like the fish known as a flounder. It is found in the bile passages of the liver, associated with a more or less diseased state of those passages, some few are found in the intestinal canal, many in the ductus choledochus and gall-bladder, most in the gall-duct with its ramifications. They are numerous in proportion to the extent of disease in the liver, and attention to their whereabouts will generally be drawn by the white spots or lines on the sur-

J4G

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

face whicli betoken a thickening of the biliary passages. Generally parasites of other species, especially echinococci, cyst, tenincollis, and intestinal nematodes are present in an animal suffering from advanced rot, because circumstances favorable to fluke invasion are sucb as prove advantageous to secure entry of other parasitic forms. These other organisms develop and undergo their life changes simultaneously with the flukes, but are quite independent of them and of little importance except in so far as they may give rise to symptoms complicating a case of rot. Because a liver shows no external indications of disease it must not be inferred that flukes are absent; the bile-duct should be slit up carefully from intestine to liver, and the gallbladder thrown open; then the ramifications of the gall-duct may be followed through the liver-substance. Dupuy has counted as many as a thousand flukes from a bad case of rot, but in the undiseased organ only two or three may be found. In summer and spring not a single fluke may be present, but the liver may show distinct indications that it has long been invaded by the entozoa. Again, in the early stages of overwhelming invasion, undoubtedly the young, sexually immature flukes may be much more numerous than a thousand. These latter are like little soft masses of jelly of a yellow colour, and they have to be spread out very carefully before we can distinguish the peculiar shape of the fluke in them. As the animal grows it becomes firmer in substance and of a darker chocolate colour and crisp consistency, so that it is rather liable to be cut by the knife in opening^- the ducts. The flukes occur in bile highly vitiated, thick, and viscid not only from defects in its secretion but also from a mixture with it of excreta and ova of the fluke. On opening the body of an animal affected with advanced rot, we find that the blood is thin and watery. Delafond has shown that its albumen is deficient. The tissues in general are pale, or yellow and watery, soft, and flabby. The muscles seem as though they had been macerated, and a yellow serous fluid everywhere follows the knife (Youatt). If any fat be left it is especially yellow, but as a rule the fat is replaced

^,-

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around the heart and elsewhere where its presence is essential by a sticky, slimy, white or yellow jelly. The heart partakes of the general softening and may he enlarged ; quot;the lungs are everywhere tilled with tubercle,quot; says Youatt, by which he refers either to calcified hydatids,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; '

changes wrought by the lung-worms, or to flakes which, having found entry into the lungs, being carried to those organs by the blood current from the hepatic veins (Lenckart), have there become encysted and undergonenbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; I

calcareous change. On opening the belly straw-coloured or yellow serum escapes, and sometimes, it is said, pus (and even flukes) are present, and the contained organs are united together by false membranes, especially the liver to the organs nearest it. The peritoneum is everywhere thick and yellow; the intestines are abnormally pale ; kidneys pale, soft, and cedematous ; mosenterie glands enlarged and yellow, and gelatinous looking. Friedberger found the following conditions in an autopsy in liver rot: Carcass emaciated, muscular tissue very pale, subcutaneous abdominal tissue very cedematous, fluid and coagulated material in belly ; liver adherent to omentuin and to abdominal walls by fibrous bands, in which were some freshly coagulated blood-clots about the size of beans. Liver firmly united to diaphragm ; parietal peritoneum soft, thick, and opaque, easily removable from underlying structures. Dark yellow fluid in pleura! and pericardia! sacs. Pulmonary, gastric, mesenteric, and bronchial lymphatic glands large, cedematous, pigmented. Visceral pleura over pericardium reddened by blood imbibition. Lungs slightly splenified in various portions, the bronchial tubes leading to which showed spindle-shaped and cylindrical distensions, the mucous membrane of which was slightly thick and covered with muco-purulent secretion. Heart : muscular tissue soft. Liver enlarged to three times the normal, mostly in thickness; a fibrous false membrane over the organ, thickest at the anterior surface, some distomata beneath it and in the peritoneal effusion; hepatic lymphatic glands enlarged, cedematous, and pigmented. Liver capsule in some places clouded, in others rough. Surface

148

DISKASF.S Ol'' TIIK SIIKKP

of liver uneven, presenting several prominences varying in size and colour. Gall-bladder full of dark, olive-green bile. Liver flesli-like in consistency and soft, its connective tissue liyperplastic. Infarcts which have undergone degeneration and necrosis in the superficial and deep-seated parts of the organ. Biliary mucous membrane ecchymosed in places, swollen, and injected. Thrombi in the portal veins. In another case the same observer found, among other conditions, hard miliary nodules, consisting of gelatinous material with calcareous concretions, in the sub-pleura and in parts of the parenchyma of the lungs, slight ccchymosis of the endocardium, a few sabcapsular luemor-rhagic spots of the spleen and kidneys ; calcareous concretions in the liver; ova of flukes in the gall-bladder. The mucous membrane of the gall-ducts affected with a violent desqnamative purulent catarrh, in places studded with haemorrhagic spots, and the walls enormously thickened in patches, surrounded by large extravasations of blood. Friedberger finds in the living animal the abdomen enlarged, pain on pressure on the right side ; urine containing chlorides, sometimes acid ; free from albumen and bile colouring.

quot;Fluke abscessesquot; in distant parts of the body have been found in man (Leuckart), the parasites having been probably carried to the seat of abscess in the circulatory current; some say their occurrence in the lungs is duo to direct penetration from the liver, and it is certain that the walls of the bile-ducts and the liver tissues can be penetrated by the young flukes, the head booklets of which constitute a very good boring apparatus. Some penetrate the walls of the hepatic veins, others the abdominal cavity.

The liver is the seat of most serious changes ; it is described (by Youatt) as speckled like the back of a toad, in consequence of its chocolate-brown, mottled appearance, or light yellow colour, interspersed with pale spots approaching white. May and others have observed openings on the surface of the liver, through which the flukes emerge. Its tissue is hard in parts, but elsewhere soft

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and fi-iablo, and when boiled almost dissolves away. In tlie main it is somewhat firm to the feel and irregularly-knotted on the surface and margins from the thickened state of its ducts, large and small. Those ducts become sacculated from presence of the flukes in numbers, and the mucous membrane undergoes calcareous change from continued irritation, so that the liver sometimes quot; cuts gritty.quot; The bile is found thick and dirty looking, grumous, and laden with flukes and their egg's, as well as calcareous material. In the bile the eggs arc too small (j-^jfth of an inch in length) to be detectable separately by the naked eye, but nevertheless are so numerous as to give it a dark colour. In some of the small ducts where the eggs have not been washed away by the bile, they may be present in such enoi-mous numbers as to form a stiff, dark-brown mass, looking like fine, wet sand, and completely blocking up the inside of the duct (Thomas). Careful examination of the intestinal contents shows flukes and fluke eggs intermingled with ordinary chyle materials, and both eggs and mature parasites can be detected in the dung of living animals for purposes of diagnosis, especially in the spring, when the eggs naturally come away from the bearer, and at any time after the flukes have been six weeks in the sheep.

Symptom*.The theory has been advanced that it is the object of flukes in nature to enter the livers of higher mammalia, especially the sheep, in small numbers, and act as a mild stimulus to efficient action of the liver. Undoubtedly the presence of a few flukes in the liver does stimulate the flow of bile, with the result of producing improved condition of the animal, hut since sheeps' livers do very well without such stimulus, and the livers of some animals closely allied are seldom or never invaded by fluke, and there are hot, dry countries (such as the Deccan in India) where sheep thrive but fluke is practically never seen, we iiuist conclude that fluke is by no means essential to the sheep. This early thriving as a symptom of fluke invasion is a well-known phenomenon, so much su that it excites apprehension of the practical farmer when his sheep

150

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

begin to get too fat. Bakewell, witli characteristic shrewdness, used to gain five or six weeks on his neighbours in fattening his sheep for the market by turning them out to finish on unsound meadows, and purchasers of sheep for slaughter-purposes sometimes stipulate that they shall have a final run on some meadow well known to produce rot. This practice has been rightly condemned as tending to increase of rot prevalence by artificial diffusion of ova, and is open to the suspicion of lessening the nutritive value of mutton so forced as food for the people. The former objection is the more serious, the latter has not yet been soundly established ; Youatt describes the flesh in such cases as quot; paler and approaching to yellow, and the fat was flabby. The meat was tender, and perhaps would please certain epicures, but it had not the firmness nor the flavour of mutton honestly fattened, and probably was not quite wholesome.quot; We have underlined the word quot; honestly quot; because we consider such practice not dishonest, and that it is by no means proved that such meat is unwholesome. So long as the increased liver action is followed by increased tissue formation it cannot be considered that the system is diseased nor the carcass deteriorated as food, any more than if the liver stimulation and increased weight had been produced by high feeding ; a yellow colour of the fat is not to ho taken as an indication that the food is unwholesome. The condition is, however, a critical one as verging on disease, and where the mark may bo easily overshot; the art of carrying out this process without ill result consists in immediate detection of the acme of condition, and slaughtering the animals while thus in the condition of prime mutton. When rot is thoroughly established, the meat deteriorates and decomposes rapidly, and in the advanced stages it has a most sickening odour, and is manifestly unsuited for human food, just as any other dropsical carcass would be. Flukes eaten by the human subject in imperfectly cooked sheep's liver can do no harm to the individual, hut will make him a temporary diffuser of fluke ova in his ejecta.

The disorder in the sheep is insidious in its invasion

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.

151

and chronic in its progress. Gerlach enumerates the following stages of rot:

(1)nbsp; nbsp;Traumatic hepatitis, which occurs between June and autumn, is seldom or never diagnosed hut sometimes seen after death from apoplexy. The liver is in a state of acute inflammation.

(2)nbsp; nbsp;Dropsy. The liver pale and firm. Occurs from September to November or December, i. e. six to twelve weeks after invasion.

(3)nbsp; nbsp;Emaciation : this is the stage of greatest mortality. It occurs in January and February, and the liver is atrophied.

(t) Migration of the flukes occurs in May and June; but Thomas has evidence of flukes remaining in the sheep longer than a year.

The times of prevalence of these stages vary in different countries. Thus in England Thomas finds most fluke cysts on the grass in September or October.

Simouds notices as premonitory indications the presence of occasional cough and fastidiousness of the appetite, also that the animal's state of health is delicate, so that it suffers to an uiuhie degree from exposure to wet and cold. Beattie, a most experienced practical observer, notes (in the ' Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society,' vol. iii, 1807) that in spring when the ewes are dropping their lambs if the liquor amnii be very white and like thin watery bubbles it is a bad sign, and in September when drafting the ewes he adopts the usual method of feeling the condition. Those in which the lumbar muscles feel soft and flabby, and in which the extremities of the lumbar transverse processes can be plainly felt, are considered unsound, they are known as quot; lean on the back,quot; and the impression is conveyed to the fingers of crackling as though there were water and bubbles below the skin (quot; rippling quot; as it. is called). Beattie insists that this test is of value only when applied by an experienced man, and that no one can with absolute certiiinty quot;drawquot; a flock tainted with rot. Next the condition of the conjunctival blood-vessels is examined, the state of the caruncula lachrymalis, car-

152

DISEASES Ui' THE SHEEP.

fcilago uictitaiis, and tho vessels on the white of the eye is noticed. If the flock has heeu on heatUand, or otherwise not highly fed, the conjunctiva inuy be pale in all of them, but in well-fed sheep it should be of a bright red colour, the blood-vessels should severally be sharply defined and free from gelatinous deposit. In drawing a flock, judgment must be arrived at by comparison of the colour with that of the rest of the flock (Beattie). The cartilage and conjunctiva, especially if the animal has been driven a short distance, will look moist and watery and be tinged with pule or yellow blood, later the vessels are white and scarcely to be distinguished except a few watery-looking ones or containing dark blood (Simonds). Gelatinous deposit beneath the conjunctiva against the caruncle, and a distended white-coloured state of the blood-vessels is, then, distinctive of rot, or at any rate of some serious interference with the condition of the animal such as in sheep is almost invariably due to fascioliasis. Simonds notes that the skin is dry and scaly, a condition which may best be seen inside the thigh. To this may be added that the skin assumes a pale yellow hue especially detectable about the brisket, and the animal lags beliind his companions, lies down frequently, and is decidedly weak and dull. In a confirmed case of rot the symptoms are those of amemia, slight jaundice, and subacute fever combined. Grerlach and Friedberger rightly insist on the frequent complete absence of symptoms of icterus in true eases of rot. The visible mucous membrane becomes very bloodless and yellow to a more or less marked degree, the caruncle is decidedly yellow; the flesh wastes until the animal becomes extremely emaciated and very weak, the flanks are hollow, the back stiff, and the spine prominent; there is yielding and tenderness on pressure of the loins. The poor animal suffers from thirst and depraved appetite, the bowels are irregular. It is always suspicious in the autumnal months to iiud sbeep occasionally scouring, as Prof. Simonds tells us. ^\s the disease progresses purging sets in, an indication of approaching death from exhaustion. Tho pulse becomes weak and irregular; the changes in the

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blood are denoted by ansemic murmurs detectable on auscultation of tlie heart; and by progressive dropsy. There is some hydrothorax, a pendulous condition of the belly denotes ascites, and subcutaneous swelling of a dropsical character occurs, especially about the throat. Besides the dull yellow colour of the eye, we note changes of the mucous membranes of the mouth and nostril, whicl] first become yellow, then livid, and the breath will bo noticed to be foetid. As regards the state of the skin, from its yellow and dry condition with scanty yolk, wo find ifc becomes especially yellow about the nozzle, and at places is spotted yellow or even black ; the fleece is loose and drops o£E in patches; the whole integument seems flaccid, loose, and crackles on pressure. The attack may be protracted to four or six months, the nnimal becoming weaker and weaker until it is a mere skeleton, purging freely. Stupor sets in and death from exhaustion is not long delayed. Consumption of carcases of animals in an advanced state of rot is known to have caused serious diarrhoea in mankind, and fatal diarrhoea with typhoid symptoms have occurred in butchers and others opening rotten carcases. The exact reason for the latter phenomenon is not clear.

In order to the thorough understanding of the disease known as rot thelil'e-history of Fasciola hepaiica has been studied with groat assiduity. The adult parasite as it occurs in the liver of the sheep and in a sexually mature state is from Jlj in. long by ^i in. broad at the shoulder, and -f'ljth inch thick. It bus two suckers, one on the anterior or quot; head quot; end termed the oral, and the other on the ventral surface at a short distance from the head. The oral sucker is a holdfast for nutritive purposes, the ventral for reproduction, and probably each acts at times as an organ of progression, to which end spines on the skin and the movements of the animal contribute. The digestive apparatus is a remarkably branched stomach with two tubes, one on each side of the body, and these unite to form an oesophagus which runs to the mouth. Absorption of nutriment probably occurs through the general sur-

raquo;n

| !

154

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

face of tlie body, the branclied stomacli is generally found filled with bile. Tliere is a branched system of vessels, termed the water vascular, for conveyance of a nutritive lymph-like fluid. Respiration is performed by the general surface of the body. Flukes are hermaphroditic, each individual having a well-developed testis and long penis, also an ovary and an enormous oviduct considered to be capable of containing several thousand eggs (40,000, for instance, in one calculation). A well-developed ganglion constitutes the nerve-centre, and is connected with a surface sense-organ or quot;eyequot; of a rudimentary character. Tlie parenchyma of the body contains numerous white muscular fibres which confer on it its crispness and power of involuntary contraction. We do not accurately know what is the limit to the life of individual flukes ; it seems certain that almost invariably they last but a season and migrate or are expelled while depositing their ova. This is, of course, a most important point practically, as bearing on the curability of rot. Simonds seems to imply tluit under exceptional circumstances, such as especially those which lead to tlie continued production of good bile, i. e. good feed for the flukes, their residence in the liver may be prolonged from season to season, and ultimately cause fatal disturbance, hut this is a point which requires to be verified. Thomas considers he has evidence to confirm this view. It has been amply verified by experiment that the transference of flukes or eggs between individual sheep does not prove compatible with the vital condition of the fluke, and so cannot produce rot ; thus error of observation lies at the bottom of cases where sucking lambs which have not fed on solid food have been supposed to obtain the disease direct from their dams, it is quite possible for such lambs to have ingested embryos while playing with grass, though not actually eating it. Another important point is that flukes as such do not multiply in the liver, they become sexually mature, mutually impregnate (self-impregnation being very doubtful), pass through the lull period of egg bearing, and expel the ova, but no budding or other such process occurs whereby two flukes may multiply in the liver

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM,

155

into fifty, for example; were such not the case fluke invasion must have proved invariably fatal, whereas under existing circumstances the danger to the animal depends on the number of young flakes which enter the liver, and the period of their duration there ; also whether the sheep have strength of constitution enough to outlive tlieir term of residence, and to sufficiently repair any ravages they may have caused. We must next study the mode of development of the parasites. Simonds insists that the eggs are deposited, some of them in the minutest ramifications of the bile-canals ; they certainly are expelled (by the fluke) in all parts of the bile-ducts (including the gall-bladder), in the intestinal canal, and on the soil after escape of the flukes from the body, but wherever they are deposited their ultimate destination is the soil to which they are conveyed, cither with the faeces as free ova or in the mature fluke. The bearer is a distributer of flukes in that he may move from pasture to pasture expelling ova in the spring of the year principally ; as one sheep may contain a thousand flukes, and each fluke forty thousand eggs, it is manifest that one bearer may contaminate a pasture, though that bearer be in apparent health.

Further, it is not essential that the bearer be a sheep, for horses, cattle, hares, rabbits, kangaroos, deer, and numerous other mammals can harbour the adult fluke and may be victims of liver-rot. The ova vary in colour, and from November to April may occasionally be seen in the dung of healthy sheep, but swarming in that of a diseased one. Such flukes as escape from the intestinal canal can wriggle about sufficiently to conceal themselves in the grass, and they expel many contained ova in single file from the oviduct. They then die and decompose, or fall a prey to insects ; in this way all the fluke ova sooner or later become dispersed. We have no evidence as to how long the eggs of the fluke retain their vitality and remain withoutger-inination. Until escape from the body of the sheep the eggs do not undergo nuich development. A temperature of 74deg; 78deg; i''. is most favorable to hatching, the embryo being theu found iu two to three weeks ; at 00deg; it takes two to three

gt; I

156

DISEASES OF TtlK SHEEP.

moutlis; at temperatures below this, as in winter, the egg does not change at all. Simonds suggests that they may bo capable of prolonged vitality, and it has been supposed that hay formed from grass cut in unsound meadows may be a disseminator of the disease, but this, though possible, is not probable, because the eggs at expulsion already contain the embryo in its incipient stage of development, the yolk having undergone segmentation, altogether iu a state almost too advanced to admit of prolonged dormancy. Insects, the feet and other parts of cattle and sheep, dogs, rabbits, men, and other animals are means of di{fusion of the ova, and it is stated that a ram turned among ewes is not unfreipiently a contaminator of pasture in this way, whence the erroneous notion of the contagiousness of the disorder has originated. Wind may possibly disseminate the eggs, hut probably does not, because the railing in of a poachy or boggy spot sometimes suffices to make a meadow previously notoriously unsound a safe grazing place for sheep. Bain washes the ova into drains, ponds, and other accumulations of water, aud running water proves a diffuser of ova and embryo forms of tiuke, whereas stagnant water proves a favorable seat for their development aud access to intermediary and ultimate bearers. The egg-contents develop into the ciliated embryo, which, like an Infusorian in structure and habits, swims freely about in water. It is enabled to escape from the ovum because the latter has at one eud or quot; pole quot; a kind of lid which yields after prolonged immersion iu water and uuder vigorous impulses of the embryo within. On rising of this lid the ciliated embryo escapes ; it has the figure of an inverted cone, with a proboscis-like papilla at the centre of its broad and fiat anterior portion. It has a cross-shaped dorsal pigment spot (of two lateral parts), which is considered to be an organ of vision. After a few days of free rapidly-moving existence the young creature loses its cilia aud becomes a creeping larva, this finds its way into a mollusc, which is thus the first intermediary bearer of the fluke. Thomas iiuds that the invaded mullnsc is the lAmnaeus trun-catulatus, a freshwater snail with a brown spiral shell.

#9632;

D1GKST1VE SYSTKM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 157

common and widely distributed. Its slioll is sometimes even under a quarter of an incli in length, never over half an incli. It lias no popular name und is ampliibioiis. Some of these resisted six weeks' drought, nnd lived in damp moss for eleven weeks. The snails suffer much from the invasion, and in the laboratory fluke disease is more fatal to the snail than to the sheep (Thomas). This snail onli/ it seems is the intermediary bearer of the livei'-Hulve in Great Eritain, but in Australia, North America, and other places where rot occurs (but this particnlar snail does not) other species of Limnwi may act as intermediary bearers. April, May, June, and July (especially the two latter months) is when the snail is invaded. A severe winter kills off rotten snailSi but a mild winter may simply render them torpid, and then unusually early cases of rot in sheep may occur in the following May. In the tissues of this snail it develops into the sporocyst, redia,* or quot; nurse,quot; a kind of sac in which develop munerons larva) with tails [cercurise). These escape throngh a special vent in the redia, and for a time lead independent free lives in water. They then come to rest, cast their tails, and develop an enveloping cyst of a snow white colour, which adheres to the stalks or leaves of grasses and water plants. These may remain a few weeks, but if they then undergo no further change of conditions the embryo within perishes. In this form on grass or in water they pass into the alimentary canal of the host or ultimate bearer (sheep, horse, or other mammal) and the pupa-cyst is digested by the action of the gastric juice, and from the stomach of the host through the duodenum and bile-duct the fluke passes gradually up into the liver (Zurn and Leuckart). Cerlach supposes the embryos penetrate to the liver through the gastric walls. During this passage it develops until it ultimately attains sexual maturity. In favorable seasons and circumstances the sporoc}^rsts produce not only cercarians, but also, by

* Redia; properly are the sccoml generation of the embryo. The sporo-cysts inhabit the snail's lungs, or thereabouts. The redia; migrate into the tissues of the snail, having burst out of the sporoeyst, and take up their abode especially near the liver.

Fio. 9.

I'm. 30.

Fit) 31.

f .

h --I

-raquo;

Via. 20.Eg;; of tlie Liver-fluke examined shortly after it was taken from the liver of a sheep. At the Hght-hand ciul of the shell may he seen the line marking off the lid, and a little to the left the embryo in a very early stage of development. The embryo is surrounded by round masses which serve as food ; they are all of them granular, hut only three at the left-hand side have been fully drawn. Magnified Gamp;U times. (Original.A. P, T.)

Flo. 30.Egg of the linke containing an embryo ready to hatch out; d, remains of food; e, a cushion of jelly-like substance;,/*gt; boring-tool of the embryo; A, eye-spols ; k, germinal cells. Magnified 080 times. (Original. A.P. T.)

Fio. 31.An embryo as it appears when swimming in the water; y, boring-tool; A. eye-spots. Magnified 500 times. (Original.A. 1'. T.)

Fig. 32.

Fia. 33.

Fia. 31.

Fia. 35.

~-7v

Fio. 32.Embryo of Liver-fluke boring into a fnaiJ. Only a very small part of the snail lias been drawn. Magnified 370 times. (Origina).A. Iquot;. T.)

Via. 33.A young sporocyst dividing into two: h', eye-spots di;appearing. Magnified 500 times. (Original.A. P. T.)

Fio. Sd.Shows the change of the embryo into sporocyst. jnst after it lias entered the snail.Magnified 500 times. (Original.A. 1'. T.)

Fio. 35.Shows a young sporocyst produced by the change of the embryo : /, boring-tool; A', eye-spots disappearing; X-, germinal cells. MaguifiidSOO times. (Original.A. P. T.)

160

DISEASES OF THE SHEKr.

Flo. 36.

Fig. 37.

:H,

Fig. 3G.A full-grown sporocyst (tlie first generation) of the Liver-flnke.

It contains several germs in different stages of growtli. Tlie largest, at the lower end, has assumed the characters of a redia. Magnified 230 times. Original.A. P. T.)

Fig. 37.A young redia (second generation) of the Liver-fluke, with the contents forming into germs of the third generation. JIagnified 230 times.

(Original.A. P. T.)

[All these figures by Professor Thomas on fluke development are from the 'Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society ' and published by special permission of the Council, which is hereby gratefully acknowledged.]

Fig. 38.

Fia. 39.

Fig. 38.A full grown redia (second generation) oi' the Liver-fluke. It con-taius !v large uumber of germs of the third generation. Two of these are so fur advanced that they show the characters of the tailed larva or cerearia. It contains also, on the left hand, a young redia ; o¹ and c², the two cercarise ; in, intestine of cerearia; lo, laquo;A, germs in a very early stage; r, r, the processes which serve as feet; in¹, the intestine of redia ; v, the birth opening by which the cercariso leave. Magnified 120 times. (Original.A. P. T.)

FlG. 39.A free cerearia; (third generation) of the Liver-fluke as it is seen when swimming in the water: y. y¹, the two suckers corresponding to the suckers of the adult fluke; in, intestine ; ci/, the rounded masses at the sides of the body which provide the material for the formation of the cyst (Original.A. P. T.)

or envelope. Muguitied 1(50 times.

Fio. 40.

FiO. 41.

ä ü

Fig. 40.A ccrcavia in tlie act of formtng its cyst or envelope. Magnifled 160 limes. (Original.A. P. T.)

Fig. 41.Three cysts of the Liver-fluke attached to a portion of grass-stalk. Each cyst coutaias a young fluko, vrhich remains (jniet until the cysts are swallowed with the grass by a sheep when grazing. Maguilied 10 times. (Original.W. H. J.)

Fig. 42.The snail, Limnmus iruncalulalus, which serves as host to the sporocyst, reilia, and growing cerc;iria of the Liver-fluke. The drawing is magnified, and the true length is shown by the line at its side. (Original. A. P. T.)

FiO. 43.Limixcus truncalulatiis, of natural size. (A. P, T.)

Fig. 45.

in_______

.Oi.

Te.

Kim.......^xt'

Figs, 46, 47, 48,

rO\

Fig. 44.An adult fluke tlie branched digestive tract: orul; y', the ventral sucker;

showing

gt;/, the in, the

branched intestine. In the centre, between the two main branclies of the intestine, lies the chief trunk of the water-vessel. Twice the natural size. (Original.W. H. J.)

Fig. 45.Another view of an adult fluke, showing the reproductive organs: y, the oral; y', the ventral sucker;

Orf, the oviduct; Oo, the ovary; Vt, the vitellarlum, or gland that forms the granular yolk-cells surrounding the embryo in the egg; We, the anterior; 'IV, the posterior testis; their ducts run forwards. The generative opening is in front of the ventral sucker. Twice the natural size. (Original. W. II. J.)nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;^ ^b

Figs.40,47,48.Three young flukes from the liver of a sheep to show the change in form during growth. All are maguitied 7* times. Fig. 46 (on the left) represents the smallest fluke

1 have ever found in a sheep ; it was only ^j of an inch in length. Fig. 47 (in ^^K centre) shows the shape of a fluke -J- of an inch long, and Fig. 48 (on the right) shows a fluke which has reached J of the full length of the adult animal. (Original.A. P. T.)

164

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

budding, other sporocysts, an observation whicli led Dr. Cobbold to remark that quot;there is no recognisable limit either to the variety or to the extent of larval fluke development.quot; Invasion of the various sheep of a flock occurs at different times, and repeated invasions of the same animal may take place. Gerlach puts the time of fluke invasion at July to September, Johanni from the end of summer to commencement of the frosts. The incubation of the fluke in the liver before rot begins to appear is one to one and a half months (Zurn), six weeks to three months (G-erlach), at least six weeks according to Thomas.

It may well be asked with consternation how is it that if one sheep contains many flukes, each fluke contains an enormous number of eggs capable of developing into sporocysts, and each sporocyst can bud into many more, from each of which many cercariEe can develop, how do any sheep, or indeed mammalia of other species, escape destruction by the Liliputian attacks of myriads of fluke invaders ? As a matter of fact, the number of ova and of other means of multiplication of animals is in direct relation with chances of each possible individual undergoing development into an adult; thus nature recognises the extreme precariousness of fluke development. Any one possible individual for development must be successful in obtaining moisture and heat to ensure development of the embryo and hatching, also for washing down into some stream or pool. It may be dropped where moisture, heat, or chance of escape to more suitable situation cannot be obtained. It has to succeed in gaining access to more than one bearer, to run the gauntlet of two free and three parasitic phases of existence, and of ultimately passiug into some unsuitable host. In increase of these risks to the developing parasite lie the veterinarian's hopes of prevention of liver rot.

Treatment.Rot is a disease capable of prevention and of cure under ordinary circumstances, although there sometimes, in this as in other parasitic disorders, arise seasons especially favorable to the disease, when immense fatality almost necessarily takes place, and we feel the full force of an almost despairing remark of Cobbold, that quot;as we

*mm

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;165

cannot regulate the character of the seasons, so neither can we prevent the occurrence of many epizootics.quot; However, on considering carefully the phenomena connected with the disorder and the parasite we shall conclude that neither prevention nor cure is an affair of desperation ; indeed, it would be astonishing if a disease presenting so elaborate and clearly ascertained a history and due to so familiar a cause did not present some weak points in its invasion of sheep whereby reasonable hope of successful attack by hygienic and medicinal methods will be afforded. Undoubtedly prevention is better than cure, but unfortunately farmers will not prevent, and too often are so apathetic or despairing as not to attempt even to cure. Here we come to a most important matter, which has as yet been too much lost sight of, namely, that liver-rot is such a scourge to the country and such a source of loss to the farmer on account of its wide diffusion that its repression becomes a national question such as should be dealt with by the State. As not being quot; contagious quot; in the legal sense of the term it has hitherto escaped notice in the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts, but, with other parasitic disorders, it ought to receive State regulation as being distinctly diffusible, most fatal, and not thoroughly repressible by individual or even local effort. Moreover, questions are constantly arising in which action is brouffht in consequence of alleged unsouudness of sheep from rot at time of purchase, and actions for contamination of pasture are quite possible and sustainable. Our first effort at prevention consists in endeavours to destroy the ova. Nature's methods of preventing fluke becoming too numerous comprise drought and frost, which influences render pastures ordinarily dangerous quite suitable for sheep-grazing, probably by destroying the ova. Wo are not quite sure as to the powers of vital resistance by ova, and experiment might throw a little more light on this point, moreover, we cannot produce frost at will on a large scale, but we can in some parts, such as the wide grazing grounds of Australia., burn the grass, whereby ova, intermediary bearers, and embryos will be destroyed and the pas-

- .

lt;

166

DISEASES OF THE SHRRP.

bare benefitted. Thorough and efficient drainage, so that no doubtful places are left in a pasture, may render it sound, but some parks and meadows are so impracticable in this respect that they need to have the pasture broken up by the plough and to be used no more for grazing purposes. The clumsy method of grazing horses and cattle on such pastures is sometimes resorted to, but it must not be forgotten that these animals can be the ultimate bearers and diff users of fluke, and themselves suffer in condition, sometimes fatally, from the ravages of the adult parasite. Salt marshes are notoriously free from rot, probably because the embryonic forms do not in them find suitable intermediary bearers, and possibly also from the direct destructive action of salt on the embryos in various stages ; undoubtedly one of nature's methods for getting rid of surplus fluke embryos is their being washed down into the sea and salt estuaries or being retained in deep rivers and lakes where the shallow-haunting intermediary bcai-ers are not to be met.

Rock-salt rollers on land is a useful method of providing sheep with a good salt lick. Salting pastures to the extent requisite to prevent rot would destroy their grasses and their value as pastures, so is obviously impracticable, but sheep, in the spring especially, and at other times when ova are passing from them in quantities, should be pastured on salt marsh, dry tipland, or on hillsides ; or they should be kept up in the straw-yard, and lots of salt be thrown about. While thus taking measures to ensure that fluke-invaded animals, when discharging the ova, shall feed only on pastures and in places unsuitable to the parasites, direct measures for destruction of ova must not be neglected. The State might reasonably enforce the destruction of rotten sheep, but such a measure should be introduced gradually with compulsory slaughter of the severely affected, and the option of segregation for a fixed period on specified pastures, and under conditions clearly defined might be given. The carcases might generally be used as food and sold at full market value of the sheep ; every butcher should be compelled, in so far as is practicable, to destroy parasite-

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 167

bearing' portions of the animals slaughtered by him hy fire, not throwing them to the dogs or getting rid of them as refuse manure according to his usual system, than which nothing is more calculated to the diffusion of parasites. Whether a dog whicli has eaten a fluke-infested liver can diffuse the ova from that liver, has not (in so far as we are aware) been ascortaincd, but it is highly probable that he digests the ova which thus are annihilated. Thomas suggests that rotten livers, if boiled previously, may safely be given to dogs. The temporising policy of Government in tbe matter of dealing with rot is well illustrated by a Ministerial statement in the House of Commons, when agriculturists were being ruined on all sides by rot, and the agricultural societies were straining their resources to devise methods of control of the ravages of this plague, that quot; a dry, hot season is the one thing needed to arrest the disease.quot; Such trusting in Providence is culpable neglect of the duties of government towards the agricultural interest. The simple official collection of statistics on rot would suffice to show that national combined effort is essential for repression, and the veterinary advisers of Government are able to show how the State may interfere with benefit. Prof. Brown quotes non-official statistics, obtained by Messrs. Bowler and Bros., of Liverpool, in 1879, which sbow that England apparently in one year lost about 3,000,000 sheep, although ten counties recorded no fatality, because either they were free from rot or were not affected to a greater extent than usual. Finlay Dun puts the losses in 1880 at the same amount. Experience shows that about once every ten years ruinous outbreaks of unusual magnitudo occur, and also with reason leads us to believe that such national periodic calamity is, to an extent, preventable by State measures. Failing destruction of the ova, and in supplement to tbe measures adopted for that purpose, we resort to processes calculated to check and limit diffusion of the ova and embryos. This comprises efforts directed against intermediary bearers. Zundel has recently propounded a well-conceived system which he considers calculated, if thoroughly adopted (a

¹'

168nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

uniformity of action only attainable by State edict) to extirpate rot thoroughly. The plan consists in having two sets of feeding grounds for sheep in wet seasons or

in marshy localities,one pasture for spring grazing to

June, the other for autumn feeding; the former, though contaminated freely, would lack hosts suitable for the parasites in their last phases of development, the frosts of winter sufficing to free the pasture of the embryos and

intermediary bearers ; the autumn pasture would not be-

come contaminated with ova, or tlie latter would find no suitable conditions for development. Theoretically this plan sounds well, but we fear that practically it would hardly answer, because of the uncertainty of seasons, the tendency of the public to evade State measures, and the emergencies of sheep traffic, which are not taken into account.

The eradication of rotten places on a pasture or a farm is a practicable measure ; they may be improved and rendered sound by drainage, may be fenced in so that sheep cannot gain access to them, or be brought under the plough and not used for grazing purposes. The compulsory railing-in, ploughing up, or efficient drainage of pastures known to be rotten would, perhaps, be a practic




	f	.
		#9632;
	1	;
		' ^r

able State measure, but there must always remain morasses, quot; floes/' or mosses notorious as rot-producers (especially on the border-land), ditches in lanes, and semi-dried ponds by the roadside, at which travelling flocks are liable to pick up rot, and which the shepherd should be instructed to carefully avoid when on journeys. Some benefit has been observed on rotten ground from folding early in the evening and enlarging the deck in the morning only when the dew is thoroughly off the ground ; possibly this is related to the

habits of intermediary bearers, which prefer the moisture, and will leave the blade of grass when it gets dry ; during frost pastures are observed to enjoy impunity from rot-producing qualities. Dry pasture is that natural to the sheep, and should be given whenever possible both for prevention and cure of rot; thorough drying destroys the vitality of the uuke egg; but in wet seasons dry pasture is not to be had, and that which with ordinary rainfall is

#9632;

I I

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;169

dry becomes dangerous to sheep. Thus no one class of pasture, except salt marsh, can be unreservedly recommended. Frequent change of pasture is insisted on by some authorities but is a quite inefficient and haphazard measure. Overstockiug most certainly is to be avoided. Some of the measures already recommended for destruction of the ova prove efficient also against both intermediary bearers and larva), such are salting the pastures and burning the grass. Destruction of these intermediary bearers is probably effected to a large degree by natural influences, such as the snail-eating habits of frogs and insectivorous birds ; a recent inquiry into causes of rot, conducted by Finlay Dun had for one of its objects the determining of whether recent prevalence of rot was associated with extirpation of special species of birds, but the intermittent violence of rot ravages is not parallel with the gradual extinction of bird species, though possibly in direct relation with the rapidity of multiplication of batrachians. Cobbold suggests that some good might result from subsidising little boys to collect mollusca and grubs in r-otten meadows. If we cannot collect the snails wo can, as already pointed out, lessen the chiinces of secondary bearers being taken in by sheep, especially b}' the avoidance of grazing on rotten pastures and careful regulation and selection of grazing grounds in rot-prevailing years. During undue prevalence of rain and prolonged damp seasons full precautionary measures should be takeu, and the efforts of Government, farmers, veterinarians, and agricultural societies should be directed to averting the national calamity which threatens. Even to the last stage the progress of the parasite can be controlled, for these last changes occur in the stomach of the sheep, where doses of salt and sulphate of iron may prove fatal to the young fluke before it has powers for mischief, and will at the same time, by promoting digestion and acting as tonics, fortify the system to resist the debilitating effects of the ravages of the parasites ; a result also facilitated by shelter and good food. We may place the measures for prevention as follows : The Government should give its Veterinary Department

N III

170

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

power of separating rotten sheep and enfoi'cing tlieir detention in situations not favorable to diffusion of ova and embryoSj or tlieir slaughter under prescribed precautions, and the destruction of their livers and intestines with their contents by fire ; the intestines and livers of sheep should invariably be destroyed in this way. Government officers should be empowered to compel drainage, sufficient enclosure, ploughing lip, or other satisfactory expedient with regard to notoriously rotten spots.

Agricultural societies should collect statistics as to prevalence of the disease, diffuse simple knowledge as to its prevention and cure, also by prizes and grants encourage research as to its nature, amp;c.; in these actions they might reasonably demand aid from Government. Agriculturists should lessen the number of rotten places on their farms, intelligently keep their sheep in the pasture least likely to prove dangerous according to season, rainfall, and other climatic conditions ; destroy, segregate, or otherwise satisfactorily deal with rotten sheep, keep up the strength of their sheep by means of good food, shelter, salt, and tonics ; salting, burning or liming dangerous pastures should also be resorted to by them for destruction of snails and embryos, in so far as is compatible with agricultural operations. Shepherds should early detect and report rot, and jealously keep their sheep from dangerous places and from unknown ponds, marslies, and ditches such as seem likely to be dangerous. They should see that each of the sheep gets his fair share of food, salt, and iron. Coal tar oil or carbolic acid, salt, or lime should be added to fiuke-mfested manure, and it should bo kept for a considerable time before it is spread over fields (Thomas).

All attempts at curative, treatment are rather expensive ; they consist in enabling the sheep to outlive the fluke or its invasion, and must commence with removal of the cause in so far as is possible, preventing fresh entry of IIukes by removal of the sheep to safe and dry pastures or else to a straw-yard. To this must succeed tonic medicines calculated to destroy parasites and germs in the alimentary canal, and sufficiently convenient for practical

DTGESTIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 171

administration. Fortunately the substances best suited for rot, common salt and sulplmto of iron, arc readily eaten by the slieep in combination with nutritive food-stuffs such as crushed corn, oats, maize, peas, lentils, and good hay. The exact food-stuffs used will be regulated by cost, but Professor Simonds^J recipe will prove a satisfactory guide : Take of linseed oil cake and pea meal, of each a bushel ; of salt and aniseed, each 4 lbs.; of sulphate of iron, one pound ; finely grind these substances and tboroughly mix them, and give daily to each slieep 41 pint. Salt is described as the sheet anchor of the practitioner in this disease, not only on account of its direct value in promoting health, and its tonic and anthohnintic properties, but also because it is essential for formation of good bile. One method of giving it is to sprinkle two or three drachms twice a day over good hay. Change of diet is insisted on in all outbreaks ; succulent vegetable food must be avoided, and it is remarked that administration of salt must cease in the lambing season, or it may cause abortion. Animals severely affected may receive stimulants, such as turpentine and sulphuric ether ; Simonds considers aniseed specially beneficial. In individual cases the question arises whether the animal is worth treatment, the result of which is to an extent doubtful and which must extend over a considerable time, and cost much in food and medicines. The farmer often decides that quot; the first loss is the best,quot; and sends the sheep to the butcher while they are still saleable j later they fetch only the prices of their skins, and even these ai'e not of full value. There are limits to the powers of medicine, or as it is roughly expressed, quot; we can't put a new liver into an animal quot; so badly affected that his own liver is useless, but cases taken in the early stages are frequently curable. The line of treatment consists in fortifying the system in every way, by good hygiene, tonics, and stimulants, giving food of an easily digestible character and such as can be digested with a minimum of bile. Doubtless the Pharmacopoeia would afford to the inquirer agents calculated to promote and improve the bile, render the liver unpleasant to the parasites, and

172

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

: 11

counteract the tendency to degeneration of bile-secreting tissue ; this, however, is a work for the future. Such cholagogues as we know at present are too debilitating and drastic to prove effectual in rot. Our efforts must be directed to enabling the animal to outlive the invasion of flukes and its effects. Sheep which have recovered from rot are sometimes quot; bad doers quot; and difficult to fatten, other cases they are completely cured, fatten well, or, in the case of ewes, produce good lambs in the following year There is considered to be some risk of abortion, insufficient nourishment of the lamb inutero, or deficiency of milk, so that in each case judgment must be exercised as to whether the ewe is safe to breed from. We have already commented on the fact that rot is not hereditary. Where rot is freshly introduced into a country the most stringent measures, such as slaughter of the affected, may be resorted to in the hope to check its progress and eradicate it; early slaughter has always the advantage that the flesh is fit for food, and the flukes are checked in development before they have attained the egg-bearing stage providing it be within three weeks of invasion.

Distmna lanceolatum is found in the bile-duct and gallbladder of the sheep, and gives rise to rot, but is much less irritant than 1). hepaticum, as being smaller, narrower, and free from spines; Zurn found it almost solely present in rot cases in Thuringia. Feser, Gerlach, and Roloff found D. hepaticum almost invariably in cases of rot recognised by them.

Cholocystic Calculi.Concretions are not rarely present in the gall-bladder, but are not known to have clinical importance. In many internal disorders the bile becomes dark and inspissated, probably from retention.

^;-

APPENDIX II.

The Peritoneum in sheep, as in other ruminants, is very tolerant of surgical interference. Omcntum major is remarkable for its large size and the amount of fat

DiaESTIVE SYSTKM.

173

which may accumulate in it. Prom all parts of the peritoneum may frequently be observed hanging specimens of the slender-necked hydatid, Gysticercus temticolUs, the larval form of T. marginata which is found in the dog especially. The parasite is seen also in the ox, deer, and other herbivora, but is not known to have any pathogenic importance, although extremely numerous in some subjects. Simple Peritonitis is said to be common in old sheep as a result of debility. It is shown by Ascites, which is not uncommon together with dropsical states of other parts of the body, especially submaxillary ojdema, but is seldom if ever seen as a distinct peritoneal disorder. That form which depends on specific influences has been described elsewhere. Laxatives, tonics, and tho operation of para-ccntesis or quot; tapping the belly quot; are resorted to; the latter presents no sjjecial features.

174nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

CHAPTER VI.THE URINARY APPARATUS.

The clu'inicu] composition oi' the urine of the sheep Inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;varies considerably according to the food of the animal,

the tendency being towards excess of phospliates in higldy-i'ud animals und for the fluid to become acid in reaction, also for sabulous deposits or calculi to occur in the organs or passages of the urinary system. There are no special features of an anatomical or physiological character in con-yjnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;noction with the urinary organs of sheep, except that it may

be noted the kidneys are unlobulated and the glans penis is furnished with a peculiarcorkscrew-like, pointed, vermiform appendage, which is supposed to have an important influence in guiding the glans during the act of copulation. Litt, of Shrewsbury, however, was quot; assured by a distin-#9632;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;guished sheep breeder that the commonly received opinion

on this subject (that removal of the glans interferes with procreative power) is an erroneous one, and that he has had many lambs got by ranis which had undergone the mutilation in question.quot; The urine of the goat, with sp. gr. 10081009, is, according to von Bibra, composed of water 980*07, solids UKto, urea 3^-78, hippuric acid T25, uric acid nil, mucus O'Gü, alcoholic extract 4quot;54, watery extract 1-00, soluble salts 8-50, and insoluble salts 0-80. However, as we have frequently seen, remarks based on observations of the goat by no moans constantly apply to the sheep, so careful analyses of sheep's urine are a desideratum. The following analysis given by Spooner is useful, but not sufficient. The amount passed is smaller, and contains less nitrogen than that of the cow. The composition is water 96 per cent. ; urea, colouring matter, and some albumen, 2*8 per cent.; salts of soda, potash, lime, and magnesia, with traces of iron, silica, aluminum, and manganese, l^-2 per cent. In males it is necessary to open the

THE UR1NAEY APPARATUS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 175

urethra at the permssutxi to pass a catheter. Simple diuresis has been observed in sheep as a result of noxious plants in pastures, especially certain forms of anemone (nomorosa and pulsatilla) and Aaclamp;pias vincetoxicum (Ganiyee).

Nephritis in lambs. At a meeting of the Pathological Society of London on April Gth, 1886, Mr. Roger Williams exhibited specimens of acute nephritis in Iambs. quot; The disease began soon after being ^c wet born/ with difficulty in walking, the new-born falling down and lying on one side, sometimes with choreoid movements, without loss of consciousness, without difficulty in breathing or cough ; they may linger on for two or three weeks, but in the end always die ; sucking was not impaired, nor the appetite. 'The disease appeared at Dunchurch, near Rugby, and attacked the lambs of ewes imported from Scotland, and especially those whose female parents were served by a ram who was far from vigorous, having to spend his strength on too many ewes. The disease may terminate in joint evil, with pus in the joints and all along the spine. The disease occurred on heavy clay soil, and in the lambing season the east wind was cold and nipping. At all events it was found that if a ram only served ten ewes the progeny were vigorous, and did not become affected with the disease. . . . The urine was albuminous and acid (Dr. Pye-Smith said it normally is so in sucking lambs), there were no renal casts, crystals, pus, or blood. The capsules of the kidneys stripped off easily, exposing a surface studded with congested stellate veins. The cortex was swollen and soft, pale and yellowish in colour, whilst the pyramids were firm and deep red in colour. The disease was an acute tubal nephritis. . . The interstitial tissue was normal . . Nothing abnormal was detected in any^r of the organs, and the spinal cord was healthy. Some of the Iambs were born with the disease and soon succumbed.quot;

Mr. Levie, of Lerwick, in the ' Veterinary Record ' for August 11th, 1888, draws attention to a peculiar disease of Shetland sheep known as Whiequibus, shell sickness, and oil poke, which is seen in weanlings or sheep of the first shear,

!'f

176

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

and is usually seen between November and April. It only occurs in young growing stock, in cold wet weather, and after a succession of storms, and is of indefinite duration, lasting from a few days to several weeks. Besides general signs of disorder, irregularity of the bowels, strangury, and occasional neplmtic colic are present. In advanced cases, antemia with localised anasarca, notably of the intermaxillary space, appears, which, pressing on the larynx, causes a peculiar unnatural sound to be emitted by the sufferer. Ultimately ischuria sets in, uraemic poisoning results, and death occurs from coma. Modifications occur in individual cases. Mr. Levie suggests that the ansemia and blood-poisoning result from defective secretion, especially from the continuously saturated condition of the fleece, and he advises, as means of pi'eventiou, use of elimiuaut agents, occasional doses of pcrchloride of iron, never to allow the sheep a feast or a famine, to protect the animal as much as possible during storms, and to use a waterproof covering for the back and loins. It is evident that much remains yet to be learned about this interesting disease which Mr. Levie has introduced to the notice of the profession.

Renal Calculi are not rare in the sheep. Fürstenburg lias given us the following interesting analyses :

[itgredieuta.

Renal

#9632;alculus.*


		Calcohu on
	Urinary '-	abdommal
	calctüus.f	wool ol
		sheep*
	4-45	3'45
	9-84	j
	7613	89-05
	300
	(uric)
	2-Ö3	4-56 i
	405	2-04 ;
		A trace
	quot;-	13-43

Eemarka

Carbonate of lime Phosphate of lime lAmmotiio-Mag. I'hos-

phate Acid . . . .

Organic matter . Iron, water, loss . Oxalate of lime . Carbonate of magnesia];

21-23

Silicates,supposed tobe derived from the drinking-water, are found especially in calculi from cattle and sheep (Oamgee), The calculi of sheep differ clearly from those raquo;f the horse and ox in containing amm. mag. phosphate (Williams).

4S-24

(.silicic)

27-64:

1-84

#9632;07

8p. gr.

13-55

CJuoled by (iamgec.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;t Qnoteu by Williams.

In comparison of urinary calculi of herbivora with those of carnivora it

THE URINARY APPARATUS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;177

Calculi of various kinds are the almost invariable cause of urinary disorder in the sheep, and are said to be most frequent in limestone districts. When in the kidney they seldom or never give rise to noticeable symptoms; they have little pathological importance also when in the ui*eters or bladder. Morton mentions oedema of the abdominal walls in vesicular calculus. In the urethra they give rise to severe obstruction to the passage of urine, very frequently with fatal results. Litt, of Shrewsbury, has an able essay on Ueetheal Calculi in the ' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England ' for 1867. Stevens, of Newmarket, gave some interesting records of it in the ' Veterinarian,' vol. xiii. When strangury occurs in rams or wethers the penis should be carefully examined for accumulations of gravel or sabulous matter choking up the urethral canal against the vermiform appendix.

Symptoms.The animal is reported to have quot; stoppage of the water,quot; and possibly some of the flock have already died from this cause. He is found down but able to rise, and on doing so has a peculiarly sudden curvature of the spine, after which a few di'ops of urine are passed. Panting, grunting, anxious countenance, alternately rising and lying down, and general restlessness, with refusal of food and the general symptoms of being out of sorts, are the earliest symptoms; later the animal becomes listless, affected with abdominal pain and irritative fever, urasmia sets in and causes death, or the animal may recover spontaneously owing to the quot; calculus finding its way through the penis above the vermiform process. This accident in rams renders them useless for breeding purposesquot; (Gamgee). On examination of the external urino-generative opening it will sometimes be found that the obstruction is due to small calculi forming on the wool of the abdomen ; when not sufficient to cause suppression of urine these may pre-

has beeu observed that curbouatc of magnesia, sulphate of calcium, carbonate of iron, and manganese oxide, oitlier preclorainate or are solely found in lierbivora; whereas in ciilculi of cainivora tlie following salts are iu preponderance : carbonate and phosphate of lime, oxalate of calcium, oxide of iron, triple phosphate, also silicic acid (Gamgee).

178nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

vent protrusion of the penis from the prepuce. Their

removal by snipping off the wool on which they form

suffices to afford immediate relief. In other cases the orifice is choked with gravely which may be easily removed without operation by careful manipulation. Frequently the phosphatic material (variously described as the simple calcic phosphate or the triple phosphates in different cases) is deposited on the lining membrane of the urethra for Bjnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;some distance up, or a small calculus is present near the

,ii

orifice. In such cases either the calculus is cut down on

and removed, or the extremity of the urethra with the appendix is amputated. According to Stevens's experience it is as well to remove the part at once, for simple excision affords only temporary relief by permitting escape of some of the deposit, and is followed by sloughing of the appendix. Moreover (as we have already seen), removal of the appendix does not always render the animal

.#9632;'

unable to propagate his species, although it is said to be sometimes fraudulently resorted to for this purpose either in spite or to prevent diffusion of choice blood. The organ is vulgarly called the quot; worm.quot; Some cases are so severe as to be ii-remediable, and on post-mortem examination deposits of gravel, calculi, or other materials from the urine are found in all the passages, the kidneys and bladder inflamed, the lining membrane of the urethra ulcerated, thickened, or gangrenous, the blood and solid tissues impregnated with urine so that the carcass is quite unfit for human food, and the bladder may be even ruptured from over-distension, or on the verge of being so. Thus early operative removal is essential, and if not practicable the animal #9632; should be slaughtered before fever and nramia set in. Fomentations, lubrications, injection of oil into the urethra and internal administration of extract of belladonna (8 IG grs.) are recommended to assist extraction. A cathartic and such other measures as the constitutional symptoms indicate must be resorted to, and steps must be taken to lessen the liability of the rest of the flock to this condition by removal of the causes in so far as is practicable.

This disorder has been noticed, especially in certain dis-

THE UBINABY APPABATÜS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 179

tricts, as on the Cotteswolds, says Gamgee^ but, we may add, is dependent on dieting rather than locality. Thus it occurs in animals fed high on saccharine roots rich in phosphates^ especially mangolds, and is in association with want of exercise and total deprivation of drinking-water. Litt speaks of a quot; lithic-acid diathesis,quot; and is inclined to connect the occurrence of the deposits with constant acidity of the urine of fattening sheep, but there are several points in the chemistry of this condition which require to be worked out not only as interesting from a scientific point of view, but also as a guide to practical measures for prevention ; thus, while some authorities advocate a course of mineral acids for these sheep, others suggest free doses of carbonate of potash. Whichever course be adojDted, a complete change of diet should be given, and the fact that sheep out at grass do not suffer from this disorder indicates that flocks with a tendency to calculi should be turned out on pasture and fed low, they also should have free access to drinking-water, and any medicine given to them should be largely diluted. Spooner describes as Cystitis a disease of rare occurrence commonly termed Water Braxy, under which name several other pathological states have been included. In this case the animal is said to quot; drop with water.quot; So exactly does the description of cases of this condition given by Spooner and his authorities correspond with that already given of urethral obstruction that the cases seem to have been imperfectly diagnosed. It is confined to sheep kept on artificial food, such as beans and cake, but may also occur in those fed on new-mown clover. It is said to be most frequent in males, but principally in rams, and such as are highly fed. There is uneasiness, constant shifting of the hind legs, frequent straining as though to void urine, stiffness and unwillingness to move, quick breathing, pulse quick and faltering, belly enlarged and tender, costiveness, and attempts to stale, but inability to perform the act. Tindal (' Veterinarian,' vol. xv) records rupture of the bladder as a termination of such cases ; relief may be afforded and a quantity of high-coloured urine pass from the distended bladder, but whether with

180nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OP THE SHEEP,

preliminary escape of calculus or sabulous matter is not stated. Dickens treated a case successfully by bleeding tlie animal to fainting, and giving doses of oil and opium. Thus, the occurrence of cystitis without urethral obstruction in tlie sheep must still be considered doubtful. Armatage describes a simple atony of the Madder due to debility.

Pervious Ueachus, quot; Navel III,quot; Umbilical Phlebitis, as seen in the foal and calf, is also observed in lambs, but

4)nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; much less frequently, and it seems in the latter to be always

due to non-specific causes. It is, therefore, more amenable to treatment, as not depending on scrofula, and less liable to be associated with disease of internal organs. It is sometimes a concomitant of joint-ill, and is said to be associated with occurrence of parturient fever in ewes.

Hjematueia occurs in sheep as the result of injuries, and sometimes perhaps from excess of diuretic substances in the pastures; probably conditions of highly nitrogenous

Hnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; urine giving rise to colour apparently red, are the majority

of cases described as quot; red water.^,; We have no evidence that the specific disease of cattle known under that name

ifnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;has its pathological equivalent in sheep.

THE SKELETON AND MUSCÜLAE SYSTEM.

181

CHAPTER VII.THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR

SYSTEM.

The bony framework of the sheep is light in build, composed of firm osseous elements with well-developed processes but on the whole very smooth and free from minor prominences and depressions. The spinal formula is C. 7, D. 13, L. 6 or 7, S. 4, Coc. 1024. The ceryicals are

Fig. 49.Skeleton of the sheep (after CnAüTEAtr).

like those of the ox but less heavy in their bodies, the anterior dorsals have not very long spines, the transverse processes of the lumbars are of considerable length, and the caudals vary in number and development according to the

F '

182nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

breed. The ribs are rather flat but less so than in the ox ; there are thirteen pairs, eight true ; the sternunij of seven bones, is flat, and has a well-developed manubrimn but no manubrial joint. In the fore-limb the scapula has an acromion, the humerus a single bicipital groove, the ulna extends well down to the knee, and there are two splint-bones, but they early coalesce with the cannon-bone, which is developed from two distinct lateral halves. In the hind

; ifcnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;limb the ilium is narrow, the ischium large, -with straight

symphysis and a process extending downwards from the

I [jinbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; tuberosity. The femur has a well-developed neck, no outer

small trochauter, straight and small patellar grooves. The patella is narrow, the fibula fairly developed, and its tarsal element distinct. The astragalus has well-marked articular ridges below, and the bones of the hock (like those of the knee) are few in number. The process of os calcis is long and narrow, the large metatarsals are grooved

jjinbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; deeply along the central Hue in front, and the splint-bones

early become fused with the cannon. The skull varies much in appearance in different breeds of sheep, owing to

Unbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; two causes, the development of horn cores and the en-

largement of those parts to which muscles of mastication are attached. Sheep with curled or straight horn cores developed supero-laterally from the frontals have much serrated and very strong cranio-facial sutures, well-developed sinuses, and early coalescence of the bones of the

i i^!nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; forehead. The cores and the sinuses in them are less

developed in relation to the horny covering than the corresponding parts in the ox, but as a rule the horns are much more curved. A careful contrast and exact measurements of the skulls of three prize wethers of each of eight breeds showed the diiferences between them to consist almost entirely in development of the parts of the skull to which the muscles of mastication are attached, in the larger breeds resulting in an apparent downward turning of the facial in relation to the cranial axis. This was least marked in the beautiful and thoroughbred-looking skull of the Southdown, and most marked in Lincolns and Leicosters. In the improved breeds of sheep the skeleton

THE SKELETON AND MÜSCÜLAE SYSTEM.

183

loses its rougliness and coarseness as seen in some of the old country breeds, the limbs diminish in size in relation to the carcass, but a general inci*ease in bulk of the animal occurs. A peculiar bandy- and short-legged breed of sheep has been developed by natural selection in

Fro. 50.Skull of ram (after CnAUVEAü).

1.nbsp; nbsp;Occipital.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;6. Lachrymal.

2.nbsp; nbsp;Parietal.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 7. Malar.

3.nbsp; nbsp;Horn core.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;8 Nasal.

4.nbsp; nbsp;Eoot of liorn.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 9. Superior maxillary.

10 amp; 10'. Premiixilhiry. 11. Premaxillary foramen.

5. Supra-orbital foramen. 5'. Supra-orbital groove.

America, as less liable to escape from bounds and stray than ordinary sheep.

The skeleton of the sheep is subject to certain diseases of bony tissue, in our knowledge of which there seems to be a considerable amount of confusion. There is a disease termed Joint III or Joint Evil, well known to shepherds,

^-i^-^E-laquo;quot; l.^-

184

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

but the nature of which seems but ill ascertained. Some consider it rheumatismal, others (among whom is Prof. Williams) term it scrofulous ostitis, and describe it as occurring in very young animals from a few days to a week old, in association with pervious urachus. It is attributed to imperfections of diet, and is said to be especially frequent in lambs brought up on bouse milk. We have elsewhere seen that occurrence of true scrofulous disorder in sheep is very doubtful. Robertson finds the disease as a complication of rickets, and he attributes it to animals suffering from that affection continuously lying^- on the ground when it is damp, thus apparently to au extent accepting the rheumatic theory. Tonatt describes the condition under the term quot;'swelling of joints,quot; and, with his usual well-judged caution, does not commit himself as to its pathology. He observed it especially in lambs from two to five weeks old, affecting the knee most frequently, and sometimes extending to the fetlock, occasionally involving the hock. The joints become inflamed and first of all dropsical ; to this succeeds abscess, from which anchylosis results, such sequelae being especially common when the knee is affected. A general stiffness precedes the local attack. The patient either cannot get about at all to pick up food, or crawls and drags himself about on his knees. Ho wastes away, and is incurably lame and worthless in a large proportion of cases. Warmth, shelter, cordials in gruel, stimulant embrocations and cathartics, are recommended in treatment, but the flock should be removed from the low, damp situations in which this disease occurs, and should be properly sheltered during cold wet seasons. Simonds recorded his views on this subject in connection with some specimens of knees and hocks of lambs, of which many had died, sent up by Mr. J. Smith, of Tewkesbury ('Veterinary Record/ vol. iv). The disease, it seems, is not uncommon, especially in Norfolk, where it is termed quot; Scole,quot; perhaps a corruption of scoliasis (deformity). It is evidently constitutional, and is prevalent in some seasons more than in others. Agriculturists think that feeding pregnant ewes on light land recently clayed

THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 185

causes it, and certainly for its prevention change of locality as well as of diet for the ewe is essential. In Norfolk it is seen often in the stifle, knee, and hock. Sometimes death occurs in the acute stage, but generally only in the chronic stage from marasmus. Autopsy shows acute synovitis, especially of the part of the synovial membrane lining the capsular ligaments, almost solid albuminous material is found in the cavity of the joint, and lymph is deposited externally to the capsular ligament. Later changes are those generally seen in the form of suppuration and ulceration of joints. These valuable observations tend to confirm the view that joint ill is a rheumatismal rather than scrofulous or rickety disorder. James M'Gilliv-ray, of Eayne, Aberdeenshire, however, in bis Gold Medal Essay (Highland and Agricultural Society) on joint ill in cattle and sheep, says, quot;I may here mention that I have never met with joint disease resulting^- from rheumatism in sheep. All the cases that I have met with in sheep were in animals affected with tuberculosis. In the last case of a diseased sheep that came under my notice, and which I particularly examined, I found the bones completely spoiled ; they were quite black on both sides of the joints, and on cutting up the carcass I found tubercles in clusters about the lungs, the liver, the mesentery, the kidneys, and bladder, in fact, everywhere excepting about the heart. From my experience I would infer that sheep are not so liable to rheumatic affections as they are to stramous diseases and their resultants.quot;

Professor Walley, in the ' Veterinary Journal' for June, 1876, lias dealt at length with this disorder. He considers it specific, traces it to an altered condition of the ewe's milk, and notes that the ewes coincidently die of malignant parturient fever in some cases. Among the symptoms noted are fever, extreme unwillingness to move, and stiffness of action, preference for the recumbent position ; when the disease continues, wasting of the limb muscles causes the joints to seem larger than they really are. The joint swellings are doughy to the feel, intensely painful to the touch, hot, stationary, or increasing in size. Diar-

186nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

rhoea, loss of wool, and erysipelatous inflammation of the skin, especially at the urino-genital opening, postero-inferior part of the abdomen, and umbilicus set in, thus the animal may be suffering from quot; navel ill.quot; quot; If blood is withdrawn during life or collected after death, and set at rest for a time it deposits a peculiar, dark-coloured, grumous mass at the bottom of the vessel, composed, as far as can be seen by the microscope, of altered blood-cells. This raquo;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; deposit lacks the firmness of the other parts of the clot and

bears a close resemblance to half-fermented damson pulp. Bacteria are developed in the blood very shortly after death and long before any putrefactive odour can be detected. Pytemia is indicated by elevation of the temperature, factor of the breath, diarrhoea, dark yellowish-red colour of the mucous membrane, gnashing of teeth, rigors, and hectic fever.quot;

Treatment.Is extremely unsatisfactory. Give milk

from healthy ewes, eggs beaten up raw, and good gruel. House the patients, and administer castor-oil, mercury with chalk, diuretics, febrifuges, and opiates. Inject morphia subcutaneouslv at affected joints. Later, give tonics and iodide of potassium. Locally apply a strong blister around the joints, keep them at rest and support them with splints and bandages; treat abscesses and sinuses in the usual way.

Prognosis,Repair is very rapid and the lambs may be fattened for sale, but will need special care, as the disease causes much deformity. Autopsy shows lymph effusions between the intercostal muscles, under the pleura, and into the lungs and other organs, engorgement of the small vessels of the lining membranes of abomasum and bowels. Dropsy of body-cavities, engorgement of the large vessels with the peculiar grumous blood ; liver often enlarged, friable, and full of minute abscesses ; all organs and tissues tinged with colouring matter of bile; urachus sometimes black, and the change in colour extending to the mucous membrane of the bladder. Umbilical vein black and filled with a cheesy material, either degenerated lymph or blood coagulum. quot; If the animals have lived sufficiently long,

THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 187

pyremic multiple abscesses are fonnd in the various organs and structures of the body. Blood from diseased lambs introduced into the veins of a dog gives rise to the formation of multiple hepatic abscesses.quot; Eobertson insists that the cause of joint ill, whatever it may be, is ante-parturient, and that the associated omphalo-phlebitis is sometimes present before birth and therefore not due to entry of septic matter into the torn umbilical cord. He considers the disease as quot; simply the outcome or development of a condition of foetal malnutrition.quot; And elsewhere we bear that the disease as it occurs in Norfolk and Kent (where it is termed rickets or swayback) is a congenital atony of the haunch muscles depending on relaxation of the hip-joint due to bad feeding of the ewes during utero-gestation. Tornwaldt (^f Vetei'inary Journal,' 1879, i, p. 59) finds salicylic acid excellent for arthritis in lambs; he gives 1 part in 200 of Spiritus Vini and 100 of water, a spoonful (?) every two hours.

Rickets in sheep seems to have been a favourite subject of study and dissertation with the late Prof. Robertson. His ideas are difficult to follow, but be seems to have been working towards a differentiation of three conditions which have hitherto been classed as rickets, i. e. the true form of the disease, fragilitas ossium, and osteoporosis. We will summarise his views, in so far as we can interpret them, of these affections. The true disease is one which may easily be confounded with acute nephritis and louping ill, indeed its relations with these two disorders require careful investigation. Whereas in other young animals the limb-bones are mainly affected in rickets, lambs suffer mainly in the axial portion of the skeleton. It occurs as an enzootic, some of the lambs never from time of birth being able to rise, others losing motor power of the limbs a few weeks after birth, and others suffering only at a later period. The symptoms are those of motorial disturbance and perfect paraplegia. At first the patient, if he has walked after bii'th, falls when excited, loses voluntary control of the hind limbs, and there is a want of co-ordination in movements between the fore limbs and the hind. The

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

animal is persistently recumbent^ rising only to meet the wants of nature. Joint inflammation and dropsies supervene while the animal is lying on the ground. Autopsy shows changes of the central organs of the nervous system especially affecting the spinal cord, there being increase of the fluids of the spinal membranes and changes of the intimate nervous elements, the former condition being most frequent, and the latter found only in chronic cases. These changes are due to a bulging of the walls of the spinal canal causing pressure. The epiphysial cartilages especially swell causing constriction by pressure on the spinal cord the result of au imperfect bone development dependent on malnutrition. In older sheep the bones of the limbs may be affected. The condition of the column is similar to that described by Bland Sutton as affecting certain feras (' Journal of Anatomy and Physiology,' vol. xvii).

Causes.When older sheep of the first year become affected with this weakness of the loins it is chiefly those which at intervals or entirely have been kept on such situations as cause it, or else their dams have. The determining influences were not powerful enough to kill them when lambs, but now some of them, when hoggets, will fall victims. Those localities in which it is enzootic have light gravel or sandy soils which have been dressed with quicklime, and this dressing may cause such properties of herbage as will generate this peculiar pathological state, or, as Edgar suggests, it is probable that deficiency of phosphate of lime in the soil results in an insufficiency of that substance for bone-making being a character of the food. Treatment evidently consists in alteration in the management of the ewes and feeding them on food rich in phosphates, especially cereals and cakes, avoidance of use of rams which have produced rickety offspring, culling ewes which have thrown rickety lambs, not putting too many ewes to one lamb, also at mating and yeaning time feeding liberally.

Fragilitas et Mollities Ossium affords scarcely any preliminary indications for its detection during life, but fractures occur in the flock from most trivial causes.

THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 189

quot; The occurrence of rain sufficient to thoroughly wet the ground^ causing¹ the sheep to dip or sink, is sufficient to operate in this manner. The rough handling of the flock with a dog, or an attempt to seize some for examination, may lead to the production of a fractured limb or two. Numerous cases, I have aheady observed, occur during moonlight, when the animals are easily disturbed, or, apart from disturbing influences, are disposed to gambol. In the fracture itself there is some slight difference from what occurs in a healthy bone when broken. It is attended with more effusiou, and the immediately contiguous parts are at once more swollen, softer, and less well defined. Any attempts to obtain reduction of the fracture and reunion of the parts are greatly more uncertain than in otherwise healthy animalsquot; (Robertson). This disease is said to prevail in direct ratio as lime is used for dressing the light moorish soils of gravel or sand on which it occurs, but only when used for such light soils has it this effect. Further, we are informed that roots or grass or other food supplied from such land in itself suffices to produce the disease, acting with special force in this direction when given to ewes in the middle or later stages of pregnancy. Therefore we are warned that food from such lands should not be given to pregnant ewes or young sheep. As flocks become used to the soil fatality and losses from this cause lessen ; it is, therefore, most frequent and severe in freshly imported sheep in those light soil countries where it is enzootic.

Osteoporosis is by Robertson said to affect sheep of all breeds and all ages, being most frequent in cross-breeds under two years of age, probably because they are the kind of sheep most frequently exposed to the influences which produce it, and which are exactly those which produce fragility and rickets. It can be prevented by liberal feeding, as with i| lb. of linseed cake daily per adult sheep, and by change to a better soil of different geological formation, and thus is to be treated in the same way as other disorders of bone nutrition from which Robertson merely distinguishes it by the conditions found

190

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

post mortem, wliicli are tlie fractured surfaces of the bones (generally the long bones of the limbs) being very vascular, the periosteum very thick and vascular and easily stripped off the bone surface, the medulla highly vascular, and ruptures of vessels with blood extravasations having occurred throughout the bony tissue and in the medullary canal. The bone cannot be cut by means of a knife, but is very fragile, and ordinary observers sum up the appearances by saying the bones are quot; rotten and decayed.quot; Leaving the subject of special disorders of bone, with the remark that much remains in connection with it on which future investigation must throw light, we proceed to consider a few points with regard to common disorders and accidents.

Feactuebs are rather liable to occur in sheep, because their bones are brittle and slight, and sheep are often knocked about very roughly and brutally treated; the bones below the knee frequently are fractured, as also are the tibije and metatarsals, In severe cases, such as compound fracture, if the sheep be in slaughter condition he should be at once converted into mutton, but in the case of breeding animals of considerable value, if treatment docs not hold out a fair prospect of relief, aniputatiou may be tried. Callus forms readily in the sheep, but from want of care cases of distortion and false joint are frequent, and it will seldom be considered necessary to alter this condition; but reunion of a more satisfactory nature maybe effected by fresh fracture, or in the case of false joint by harsh manipulation and subsequent setting of the parts by means of splints. Spooner's recommendations for treating fractures of sheep are practical, and may be quoted here. After restoiing the parts to their proper position the limb may be set. quot; The wool having been cut from the limb, some slips of coarse brown paper smeared on one side with gum or paste should be wound round the part a great many times, and over this some fine tow should be placed in the greatest abundance where the limb is smallest, so as to render it of a uniform size, by which means the bandage will be prevented from

THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 191

shifting. Two bandages of linen or cotton, about three or four inches wide and four feet long, should then be carefully put on, a little paste or gum being likewise smeared on one side. This mode of treatment will be better than using wooden splints, and less likely to injure the skin. The animal should be kept perfectly quiet and the bandages should remain on for a month.quot; Valuable animals in the case of limb fractures may be supported in small slings ; fractures in thin muscular parts, such as the shoulder, may be supported by means of a charge of adhesive plaster incorporated with the wool over the part.

Of Dislocations the most frequent seems to be partial separation with displacement of cervical vertebras constituting the familiar condition termed quot; wry neck.quot; It is generally congenital, and may best be left alone, the lamb being specially fed, preferably made a pet lamb of. Thus it may be reared to maturity, and kept in good condition. Sudden straightening of the neck is apt to cause instant death.

AiirüTATioNS are performed on the limbs, ears, and tail. The livihfi are operated on in case of incurable disease of bouos or joints, also for malignant tumour. The digits are the parts most frequently removed, and sometimes a supernumerary digit needs to bo abscised, the severity of the operation varying in degree from an ordinary limb amputation to simple removal of an excrescence having but slight connections with the main skeleton and other limb structures except the skin. Amputation of limbs may be performed in the ordinary way, by either the circular, flap, or oblique operations, and care must be taken to get a good stump.

Amputation of the ear is resorted to in emergency as a means of bleeding the animal, and as a barbarous method of treatment for gid and some other affections of the brain.

Amputation of the tail, or quot;doching,quot; is a great deal a question of fashion. Some breeds, such as the Dorset and the Somerset horned, are left #9632;with the tail long, and sometimes ewes are allowed to retain the appendage for the protection of the genital opening and udder, and to

192

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

keep off tlio fly. It is generally resorted to as a routine sanitary measure, for the organ wheu retained accumulates iilthj and may become so matted down by dried i'ajcal

Fio. 51.Oblique double-flap timpa- Fio. 52.Circular amputafciou of tatiou of sbeep's leg;, a amp; b. Thenbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;sheep's loot,

fore and liiml Haps.

\ .i

FlO. 513.Simple oblique amputation of sliccp's leg, with singlo flap. A. The flap. a. The bone. li. Operation completed.

(These tlirec figures have been obtained from Fleming's 'Operative Veterinary Surgery.')

material in diarrhoea or dysentery as to cause retention of fasces through obstruction, also its dirty state may attract

THE SKELETON AND MÜSCDLAE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;193

the fly. Its removal is considered to increase the beauty of sheep, and to make the hind parts look larger than when it is retained. Sometimes the tail is cut off within a few days after birth, in the female lambs on the first, second, or third day, and in the male when the animal is castrated. Some farmers leave the operation until the third or fourth month, depending on the state of health of the animal and on the weather, for as the tail assists in keeping the animal warm it is considered inadvisable to remove it in cold weather. Several methods are adopted for the amputation : (a) Fleming instructs us to draw the skin as much as possible towards the base and then cut through the part with scissors, [h) Youatt has the lamb held by an assistant with its back pressing against the man's belly and the haunches thus presented to the operator, who with a knife or strong scissors or forceps cuts the tail off at the second or third joint from the rump, a little astringent powder being sprinkled over the part to assist in stopping the bleeding. But if the haemorrhage persists, a ligature must be put round the tail and removed not later than twelve hours after. The incision should be directly at the joint, otherwise a small piece of vertebra will slough away and delay healing. (r) Spooner places the tail on a block of wood and cuts it off with a sharp red-hot iron at about four inches from the root.

HOENS AND THEIR INJURIES AND DISEASES.---The horn of

the sheep is rougher, more curved, and looser in texture than that of the ox, but, like it, is somewhat intermittent in growth, and thus presents transverse rings, which have been used in determining the age of the animal, but not found a very sure guide. Moreover, many sheep have no horns ; they are termed polled sheep or pollards, and now almost all the highest bred sheep are devoid of horns, some of tbein having become pollards during comparatively recent historic periods. It is found that horned rams are fond of lighting^- and unruly among their ewes, and Youatt urges that some of their nutriment goes to support of their horns ; however, they are advantageous in that they often get caught in a hedge

194nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; inSKASES OP THE SHEEP.

where a pollard would get through and escape possibly to among ewes where his presence is not required. Almost all long-woolled and the best of the short-woolled sheep are now hornless. The horns are gradually lost, the horn core becomes undermined by the increase of the temporal fossa for extra attachment of the large temporal muscle, and thus the horn core becomes attached to the rest of the frontal bone only by a periosteal ligamentous baud ; in the next generation this loose horn is entirely lust. These changes may take place with apparent abruptness in the different generations, bnt occun-ence of connecting links shows how they are brought about in development, and that they are not to be attributed to perpetuation of peculiarities of accidental varieties. All unimproved sheep are horned, and in some forms the horns are numerous. Youatt tells us that quot; the Iceland sheep sometimes carry five or six horns. Three or four constitute the original number. Those which grow straight or nearly straight from the head, and which are seldom more thau three and never more than four, are projections or continuations of the frontal bones. Those which curl below the ears . . . either have their base embedded in the skin, or occupy circular cavities in the outer plate of the frontal bone, but do not form a part or portion of it.quot; Youatt also figures and describes the four-horned sheep of Cyprus. To restrain the rage of unruly rams sometimes it used to be the custom to hang in front of the horns a board with shai'p spikes on the surface next the forehead so that the animal hurt himself by butting, or else the boms were pierced near the ears where they wind inwards (Googe).

Malposition of the hoens occasionally occurs, and can sometimes not be distinguished from keratoid growths on the skin. The ' Gentleman's Magazine,' November, 1756, contains an account of a horn 15 lbs. in weight, 2 ft. 7 in. long, and 2 ft. 2 in. in greatest circumference, growing from the throat of a sheep, the natural horns of which were like two small walnut shells in the usual situation. A contribution to the ' Proceedings of the Bombay Natural

THK SKELETON AND MDSCDLAR SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;195

History Society/ vol. ii, will illustrate the bearings of this matter.

Horns of a ram may press upon side of head or neck, and a longitudinal section need to be sawed off inside each and the edges rasped smooth. Ewes' horns sometimes grow into the eyes or sides of face (Randall).

Fracture op the horn in the sheep is not infrequent, and it causes considerable bleeding and inflammation. It is generally nearer the base of the horn than the same lesion in the ox but must be treated in the same way, by means of tar bandage in ordinary cases, and such special means as are rendered necessary by complications.

The MUSCULAR SYSTEM of the sheep is seldom the seat of disorder. Sprains doubtless take place in such countries as Thibet, in consequence of the sheep being used as a beast of burden, but in most parts of the world they only occur from efforts in escaping from men and dogs, or in getting out of bounds as a result of violent struggling and forced leaps. Of joints the fetlock is said to be that most liable to strain, and the injury may be so severe as to cause incurable lameness and interfere with the animal's readiness to fatten.

A cystic larva resembling the pork measle is said to occur in the sheep and to develop into Tasnia tenella in man. Cobbold describes Cysticercus ovis as armed with a double crown of hooks and as having been several times detected by him in joints brought to table ; Kirk observed similar specimens in Africa. It is not common nor known to be pathogenic (Fleming-, 'Vet. San. Sc' vol. ii, p. 549). Zenker found that cysticerci of Taema mediocanellata can be developed in the muscles of a goat (1872). Five weeks after administration of mature proglottides a small portion of muscle removed from the back was found to contain two larvte ; on the twelfth week the goat was killed, and cheesy calcareous deposits were found in its muscular and connective tissues. Walters, in his ' Inspection of Live Cattle and Dead Meat,' shows that besides the anatomical differences indicating sex, the fat of the ram is less firm and clear than that of the wether, and in old rams it has a

plaquo;quot;

196

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

muddy white appearance ; also that the carcass of au old ewe has a light and dry appearance of the flesh, a veuous cougestiou about the fat surrounding the kidneys and aloug the back, and quot;an absence of that blooming redness of the bark on the sides which is distinctive of good mutton. A peculiar drab colour of this bark is characteristic of old sheep.quot;

i'i:'

THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 197

CHAPTER VIII.THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM.

Section I.Male Genital Apparatus.

The testes of the ram arc large and well developed, the penis is small but long, and lias a pointed glans, which bears the peculiar vermiform appendage. This is a prolongation of the corpus spongiosum.

Young rams (shearlings) are considered competent to deal with forty to fifty ewes, older ones are given seventy or eighty, and a case is on record of success with a ram given nine score ewes during the season. Giving too many ewes to a ram results in many of them going empty, in defects of nutrition of the lambs, and in other ill consequences. The time of putting the ram to the ewe varies in accordance with season and when the lambs are required; it is generally in October or November. Care is essential to determine which ewes have been tupped or covered by the ram. The method of raddling is sometimes adopted, i. e. smearing the lower part of the body of the ram overnight with red material, that he may leave a stain on those ewes mounted by him. To make sure of effectual impregnation sometimes a young ram is turned in the pasture with the ewes, and an older one, and generally the latter is removed after three weeks and another ram put in for a time. Ewes which quot; hold quot; cease to follow the ram. With improvement in breeding both male and female sheep attain the age of puberty earlier, but it is a mistake to take advantage of this too much, and fifteen to eighteen months old is considered to be the time when they are sufficiently matured, though some farmers deem it advisable to wait

198

DISEASKS OP THE SHEEP.

longer and others consider younger animals suitable. Ueethritis in old rams from over-copulation is sometimes seen, causing stricture.

Castration.It is the fate of the majority of young males to become converted into wethers, and the time selected for the operation of castration or quot; cutting quot; varies according to the strength of the lamb, the season, and the opinions of the owner or shepherd, some individuals pre-fering early castration and others to leave the festes for some time. Besides depriving the animal of sexual instincts, gelding increases its tendency to fatten, and lessens the tendency to remain quot; raw on the back,quot; promotes early maturity⁷ for slaughter, and improves the quality of the wool. A quot; Practical Farmer,quot; writing to the ' Mark Lane Express,' 14th April, 1864, urges that the lambs selected for the operation be strong, healthy, and not too young ; if the ewe has plenty of milk and the lamb is doing well the operation may be performed from twelve to twenty days after birth, but if the lamb be unthrifty he can be left until the autumn or until he is strong enough. Indeed, it is said that if the whole be left to the spring- they will winter better and grow larger. It is bad practice to yield to the temptation to get all done at once. Sometimes the operation is performed with impunity from one to three days after birth. Moist, cool weather should be selected, but warm or changeable weather, heavy rains, and when cold, bleak winds prevail should be avoided. The usual method of operation is described by the quot; Practical Farmer quot; as follows : an assistant places the back of the lamb upon, or rather in frobt of, his shoulder, with a foreleg and a hind-leg in each hand, and he holds the animal firmly with limbs diverged to enable the operator to get at the purse The latter sees that the parts are all rig-ht for operation and then cuts off the front of the purse, next divides the membrane in front of each testis, then, holding the scrotum with the finger and thumb, he gently presses each testis forward and then with his teeth gradually and slowly draws them separately away. He then carefully opens and examines the purse, puts the flock mark on the ear, shortens

THE GENERATIVK SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;199

Fig. 54.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; BIO. 55.

Pigs. 54, 55, and 56.French castration clamp for lambs, full size (Peuch and Toussaint). Fig. 56 gives another view of the arm of the clamp, the ends marked A corresponding. B. The screw fastener.

laquo;WPlaquo;

200

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

the tail, and puts the lamb out of hand gently, leaving him undisturbed for some hours. There is no need for application of oil to the parts immediately after the operation. Spoouer describes the firing or hot-iron method, which is preferable to the above. The details are pretty much the same, but the operator sits astride on a high stool with

Pia. 57.

Pl9. 58.

Fig. 59.

Fig. 60.

Fro. 57.-Fio. 58.-

#9632;Castvation forceps. -Castration clamps.

Fig. 59.Castration firing iron. Fig. 60.A castration knife.

one of the hind logs of the lamb under each thigh, the fore legs and head being held by an assistant. When the festes emerge he fixes the iron clamp above them both, and removes both at the same time by dividing the cords with a hot iron. Removal of the lower part of the scrotum

THE GENERAT1VK SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;201

is useful to prevent accumulation of pus and decomposing blood (this latter being particularly prejudicial to sheep), but a long incision opposite each testis is adopted by some as less painful, or through one long incision through the scrotum and a second through the septum scroti both tastes are made to emerge. Some carbolic ointment to the surrounding parts is useful to keep off the üy. In cases of hernia Spooncr recommends the covered operation, small slips of elder-wood four inches long being used as clamps ; caustic preferably being put in place of the pith. Instead of quot; drawing quot; the testicles, as pulling them out with the teeth is called, the scraping method should be adopted, a jagged-edged knife sufficing for the purpose. The operation is usually performed in the field where the lambs are sucking. Some time after the operation the flock should be caused to move, and those lambs which cannot follow their ewes must be looked to, the sore parts treated, and the ewe brought to suckle them. Tetanus may cause much fatality after the operation ; it may best be avoided by cleanliness and selection of a favorable time for castrating. The following are the methods adopted for castration of older sheep, with their vulgar names :

(1)nbsp; nbsp;Tying or Lushing.This consists in lashing a cord around the scrotum. Youatt advocates it as the safest method, but it is rather tedious, and if the cord be too slack (as by the knot slipping, or too large a cord being used, or part of the testis having been enclosed in the ligature) much inflammation may set in, and the process prove ineffectual. The elastic cord has been used for this operation, and is preferable to the simple string.

(2)nbsp; nbsp;Trapping is the simple clamp operation, performed by tying two sluts of wood very tightly on either aide of the purse, and so causing sloughing. It is a safe but slow method.

(3)nbsp; nbsp;Burning, or the quot; hot-iron method,quot; is quick but considered to be dangerous. The scrotum may be opened with the hot iron, and each testis should be removed through a separate scrotal orifice, as in castrating a horse.

(4)nbsp; nbsp;Gutting is quick, but considered more dangerous

T**

202

DISEASKS OF THK SHEEP.

than tying or trapping. It is said to leave a larger quot; cod,quot; a point much prized by graziers.

(5) Bistiiurnaye, the French method, is described hy Youatt as follows :quot; The lamb being secured, the operator seizes tlio testicles and pushes them violently upwards

.e jtcoLsr

Kig. 61.A process of emusculiitingranis (PeijCh and Toussaint).

and downwards several times in order to desti'oy their adhesion to their coverings. Having effected this the spermatic cord will be easily felt, and has become considerably elongated. He grasps it between the finger and thumb of his left hand about half an inch from the testicle,

THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;203

and then taking the bottom of the scrotum in his right hand, he turns the testicle, pushing it firmly upwards until he has reversed it, and its inferior exti-emity is uppermost. He now turns the testicle round five or six times until there is great difficulty in proceeding with the operation from the tightness and hardness of the cord. Preventing this testicle from descending or untwisting, he seizes the other and elevates and turns it in the same way, and to remove the possibility of the other descending or untwisting, he ties a piece of waxed cord round the bottom of the scrotum as tightly as he can. The circulation in the testicles is thus entirely cut off, and they speedily wither away. The cord is cut about the second or third day, but the testicles have formed new adhesions above, and descend no more. There is little danger attending this operation, and not a great deal of pain, but there is considerable difficulty in the manipulation, and it requires a great deal of practice to be enabled to perform it adroitly.quot;

(6) Paget describes a system of dividing the cord and envelopes by means of a string passed twice round the scrotum above the festes and tied in a peculiar way more easily done than described. The ends of the cord are then tightened until the tissues give way and the testicles come off. This is almost bloodless, simple and successful ('Veterinary Journal,' 1888). This is practically operation by the ecraseur.

Sterility in rams sometimes results from excessive use of sexual powers, and sometimes from the animal being too fat and too highly fed.

204

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

Section II.The Female Genital Apparatus.

The principal points of interest as regards the anatomy of the sexual organs of the ewe are the absence of canals of Gaertner and the cup shape of the cotyledons.

m'-i

Via. 02.Uterus, oviducts, and ovarm of sheep. /'. Confluence of cornua ; e. Ilomul ligament; g. Cornu ; Ä. Fallopian tube j m. Broad ligament (Owen).

Ewes naturally come in heat in September, but usually the phenomena are shown in summer in improved breeds when the ram is admitted to the flock. The duration of the oestrum is a few days, and recurs only a few times, there being congestion of and weeping from the vulva (Fleming and Wiltshire).

Ewes are to be dealt with gently after they have been with the ram, not to be bullied with dogs, nor over-fed,

I \

THE GENEBATIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;205

especially with turnips, nor over-driven, though daily exercise does them good. They should be kept from the rest of the flock and sheltered from inclemeut weather. The young is carried for five months, an average of 152 days, the experiments of Tessier showing that the range is from 146161 days. Passage of semen to the ovum is said to take four or five days; male lambs are said to be carried longer than females. Southdowns are considered to go 144 days only as a rule, Merinos 150 days. Youatt quotes a case where a lamb was supposed to have been carried for two years and five months, but there was probably some ei'ror in observation. The farmer has a number of matters to consider in determining when his ewes shall yean ; house lambs may be thrown in September or October for the November or December market, but the middle of Mai-ch to the middle of April is the best time, as the weather is then genial and the lambs will come on grazing at a good time. Early lambs are said to be larger and stronger than late ones, but are more liable to the accidents resulting from exposure to cold. When lambs are thrown too late the ewes are late for the butcher, for in some parts it is the custom to fatten all ewes for sale after the third or fourth lamb. Whether or not it is advisable to get rid of breeding ewes at so early an age is questionable. It is certain that ewes will breed for many years longer ; an extreme example is given by Youatt of a ewe which yeaned twins when a shearling and had twins yearly for fifteen years, then one lamb each vear for two years. It is not very uncommon for five lambs to be produced at a birth, and even six have been recorded ; and as examples of prolific ewes we may extract from the records one mentioned by Culley which produced twenty lambs in six years, and an old ewe mentioned by Youatt, which produced four lambs at different periods in twenty-one mouths. It is the custom to breed from domesticated sheep only once in a year. Triplets are not uncommon, but almost invariably one of them must be removed from the ewe, who has quite enough to do to keep two fully supplied with milk. Twins are seldom produced at the first yeaning, but in

#9632;^

(

206

DISEASEf5 OP THE SHEEP.

certain breeds, such as the Dorset, Teeswater, and Southdown, twins are constantly occurring when the conditions of nourishment of the ewe are favorable. An hereditary tendency to free prolification is marked both as acquired from the male or female parent. It is considered a good thing to liave plenty of twins if there is enough food or rich enough pasture to enable the ewe to support them, and failing liberal supply of food a certain proportion of twins is an advantage, as in this way loss of lambs may be atoned for and substitutes provided. Cold weather is liable to be fatal to the lambs, and very hot weather proves an active cause of metritis in the ewes and may be prejudicial to the lambs by providing them early with too luxuriant grass. As the time of parturition approaches the process termed clattiny is resorted to by some shepherds, others practise it just before the ram is admitted to the ewe flock. It consists in removal of the wool from under the tail, inside the thighs, and around the udder, on which parts otherwise dirt may collect and prevent the lamb sucking; also, the lambs are less liable to suck in wool from ewes thus prepared, and the lamber can the more readily detect which ewes have yeaned.

Youatt thus enumerates the instruments and appliances required hy the lamher :a lamb crook ; a bottle of milk, ewe's if possible, and carried in his bosom or inside pocket to keep it warm ; some cords for tying the legs of such ewes as require examination or assistance ; a small pot of tar, with two or three small marking irons to enable him to mark differently each pair of twins, with a view to subsequent recognition ; grease or oil for lubrication of the passages ; instruments, and hand in aiding delivery ; a sharp knife with round or curved extremity for embryo-toiny ; a stout polished iron rod, twelve inches long, of the size of a gooso-quill, shaped like a button-hook at one end, as a crochet; a sheep's drenching-horn ; a small bottle of cordial consisting of equal parts of brandy and nitrous ether; a strong infusion of ergot of rye.

The duties of the lamber are[a) to keep the ewes to their iambs, for some (especially young ewes) are singu-

THE GENEKATIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;207

larly careless, Sfoing away to graze after yeaning, and utterly neglectful of their offspring. On the other hand, many cases of pathetic extreme affection for the lamb are on record; (6) to prevent the lambs of the various ewes getting intermingled, so tliat the ewes cannot find tliem, and go about in a great state of distress, bleating constantly ; (r) to assist those which need aid. This assistance should not be premature nor too hurried ; different ewes occupy different times in delivery, and it has been found that cold weather and exposure protract the process. The indications of need for assistance are thoseof increasing weakness, and especially protrusion of the tongue, with a black colour of the organ. quot; Cuckoo lambs,quot; those born late in April and early in May, are apt to i'equire special attention, as also are cases where twins are simultaneously presented. A large head of the foetus is a frequent cause of impediment, and results from errors in mating the parents, especially from the use of a coarse-headed ram. False presentations are uot very frequent in the sheep, and require simply adoption of those measures which are familiar to the veterinarian as occurring in cow-practice. Lateral, dorsal, breech, and nape-of-the-neck presentations are the most frequent malpresentations, the two latter being most severe. These accidents can almost always be traced to some injury to the ewe due to rough handling in dipping or shearing, or to brutal chasing by a dog ; the latter used to be barbarously resorted to immediately after impregnation to make the ewe quot; hold.quot; Monstrosities of various kindspolymelians,dicephali,amp;c.ai'e sometimes produced by ewes, and need embryotomy for their removal when they cause dystokia ; possibility of their presence should be remembered by the obstetrist. If safely delivered and the little deformity lives, he may be of a certain value as a curiosity, but otherwise is regarded by the practical farmer as worthless.*

* Kxamiiles : (a) I'eroceplwlic cyolops; absence of superior maxilla and nasal bones; a small proboscis, elongation and curvature of inferior maxilla (' Veterinary Journal,' January 1882, p. 4fj). (6) Absence of lower jaw (lb.), (c) Bhinocepbalus cydops j eye and cornea oval with long diameter traus-

208

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

Hermaphrodit ism is not infrequent in lambs, especially when a male and female twin are born. Any irregularity in urination of lambs should attract attention ; the young animal is known as a quot; free martin,quot; i. e. a male born twin with a female, and such lambs are reported to be puny and uot easily fattened. Dead lambs especially require

.- *

-^^SMT-K

Via. 63.Celosomian lamb (Yottatt). 1 and 2. Fore limbs. 3. Tail. 4. Muzzle. 5. Stifle. 0. liuui]). 7. Kibs twisted. 8. Viscera.

Fig. 64.Cyclopean ram (Heuing).

assistance at birth. They should be removed, because if they be retained the ewe seldom does well. Although cases have been known where the presence of a dead fcetus did not seem to interfere with the health and fattening of the ewe, as a rule a ewe carrying a decomposing foetus falls away in condition, and is liable to succumb to marasmus, and a similar state lias been seen to follow retention of

versely ; iris double and the two in contact, pupil in middle of each iris natural ('Veterinary Journal,quot; .June, 1876, p. 442).

gee

THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM.

209

the fcetal membranes. It is the custom for the shepherd to blow into the mouths of apparently dead lambs as a rough system of artificial respiration, and this, supplemented by administration of gin and peppermint, and placing the animal before a fire, constitutes treatment which saves a few. Some farmers are weak enough to give the lambers the skins of dead lambs as a perquisite, others reward the man according to the success of the

Fio. 65.Genital organs of hermaphrodite goat (Lbttckaet). From

' Joum, Vet. Obstet? n. Testes.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; e. Body nf uterus and vagina.

h. Bpididymes and ahdominalnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; /#9632; Uterine comua.

ends of Mullerian ducts.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; //. Fallopian tube'*.

d. Vasa deferentia.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;A. Urethra.

lambings. For dead lambs the ewe lias to be provided with a quot;substitute,quot; of the same age as the one she lias lost in order that her milk may not disagree with the little one. Some difficulty is often experienced in getting her to transfer her affections, and this is sometimes overcome by putting the flayed skin of the dead one over the living, and smearing the blood over its legs, and otherwise disguising it so that when it is introduced during darkness

210

DISEASES OP THE BflBKP,

to tlie ewe she may adopt it in mistake for her lost one. This process may prove fatal to the substitute by suppression of cutaneous exhalation, as elsewhere explained. Embryotomy and the Civsarian operation are practised on

#9632;#9632;

Fig. 66.Goat, full-linn' twins (Colin). a. Cervix.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; E. Amnion.

ii. Left I'ornn. c. lÜLjlit conm. T). Allantoi's.

f. Portions of uterine walls, o. Union of two chorions at

cervix uteri.

the ewe in the usual manner, the incisions in the latter being about five inches long. A successful ease, where the uterus was found adherent to the abdominal wall, may be read in the 'American Veterinary Review⁵ for September, 18H?.. Tlio exhaustion which sometimes follows a

THE 0ENEKAT1VE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;211

'prolonged labour is denoted l)j weakness, unwillingness to risOj coldness of the udder and extremities, bloody serous discluirge from the vulva, swollen and blue state of the vulval mucous membrane,* and panting. Hoven sets in, and general coldness, terminating in convulsions and death.

Lambs are weaned at from three to six months old, according to circumstances; too rapid transition from milk to rich solid diet causes iaundice due to liver con-gostion, which may prove fatal in twelve hours. A lamb thus affected is called a quot;gall lamb.quot; Several abnormalities of importance may occur before the time of parturition. Aboetion is not of so frequent occurrence in ewes as in cows, nor when one ewe aborts are the rest of the pregnant females on the pasture so iipt to follow her example. Tins accident is attributed to various causes, such as deleterious matter in, or nature of, the food [including fog or coai'sc grass ; lieated corn ; mouldy or unripe hay; frosted roots, roots in excess, or mangolds too early in the season before matured in the clamps (Walker)] ; too liberal use of salt in feeding, abuse oi' medicines, attacks of hoven during pregnancy, unwholesome water, frights caused by dogs and otherwise ; violent leaps in attempting to escape ; over-driving or too hasty driving during advanced pregnancy; throwing ewes so as to dress foot-rot, or in markets to examine the state of legs and condition ; overcrowding and being trodden on when travelling by rail or sea ; also morning dew on pastures,, from January to June, is supposed in Spain to produce it. Starvation of ewes in lamb may bring it on, and it has been attributed on moor and mountain laud to excessive intercourse with the ram when gestation is far advanced, but this has not been clearly established as a cause, for such intercourse is generally refused. Axe mentions causes of abortion as follows: (1) long-continued wet weather, (2) excess of roots, (8) foot-rot, (4) inflammations of skin, (5) a wet and slippery state of the ground. When a cold winter

* The external generative opening is comtnonlj known as quot; the beiiring quot; or shape.

212

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

follows a wet summer and autumn abortion is most liable to occur. The animal about to abort is out of sorts, bleats frequently and constantlyj and has an offensive glairy red or yellow discharge from the genital orifice. The lamb is generally born dead, but if born alive soon dies. The occurrence of abortion in a flock indicates the necessity for immediate change of diet and pasture, avoidance of turnips, good nutritious diet gradually increased, extra care, and shelter. Animals which have recently aborted may need a short course of stimulants and tonics and some antiseptic injection into the genital organs ; usually, however, nothing but good nursing and extra care is requisite. Non-admission of dogs to the yeaning yard is one of the most useful means in prevention.

Superfn-tation.A case may be read in the ' Veterinarian' for 1871 where the second impregnation probably took place six weeks before the birth of the first lamb.

Ikversio v. Eetroversio Uteri is a not very rare accident which may result from excessive spasm of the uterus, from great violence in artificial extraction of the lamb, or after very severe labour pains. The organ must be returned if possible after cleansing it from all dirt and foetal membranes, and this replacement will be facilitated by placing the animal on its back and elevating the bind parts. Eetention may be effected by means of a pessary, or the labia majora may be sutured or fastened by a small iron ringquot;, which will not be torn out by the straining of the animal ; or the pi-otruded organ may be amputated freely in the usual way, or so ligatured that it will slough off. The ewe should after recovery be fattened for the butcher. Barnes, of Malpas, relates an interesting case in the 'Veterinarian/ 1871, where the butcher was called to a ewe with prolapsed uterus, but considered the flesh not good, so the veterinary surgeon was then given a chance. He cut off the womb, ligatured the arteries, stitched up the vulva, gave stimulants, and his patient recovered. MacGillivray, of Banff, mentions ante-partnm rupture of the vagina, vide 'Veterinarian ' for 1855, p. 765.

Cox, of Ardwick, has observed Scibehous Os Uteki in

THil GENERATIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 213

tbo ewe (' Veterinarian,' July, 1877) ; Lewis^ of Baruet, in the same journal for 1886, records how lie found dystokia from Torsio Ceevicis Uteri in a ewe. He rolled the animal from left to right some five times, pressing firmly with the finger against the os uteri, and this treatment proved sufficient to undo the twist and facilitate delivery. Paktürient Fever is the name given to a disease which occurs in pregnant ewes shortly before parturition, but its exact nature seems to be obscure, although it is evident that from some cause or other the blood has undergone material alterations. The premonitory symptoms are twitching of the muscles, especially those of the ears and posterior extremities, and refusal of food. Although the patient again takes its food, it remains dull and in a state of semi-stupor for two or three days, when the appetite becomes completely lost, and the animal is weak, staggers as though giddy, the head is pendent, the eyes are partly closed, the state of stupor continues, and a dark discharge takes place from the vagina. Here a crisis occurs, parturition may take place, and then the animal may do well with the exception of shedding the greater part of its wool, otherwise typhoid symptoms supervene, the body is struck with the hind feet, indicative of abdominal pain_/prostration is complete, a dead lamb is born, and the genital discharge is dark in colour and most offensive. Stupor, complete insensibility, and death finish the case. Treatment comprises stimulants, removal of the lamb, smearing the walls of the vagina and os uteri with extract of belladonna and giving saline febrifuges and laxatives. After Inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;birth has taken place antiseptics must be injected into the

jnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;womb. Sedulous nursing must be persisted in throughout

the attack. Our information on this disease is mainly derived from a paper by Isaac Seamen in the ' Journal of the Koyal Agricultural Society,' vol. xv.

Before parturition a form of Inflammation of the Womb, Metko-peeitonitis, occurs and gives rise to all the symptoms of ascites, which are urgent at about one month before the time of lambing. Relief may be afforded by paracentesis abdouiinis, quot; tapping the belly,quot; a very simple

214

DISEASES OP THE SHEET.

operation, or spontaneous recovery may take place, but when the lamb is born it is found to be affected with dropsy of the abdomen, quot; water-bellied,quot; and generally it pines away and dies. Occasionally 1015 per cent, of the ewes in a Houk arc thus affected. On account of the colour of the fluid in the belly this disease has been termed quot; red water,quot; but differs from the specific disorder of the same name. This condition is said to be due to excessive feeding of pregnant ewes on turnips. Another form of inflammation of the womb is that which Sibbold has described as Hystekitis, where the muscular and mucous coats of the uterus are mainly affected but the peritoneum may subsequently be involved. The disease sets in from one to tour days alter parturition when the membranes have been retained, and injury has been indicted on the womb before, during, or after parturition. It is fatal, sometimes 3 per cent, of the yeaning owes in a Hock succumbing to it, and is swift in its progress. Dick says it occurs especially in young ewes, and found that it did not take place until ten or twelve days after parturition. There is fever, as denoted notably by the dry and hot nose, the udder is hot, swollen, and tender, the labia are swollen and red, there is straining, a dark-coloured tlnid is expelled from the uterus,and the animal cringes when pressure is made on the loins. The ewe is restless, du 11, and depressed, she violently rejects the lamb when it attempts to suck, her breathing becomes quick and laboured, and death supervenes in two or three days. Treatment comprises cathartics, saline febrifuges, stimulant tonics, fomentations to the udder and external generative opening, also removal of wool from the belly and stimulation of the parts thus exposed. Prevention is much better than cure, and consists in increased care to avoid injury of the pregnant ewes. The rapid sinking and early loss of strength in this and other uterine disorders is considered to be due to absorption of septic material and pus from the inflamed vessels of the uterus.

At a meeting of the Obstetrical Society of London on 8tli March, 1876, Mr. Jonathan Hutchinsou read a quot; lie-

THE GENKKATIVK SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;215

port on Certain Causes of Death in Ewes during and after Parturition, with notes on the Navel-Ill in Lambs.quot; The results of observations made during three seasons seemed to prove that the death of the foetus before delivery was of far more serious consequence in sheep than in the huinan subject, and also that it was far from an infrequent one; the lamb after death appearing to become a cause of metritis, and ihere being little tendency to its expulsion. When metritis occurred it was apt to run a rapid course, gangrene often ensuing, during which rupture of the walls frequently took place. Peritonitis and pyssmia not unfrequently occurred in connection with metritis. Puerperal metritis and peritonitis, or the consequent pyiemia, seemed to be invariably accidental, so to speak, and not the result of contagion. They occurred in animals treated in the open air, and yet ran a course almost precisely similar to the parallel maladies in the human subject. Ewes, during lactation, seemed liable, by the use of an improper article of food, I. e, cotton-cake, to a sort of idiopathic tetanus, which the same article of food showed no tendency to produce in lambs, hoggets, and undelivered ewes. Lastly, young lambs were liable, quite independently of any known source of contamination, to the occurrence of purulent phlebitis of the umbilical vein, with the consequent phenomena of pyaemia ; a fact which gave strong support to what Mr. Hutchiuson believed to be the true hypothesis of all pyaamia strictly so called.

In the discussion on this paper Dr. Cooper Rose referred to the salutary effects of opium in subduing pain and spasm in sheep. Many owes died after lambing from what was called quot; straining.quot; This ho believed to bo analogous to quot; after-pains,quot; winch, if neglected, led to metritis, exhaustion, and death of the sheep. In 1853 he advised a friend, who had lost several sheep with this symptom, to try two-drachm doses of laudanum in warm gruel every two hours. This had the effect of entirely curing the disease, all the sheep which were subsequently attacked, with one exception, being saved. In order to eliminate all sources of infection,

216

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

he would like to know whether the land had been manured by sewage or artificial manures.

Dr. Playfair said it would be difficult to over-estimate the value of such a paper. It would be well if others were to follow Mr. Hutchinsou's example. His conclusion as to contagion having nothing to do with the disease seemed hardly justified pmlaquo;.laquo;/laquo;laquo;'^ and it would be interesting to know if Mr. Hutchinsou had really eliminated the possibility of the disease having been conveyed to the affected ewes. There were many points that forcibly reminded bim of the epidemics of puerperal fever occasionally occurring in limited localities, or in the practice of one man. In Mr. Hntcliinson's series, the first case of all was clearly a case of antogenetic septicaemia, a piece of placenta being found in utero after death. Was it not possible that the epidemic was started by^T this case, and conveyed to the other ewes by the shepherd, or in some other way ?

Dr Snow Beck, in further illustration of the subject, had brought forward specimens of uteri removed from sheep which had died after lambing. These he had carefully examined under water. They were large, flabby, and nncontracted ; but otherwise all the tissues were perfectly healthy. He had failed to detect any appearance of inflammation, nor were there any coagula in the veins. On laying open the uterus, the inner surface was seen to be covered by a copious, dirty, reddish-yellow, purulent-looking fluid, which when washed away left the surface floccu-lent and shaggy, as is usual. Some of the veins were found to be filled with a fluid similar to that seen on the internal surface of the uterus, but the coats of the veins were healthy. On injecting air into these veins it traversed the sinuses in the walls of the organs, and escaped, by openings previously concealed, at the points where the cotyledons of the placenta had been situated; leadinsr to the conclusion that the fluid from the interior of the uterus had been taken up by these veins, owing to the flabby, uncontractiug condition of the uterine walls, and conveyed into the general circulation in the same

wnawm^

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manner as in the human female after a miscarriage or parturition. The further changes generally found in the human subject were not observed in the ewe, owing to the animal being killed at an eai-ly stage of the affection.

Dr. Wiltshire thought that there might perhaps be something- poisonous in the pastures in which the ewes were grazing, and was struck with the suggestion that Mr. Hutchinson attributed the mortality among his lambing ewes to the use of cotton-cake. In America, and especially among negresses, cotton-root is used as an aborte-facient. The symptoms were markedly tetanic. Was there any elevation of temperature ? Was the saliva of the mother poisonous through nibbling the umbilicus of the lamb in the disease called quot; navel-illquot; as it is in hydrophobia ?

Dr. Aveling thought Mr. Hutchinson's paper very valuable. Ho would remind the Fellows that Harvey, the father of British obstetrics, gained a great deal of his obstetric knowledge from the numerous and accurate observations he made upon generation and parturition in the deer. He thought our knowledge might be extended by studying the parturient processes, puerperal disorders, and diseases of the female generative organs in animals.

Dr. Graily Hewitt said that when attached to the British Lying-in Hospital he had noticed a condition analogous to that spoken of by Mr. Hutchinson as quot; navel-ill.quot; He remembered reading a tract published some years since in which the connection between morbid processes at the navel and icterus of new-born children, with distinct affection of the liver, had been noted.

Mr. Hutchinson inquired whether the patients generally recovered when jaundice was marked or whether they ended fatally with symptoms of pysemia.

The President (Dr. Priestley) inquired whether the young lambs suffering from quot; navel-ill quot; belonged to the ewes affected with tetanus, and whether the lambs themselves showed any symptoms of tetanus. Drs. Osborne and Bland had contributed valuable information to the subject of the diseases and complaints of the lower animals from parturition.

218

DISEASES OF THE SHEEJ?.

quot;

Dr. Eclis thought that in the first year's experience recorded by Mr. Hutcliinson, the suggestion offered itself that the high ratio of difficult labours may have been iuci-dental to the breed; the attempt to obtain large animals by crossing the breed was, in all probability, the true explanation of the mortality. This was a well-recognised fact among sheep-farmers, who were always careful to avoid placing rams of a larger breed with ewes than experience warranted, for this very reason. As to quot; the death of the foetus before delivery being a far more serious occurrence in sheep than in the human subject,quot; this might be explained by the greater apathy among shepherds, owing to their attention being divided among so many, than is the case with medical men who, in addition to special knowledge, individualise their cases, and, where death of the foetns occurs before labour, induce delivery at once before any ill-results from decomposition and putrid infection have had time to take place ; but where this has been neglected septicaemia is by no means infrequent. A case occurring in a dog, illustrating tliese views, was given.

Dr. Braxton Hicks stated that in an epidemic of puerperal fever in Paris the children were affected by peritonitis. It would be interesting to note how far this was in connection with pyfemic origin. There was unquestionably some relation between septicaemia and this condition.

Mr. Hutcliinson, in reply, asked whether, in the epidemics mentioned by Dr. Hicks, any distinct deposits were found in the liver from inflammation of the navel. He was surprised to hear children suffered so. In all his lambs which died of the quot;navel-illquot; pyannic deposits were invariably found in the liver. The lambs affected were not solely from sheep suffering from tetanus. There was no association between the two, as far as he had observed. The tetanus in the ewes was due to the food taken. In one lamb the navel was long and Lad not been nibbled by the ewe. Many of the lambs had not been touched by the shepherd. Dr. Playfair had suggested that the cases were probably those of peritonitis, pyasmia, and metritis, analogous to puerperal fever in the human subject ; that

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the filmst case was autogcuotic ami the others from contagion. The details given showed that any supposition of that soi't was out of the question, the dates showing that the cases occurred at considerable intervals from each other. In several it seemed due to the retention of a dead lamb before delivery. It was puzzling to explain bow one year there were many deaths and another none, lie had no reason to believe the iiillaminations of the uterus had any relation with each other, they seemed to arise of themselves and from independent sources. As regards tetanus he had not seen any case among the lambs, and as to the influence of food he thought this had little to do with it as last winter the ewes were fed on cotton-cake but there were no cases of inflammation. He thought the disproportion between the size of lambs and the maternal passages important.

After this very important discussion Prof. Walley published (' Veterinary Journal,' June, 1876) a valuable lecture on Malignant Partukibnt Fbvee, puerperal fever, milk fever, metroperitouitis, puerperal peritonitis, also vulgarly termed in Scotland quot; inflammation.quot; This he considered a true blood disease, analogous in all its causes to all forms of anthrax ; it is enzootic, and appears much earlier after parturition than true metritis. It must not be confounded with parturient apoplexy or parturient paralysis. It attacks all female animals, but is most frequent in the ewe, taking place generally from three to twenty-four hours after parturition, though sometimes not for three or four days. It is very fatal, lasting three to eight hours, and if the animal lives longer it will most probably recover. Sometimes erysipelatous mammitis occurs conjointly; lambs from affected ewes or which are fostered by them are very liable to joint-ill. The disease does not seem to be contagious ; septicaemia resulting from conveyance of decomposing material by the hand of the lainbor must not be confused with it; isolated cases may arise as a result of decomposition of coagula in the womb. It depends on improper managomeTit of some kind prior to parturition, bad food.

220

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

air, water, or excessive liousing. Among exciting causes may be mentioned parturition, over-driving, excitement, railway travellingquot; before or immediately after parturition, extremes of weatlier (barometrical and tliermometrical), and retention of the placenta.

Symptoms. General signs of ill-health, fever, and metritis ; bowels constijjated or i'elaxed, and afterwards foetid or blood-tinged evacuations with dlarrboea. Abdominal pain, straining, unbcalthy chocolate-coloured, foetid, purulent discharge ejected through the vagina ; coma and delirium precede death..

Autopsy shows the womb corrugated and hard, or flaccid and soft and dark externally ; much purulent matter in its cavity ; cotyledons soft, pulpy and disintegrated or infiltrated with black grumous blood, many having irregularly circumscribed yellow spots on their exterior composed of fat, pus, and mucus cells, also granular matter and Jehris ; blood-vessels surcharged with black coagulated or fluid blood. These lesions are partial or general. The peritoneal co.it is sometimes diseased and sero-sauguiueous and sero-puruleut fluid found in the belly ; ecchymosis of mucous and serous membranes ; muscular coat of womb thickened by effusion of serum; patches of yellow lymph in connective tissue of the broad ligaments ; muscular tissue dark and sometimes black and tarry, unfit for human food; blood dark and coagulated; heart usually filled with dark clot. Flesh eaten by dogs with impunity. No bacteria detected in the blood.

Treatment.Mild laxatives, diuretics (especially turpentine, camphor, and oil of juniper), cinchona and other antiseptics with stimulants and opiates. Sedative enemata, and antiseptic sedative injections into the womb. Mustard and hot cloths externally. Lamb to be taken away, and milk drawn at intervals. Good nursing and tonics.

This lecture of Prof. Walley has been dealt with thus at length both because of its practical importance, and also since it renders evident the want of differentiation in ovine obstetrics between simple inflammation of the womb, septic metritis, and probably also specific uterine derange-

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ment after partarition. Axe, in a report on disease of ewes made to tlie Royal Agricultural Society on March 5tli, 1879, deals with parturient fever as directly associated with preparturient anaemia, and apparently lie considers the two conditions to be forms of the same disorder, which he believes to be non-contagious and non-specific. Among the symptoms noted by him are extreme prostration, paralysis, chorea of limbs ; eyes fixed, retracted, and abducted; opisthotonic or pleurostlionic spasm, and loss of wool. We need much more evidence before the identity of the two diseases under consideration can be accepted as established. Some consider parturition fever a form of septicasimc infection, and that it does not occur without wounds of the genital passages, it being noted that frequently the udder is simultaneously affected. It is suggested that the attendants be frequently changed, that the lamber be not allowed to make post-mortem examinations, that antiseptic solutions be used as a matter of routine in parturition cases, and that carbolic and salicylic acids, alcoholic stimulants, and ammonia salts be given to support the patient; in the earlier stages aconite may be useful, and, if diarrhoea be present, opium.

Yamxitis occurs not uncommonly in ewes, the result of injuries received in forced or difiicalt labour.

After-pains, Beaking-paixs, Parturition Fever (Gam-gee) : prove extremely fatal, the cases sometimes amounting to 20 per cent., it being most prevalent in the South of England, and especially seen in plethoric ewes, well fed all the year round and allowed very rich artificial food near lambing time, and it has been especially attributed to turnip-tops and salted hay. Want of exercise probably has something to do with its production ; thus it occurs in ewes fed on turnips or luxuriant pasture, such as does not necessitate the animal walking about much to obtain a sufficiency. It occurs apparently as an epizootic, affecting the best ewes of the flock, and may follow either easy or difficult labour, but is least frequent after the first lamb. In warm weather the ewes run great risk from this disorder. It is in close pathological relations with metritis.

OQO

DISEASES OP THE STfEEP.

and the lesions of that disorder are found after death, so it probably is a form of uterine congestion; the diseased parts i'un on quickly to gangrene. The symptoms are those of simple metritis, but without so marked fever at first. They occur on the second or third day after yeaning, the animal first being restless, panting, and having a foolish, staring aspect, and neglecting the lamb. High-coloured urine is expelled with severe straining; whether this urine is high-coloured from blood degradation or from contamination by uterine evacuations has been debated, but the latter condition is certainly present, and the former possibly may supplement it. Vulva red and swollen, pain on pressure of the loins, pain and difficulty in moving, followed early by complete loss of power and constant rccumbeucy, dullness of the eyes, and drooping of the cars, show the near approach of death from gangrene or purulent infection. Anodyne enemata and iutra-uterine injections, the latter of small bulk, nntiseptic, and bland in their nature, antiphlogistics, and salines, are usefu] for treatment of this disorder, but early support by diffusible stimulants is absolutely necessary, with a view to prevent sinking of the patient. After this, and all cither severe uterine disorders, any patients which recover should not again be used for breeding purposes, but fattened for the butcher. Moderate diet and exercise for ewes in lamb are the best means of prevention.

Inflammation of the pudenda, or quot;barren,'' is said to be common in the ewe from injuries received in lambing.

Parturition proves to be the critical time in many chronic or subacute progressive disorders of the liver, the result of high feeding and want of exercise, especially in the attempt to prevent the ewes falling victims to rot. These cases resemble blood derangements in their severity and suddenness. Prof. Simonds used to describe them as ELaiMATOZTMOSIS, and attribute tlioin especially to feeding on turnips with green tops. The symptoms present are those of nervous disorder, which evidently arises from blood derangement. Naturally these attacks are confused

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with simple diseasej such as apoplexy^ and with special blood diseases, such as braxy. Interesting records of disorders such as are here alluded to may be read in Spooner's valuable little work ou Sheep, pp. 2(35 and 258 of the 1878 (4th) edition. Young, of Fordoun, reported extensive post-partum fatality of ewes, and pathological examination by Prof. MacFadyean showed fatty infiltration of the liver and kidneys to be the cause. In some cases the symptoms are those of acute rot, but on post-mortem examination no flukes are found in the liver, which organ is moderate in size, firm in consistency, and of a light yellow colour, looking as though it had been boiled. Much, practical experience and no little adroitness and closeness of observation is essential on the part of the agriculturist and shepherd to determine the happy medium between under-feeding and over-feeding, and in regulating hygienic conditions other than dietetic of pregnant ewes in accordance with peculiarities of the season and other special conditions with a view to welfare of both lambs and ewes. Excess of roots is liable to cause abortion and metritis at yeaning time. Corn given to pregnant ewes is open to the objection that they scramble for it, and are kept restless in anticipating it (Walker). It has been remarked by practical men that sound ewes in good order drop the lamb covoied with thick yellow slime, which the ewe proceeds to lick off, and the higher the condition of the ewe the darker and thicker the slime. An excessively watery state of the fluid indicates poverty, but it is a warning that comes rather too late for satisfactory action. We have seen that several important accidents and diseases may occur before parturition, and the practical shepherd will have gauged the condition of his ewes long before he has an opportunity of inspecting the slime on the newly-born lamb. This slime is the liquor amnii it must not be confused with the uterine milk, which can be collected between the maternal and foetal cotyledons which was investigated by Dr. Arthur Gamgee and found to have a sp.gr. of 10811033 and the following chemica] composition :water 88-3091-88, solids 11-708-12, fat 1quot;201-05, albumen (with cells and alkaline albuminate)

224

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

together 9-976-12, salts -45-82. The uterus with its membranes weighed about 3 lbs., and the lamb removed therefrom 9\ ozs.1 lb. 3 ozs. ('Edinburgh Veterinary Review ').

The mammary apparatus of the ewe differs from that of the cow in a few points of anatomical detail, but not essentially.

Masses of sweat-glands yielding a peculiar unctuous secretion are seen on either side of the udder of the ewe between folds of the skin (Gamgee).

Mammitis, or Garget, is a disease of very frequent occurrence, for many causes operate to pi'oduce it. Thus, exposure to wet and cold, especially when the ewes are left out all night on the pastures, moisture and filth in the places where the animals lie down, hardness and dryness of the soil of the pasture, bruises from the head of the sucking lambs, not drawing off the milk properly when weaning, removal of one twin lamb after the other has been accustomed to suck only one side of the udder so that milk accumulates in the undrawn side, and other causes produce it. The disease is not only most frequent, but proves most troublesome and destructive in wet seasons and not rarely is fatal by mortification. It seems sometimes to be due to special influences, and Nocard has observed that a special form of mammitis found in the cow could bo communicated to the goat. Fleming in his paper on the ' Transmissibility of Diphtheria/' read before the Epi-demiological Society, May 31st, 1881, mentions Zurn's observations that suckling ewes were infected from cows with contagious mammitis after lying on the litter or dung from the cowsheds, and their milk killed the lambs. Ho also refers to Rivolta's description of an infectious mammUis in sheep, a form of septic disorder concerning which details are given in the * Giornale di Anat., Fisiol., Patol., degli Animali, 1875.' This disease seems to be distinct from gangrenous mammitis and gangrenous or anthracoid erysipelas. It is a local disorder and frequently fatal. It generally commences in or near one of the teats ; the teat offers a circumscribed cedematous tumefaction with intense

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redness of skin which rapidly becomes changed to grey and then black. Sometimes blood escapes from the teat. The swelling and discoloration gradually extend, and shortly one half of the udder is affected, becoming tuinified, doughy, slightly or not at all sensitive, and dark or black in colour. This condition has a well-marked line of demarcation and sloughing ensues. The disease may extend to the skin of the abdomen. Emaciation and debility set in, and the animal may succumb to septicaemia. The disease is considered contagious, and to attack ewes long kept on a thick bed of litter, but these points are doubtful, liivolta traces it to bacteria which penetrate the teats or tlie skin. This, however, by no means establishes its transmissibility to the sheep, and it is always necessary in study of diseases of the latter animal to remember the probability of simultaneous operation of one cause on many individuals in cases of seemingly a commuiiicablo nature. In France the apparent contagiousness has long been noticed, and a curious notion is prevalent among the shepherds concerning the causation of the disorder which is expressed in the name they give it, mal d'araiguee (spider disease). Mammitis in the ewe in symptoms, progress, and treatment closely resembles the same disease in the cow ; there is the same restlessness and pain when sucked, leading to refusal to permit the young one to obtain its natural nourishment and so reducing it, when neglected, to a state of starvation ; also the same rapid progress in healing or in occurrence of abscess, mortification, or scirrhus. There is a marked tendency to recur. During the attack it may be advisable to keep the lamb on in order that he may drain the sound division of the udder if there be one, but generally the little one must be removed and house-fed, or put on a foster-mother. A ewe which has recovered from garget should be fed up for the butcher, thus following the rule which lias few, if any, exceptions, that sheep which have defects although they may be suitable for quot; Hying quot; stock, are not to be admitted into the quot; breeding quot; stock.

After recovery from disease the ewe generally takes

226nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

some time to quot; blossom,quot; that is to get into a state of evident robust health, and a not uncommon sequela, especially of uterine disorders, is almost complete shedding of the wool. The teats are liable to various disorders, of which a chapped condition is the most frequent. This has already been several times alluded to, especially in connection with aphtha and specific disorders. When the sore parts are in-itiited by dii't, milking, or sucking, a true state of Beithema CnKonica Mammillarum sets in, and requires careful treatment on the lines mentioned by Gramgee, comprising drawing off the milk by teat-tubes or a milking machine, and protecting the teats by a gutta-percha shield, if the young animal lias to suck ; but when the teat is deeply eroded, the lamb must be taken off the ewe, and she must be dried up by putting her on bare pasture and other familiar means, all milk being removed by the milking machine rather than by the hand. A mixture of equal parts of collodion and glycerine is a good application for the wounds in those cases.

Teatt) impervious from various causes are treated in a rough surgical, but effectual, manner by the insertion into them of a red-hot knitting needle to the galactopherous sinus, and then putting the young animal on to suck, whereby an artificial fistula is established. It is said the process is not very painful to the ewe, but sometimes she will refuse to allow the lamb to suck, and then the pervious-ness of the passage must be maintained by frequent and careful withdrawal of the milk by hand. Accumulation of milk in the udder causes pain and interferes with fattening, therefore great care should be exercised in quot; drying up quot; ewes when weaning the lambs. Ewe's milk is oily, and gives much butter, heading the list among milks of domestic animals in this respect; it is second in place as regards cheese, and lowest as regards sugar and whey. The butter given is oily and soon becomes rancid. The following- are the percentage results of analysis :water 85^,62 ; solids 14quot;38, comprising caseine 4*50, butter 4-20, sugar 5^-00, and salts 0quot;G8. Feeding on mangolds deteriorates the milk. Spaying or Ovaeiotojmy is an operation which has not

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found mucli favour as applied to ewes. Youatt describes the operation as follows, apparently after Daubenton (' Instructions to Shepherds ') :At the age of six weeks the ovaries are grown sufficiently large to be easily felt, and that is the time usually selected for the spaying, being immediately after the first formal examination of the flock. The lamb is laid on her right side, near the edge of a table, with her head hanging down by the side of the table ; an assistant stretches out the left hind leg of the animal, and holds it in that situation, with his left hand grasping the shank ; and in default of a second assistant, he also holds the two forelegs and the other hind leg with his right hand. The lamb being thus disposed, the operator, tightening the skin of the part, makes an incision of an inch and a half in length midway between the top of the haunch and the navel, and penetrating through the skin ; another incision divides the muscles of the belly and the peritoneum. A careful operator will perhaps make three incisions, the first through the skin, the second through the abdominal muscles, and the third through the peritoneum. He then introduces his forefinger into the abdominal cavity in search of the left ovary, which is immediately underneath the incision, and having found it he draws it gently out. The two broad ligaments and the womb and the right ovary protrude at the same time. The operator cuts off the two ovaries and returns the womb and its dependencies ; he then closes the wound by means of two or three stitches through the skin, carefully avoiding the abdominal muscles below, and last of all, he rubs a little oil on the wound, or he does nothing more, but releases his patient.

The operation is mentioned by Youatt as almost confined to Great Britain and Italy, and he suggests that a number of ewes might be spayed when in full milk, when possibly, like a cow thus operated on, the ewe may continually produce milk, and so be available at all times as a foster mother. Youatt's suggestion had no practical basis on experiment, and does not seem to have ever been acted on.

I-

228

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

CHAPTER IX.THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.

The nervous system of the sheep is not highly deve-lopeilj either anatomically or physiologically, as compared with that of the horse or dog, hut compares very well with that of the ox, the encephalou being 7 Äiyth part of the weight of the animal, whereas that of the ox is only ^g-th part of its weight ; the brain mass is also longer and broader, but the cerebrum overlaps the cerebellum less. The convolutions ui' the brain are fairly marked and numerous. There are not wanting traits and instances of sheep and goats showing fairly good memories, skill in defence, shrewdness in defending the young, and maternal affection, as well as courage, comradeship, and even low powers of reasoning. In pet lambs and sheep well cared for and receiving individual attention, the faculties get some chance of development and of manifestation, but in the dull round of ordinary sheep-life, comprised of feeding, folding, breeding, shearing, washing, smearing, dipping, journeying, and suffering from disease together with others of the flock, it is no wonder if each individual settle down to the dreariest uniformity, and seems foolish and stupid when moved out of his routine. The skull is peculiarly arched downwards, as may best be seen in longitudinal section ; and whereby the axis of the posterior part meets that of the anterior part at an oblique angle open below, this anatomical feature to an extent influences the surgery of the skull. It is associated with the outgrowths of the horn cores in some animals, and the size of the frontal sinuses for defensive purposes. The frontals become so prominent that a strong ridge connecting the horns is present, and the parietals and occipital seem small and well behind and rather below this ridge. The skull bones are

L _

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sutured together in a beautiful manner and early become fused. Simplicity of development implies comparative freedom from diseasej and the derangements which have been placed on record as affecting the nervous system of the sheep are not numerous, and they affect the cerebro-spinal system only, the ganglionic not having been observed to be diseased. The cerebellum is to the whole brain mass in the sheep as 1 to 3, whereas in the ox and dog the proportion is 1 to 7. Frenzy, Encephalitis, is seen as a sequela of operation for the removal of gid, of cranial fractures, and of apoplexy ; it also may result from the action of some poisonous substances ingested by the animal, or be associated with food of a too stimulating nature or in excess, as turnips after dry and insufficient feed in an outbreak recorded by Tait (' Veterinarian,' vol. viii, p. 611). Eye-grass tops is apt to cause the disease, especially when over-ripe, probably due to development of a narcotic principle in it (Dick). Severe exertion (as in over-driving), hot weather, plethora, and a warm close atmosphere, are predisposing influences. The disease is seen most frequently in lambs. Occasionally the cerebral hemisphere only is diseased, as in Youatt's case of abscess containing grey pus situated in the centre of one of the cerebral lobes of a sheep presumably slaughtered in the ordinary course of things. Generally, however, the attack is one of true encephalitis, all the cranial strncturos being involved. There is first a congestive stage, when the symptoms are those of stupor, the animal being dull, heavy, and unwilling to move, and the visible mucous membranes markedly congested, and the eyes prominent. This is rapidly succeeded by more active symptoms, which vary somewhat in the form they assume according to the case. Lambs are generally more frolicsome and ridiculous than usual, and jump about constantly. Adults may all at once spring from the ground and fall dead, or the attack is more prolonged and the periods of excitement alternated with short quiescent intervals. During the furious periods the animal pants violently, its eyes are bright and prominent, it gallops about with tail up constantly, and

230

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

attacks without judgmeut men, other sheep, or inanimate objects, or may dash itself on the ground. Strong thirst is present. In such a severe affection the treatment must be correspondingly prompt, blood must be extracted freely, and then a full cathartic dose given and the

FlG. 67.Diagrammatic representation of arteries at base of brain of sheep, showing the rete mirahile major (16), and the rete minor (lO), the other numbers refer to the main internal carotid and its brandies, and may be studied in Chauvcan's ' Anatomy,' from which tins woodcut is taken.

patient prevented from injuring himself and other sheep. In valuable animals the influence of the bromide of potassium or of the pure sedatives may be tried, but nar-

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cotics must be avoided. After death the lungs will be found congested, and the brain vessels much distended, and perhaps their walls have given way : a condition to which the sheep is said to be more liable than either the horse or the ox. A curious instance is recorded of where lambs thus affected were supposed by country people to be possessed by the devil, and one of the poor creatures was burned alive to drive out the fiend (Lawrence). Pining and ultimately death, also recurrence of attack, may be mentioned as sequelse.

Epilepsy is not unfrequent, especially in young sheep, owing to sudden changes of pasture and neglect or mismanagement, such as not folding during the night, or turning the flock out too early while hoar frost is yet on the ground. Thus it is observed most in the early spring or late autumn, and especially among sheep which are thriving well and in good condition. Special pasturage and certain peculiar states of the feed on it sometimes cause this disease to assume an enzootic or even epizootic form, as recorded by Tessier, who informs us that in some parts of France sheep-farming had to be given up on this account. The disease shows the ordinary suddenness of attack denoted by cessation of grazing, looking round stupidly, staggering, running round a few times, then falling, struggling in a state of convulsions, rising in a dazed condition, and getting up again and going on feeding as though nothing had happened. Treatment comprises improved hygiene, for the necessity of which occurrence of epilepsy is an indication, slaughter of animals liable to attack, and not breeding from epileptics. Some nursing and diffusible stimulants may be needed for individual cases, but the dog must not be set at the sufferer to drive the fit away, as is sometimes brutally done.

Cerebral Apoplexy is very frequent and fatal among high-class sheep brought into show condition of plethora. It occurs especially in hot weather and on rich pastures, or as an effect of over-driving. On long journeys by rail or in close show-yards it may suddenly carry off many animals. Youatt explains its greater prevalence in the

232

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

sheep tliaii in the ox by less perfect heat-regulating power of the skin in the former animal, and Ins being more forced in feeding. The anatomical arrangement of the arteries at the base of the sheep's brain has interest in this connection; vide Figure 67, on page 230.

Symptoms.An animal which lias not been noticed to be out of sorts may stagger, fall, struggle, and die, all being over within a quarter of an hour. But if the sheep has been carefully observed, some warning signs may be detected, such as refusal of feed, the animal being off its cud and heavy in appearance, the conjunctivas congested, and the flanks beating frequently. If such signs be noted the sheep should at once be bled freely from the jugular, as blood does not come away in sufficient amount nor readily enough from the angular vein. The animal should be removed at once to less luxurious or oppressive conditions, given a purge and put on scanty pasture and gradually lessened daily amounts of artificial foods. In the actual attack the pulse is full, the respiration stertorous, and nostrils dilated, the eyes amaurotic and fixed, the animal being quite blind and unconsciously stumbling over everything in his way ; or he probably stands persistently in one spot, and when attempts are made to move him he falls and dies. Finally his legs give way, and ho falls and dies quietly. It is a good rule to follow that if one or two sheep die in the flock at the beginning of siiramor the rest should be bled and purged. Clover pasture is reputed dangerous as giving rise to this disorder, but no confusion in diagnosis must be made between apoplexy and the fatal acute attacks of liver congestion or blood disorders, such as are very apt to occur under like conditions and with sudden death of the most forward of the flock. Inflammation of the brain may supervene in those sheep which recover from the immediate shock of apoplexy.

HvDKOCEPriALUs is by no means uncommon in the lamb. When it is congenital it may endanger the ewe and give rise to difficulty iia parturition, necessitating puncture of the skull; or it may be a cause of paralytic symptoms.

#9632;

THE NKRVOCS SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 233

nntliriftiness, and death of the lamb within a couple of

months after birth. Hydrocephalic lambs are generally annbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;J

indication of errors in breeding, such as in-and-in breeding,

and use of predisposed ewes or rams ; it also may result

from imperfect or insufficient feeding of the pregnant

ewes.

Symptoin.i.Stupidity of the young animal in look or action or both, manifest increase in size of the cranium,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;j

dulness and disinclination to move, staggering gait with the head carried a little to one side, bowels and appetite abnormal and irregular. After death, even though the skull may have been but little enlarged considerable accumulation of fluid may be found and the brain substance correspondingly diminished in amount; thus the ventricles may be much distended, and the cerebral hemispheres very thin. Generally the bony walls are thin, and the sutures gaping, and nature has attempted to close themnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; j

by development of numerous Wormian bones.

Treatment.By good milk, good air and exercise, and stimulant tonics the lamb may in time be made fit for slaughter, but he is not generally worth the requisite and essential expenditure of care and tonics. The practical lesson to be learned from occurrence of several cases of hydrocephalus in a flock is to correct the breeding and general management.

Sturdy, Hydatido-cki'iialüs, (Jid, Goggles, Turn, Bloh-whirl, TnrnsirJc, Giddiness, Punt, Hydatid on the Brain, Tanrnift (Fr.), is one of the most interesting and important of all the disorders which affect ovines. It has been known from ancient times, has been the subject of much superstition and ignorant theory and practice, and in certain seasons may be a source of loss of one third oF a Hock (35 percent., Eds., ^f Veterinarian,' 1871). It is said to be less frequent than formerly, but perhaps this is due to an extent to some increase in differential diagnosis and general knowledge of sheep diseases. Its geographical range is limited only by distribution of the sheep ; its local pi-eva-lence depends a great deal on the methods of sheep management and the extent of use of dogs ; thus on en-

234

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

closed farms, where fewer dogs are requiredj it prevails less than on open moors. It is well known and dreaded in Australia, and on the continent of Europe it is more frequent than in Great Britain. Thus it was estimated, as mentioned by Youatt, that in France a million sheep died from it annually ; and Gasparin puts the losses in Germany per thousand at fifteen in the first year of life (from eight to twelve months being the most critical time), five in the second year, two in the third year, and one in the fourth. The disease is seen in the winter and early months of spring, especially when the former season has proved severe and the latter is cold and wet. The symptoms are specially frequent in weakly lambs, but it is probable that the poverty in condition resulted from the presence and growth of the gid parasite. The disorder has been described as hereditary, but this erroneous idea has arisen from confused diagnosis between hydatid and dropsy of the brain j even the correctness of statement that gid is congenital is doubtful, although it is well-known that (as in some cases described by Drew of Abingdon, in ' Veterinarian,' 1871) very young lambs may be invaded. Simonds and Cobbold by their experiments in 1865 showed that it is about two months from the time of ingestion of tapeworm eggs to when the hydatids have become sufficiently developed in lambs to lead to manifestation of gid symptoms; they also reared Tsenia cSBnurus in the dog by feeding him on hydatids from a sheep's brain.

Symptoms.The animal is dull, and his behaviour shows he is out of sorts; his natural gambols cease, and grazing, rumination, and movements are performed in a listless, imperfect, and semi-conscious manner. The patient keeps apart from the flock, and walks in an uncertain staggering manner, or stands looking at water in a ditch or brook until he becomes giddy and suddenly falls in. Another symptom of a marked character which has been noticed is sudden cessation of grazing, looking wildly about as though frightened, and galloping away at full speed over the field. Williams distinguishes between the early sym-

: !^:gt;

Fia. 68.

THE NBEVODS SYSTEM.

Fio. 69.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Fig. 70.

235

Fig. 71.

Fia. 72.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Fig. 73.

Fig. 74.

Fig. 75.

(2^3copy;

Fig. 76.

Pig. 77-

.'#9632;*.

Fig. 68.Phase of development of coenurus (Van Beneden).' E. V. E..'

Fig. 69.T. coenurtis hooks.' Edinburgh Veterinary Review,' vol. i.

Fig. 70. T. serraia.' E. V. R.,' vol. i.

Fig. 71.A young coenurus before acquiring books (Lettckaet).' E.V. R.'

Fig. 72.Four beads of coenurus (after Leuckart).' E. V. R.'

Fig. 73.Phases of development of coenurus (after Van Beneden.) ' E. V. R.'

Fig. 74.Free scolex of ccenurus.' E. V. R.'

Fig. 75.Proscolex of coenurus with some inverted and some protruded sco-lices (after Van Bbnedbn).'E. V. R.,' vol. i.

Fig. 76.Ditto, same source.

Fig. 77-Brain of sheep with coenurus in posterior part of right hemisphere (Cobbold).

230

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

Fto. 78.

Fig. 79.

Fig. 80.

Fig. 81.

1raquo; I

Fig. 78. Brain of slieop with four ccennri simultaneously ((quot;or.noLD).

Fig. 70. Canurus cerehraUs. N^nmeronsspecimens in onecase (lt;1amoke). ' F. V. R.,' vol. i.

Fio. 80. Civnwua cerehralis on cerebellum (after Gamgi:k).- ' E. V. 11.' vol. i.

Fig. 81.Arnold's sturdy instrument case.

I i

THE NKKVOÜS .SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 237

ptoms of congestion and inflaminiition of the brain (which occur when invasion of the brain by the embryo occurs, which are followed, by apparent return to health while the cyst is gradually increasing in size and causing absorption of brain tissue) and those of the more advauced stages of the disorder, when, as suggested by Davaine, the Cwnurus cerebraUs, the many-headed hydatid, protrudes from its surface many armed heads, and causes irritation of brain tissue. Before active brain symptoms have set in, the lamb has fallen away in flesh and become weak ; with progress of the attach this condition becomes aggravated, and the animal ceases to feed and ruminate, both because the appetite is lost, and the patient is unable to graze on account of debility, forced movements, and blindness. The blindness is the result of pressure on the optic nerve, and may affect one or both eyes ; it is markedly indicated by amaurosis, which gives the sheep a special haggard appearance, such as has been taken as distinctive of gid, but may occasionally be found in other disorders affecting the visual apparatus. The peculiar movements found in sheep affected with this disease vary according to the number and position of the hydatids. Huzzard recorded the presence of as many as thirty cysts in one case ; Dick informs us that the disease recurs in one case out of three recoveries, which may be due to a refilling o[^r the cyst after operation, but much more often depends on maturation of a second cyst on removal of the one which first gave trouble. Further, occasionally successful puncture, and even complete removal of the cyst, may not result in cure in consequence of one or more of the parasites remaining. One or both hemispheres may be invaded, or the parasite be between the brain and pia mater, in one of the ventricles, or in the cerebellum. Cases are on record of its producing paralysis by invasion of the spinal cord. The favourite position seems to bo the great longitudinal fissure and the cerebral hemisphere where it is most accessible for operation. The head is in some cases drawn to one side, and rotatory movement towards that side gradually sets in. At first it is only sufficient to interfere with proper

1 1

238

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

grazing, but soon the rotation becomes almost constant, and may continue until the animal falls and struggles on the ground till at length he can scramble up and recommence the monotonous movement. Fortunately the poor creature is unconscious all the time. He at last dies from emaciation and exhaustion, or from injuries resulting from falling over a cliff, or is drowned in a. pond, brook, or ditch. Growth of a hydatid on the surface of the brain not un-frequently causes gradual thinning of the walls of the skull where it exerts pressure, and it is not uncommon in careful examination of gid cases to be able to detect a yielding süot, usually a little anterior to the root of the horn and rather near the central line. Williams mentions spontaneous cure by bursting of the hydatid through the skull and skin as a possible but rare occurrence ; it is certainly one which we have not found recorded. The relations of position of the hydatid to the movements exhibited by the animal are most interesting, not only from a practical point of view as directing to the seat of operation, but also as bearing on the question of cerebral localisation.* Youatt tells us, quoting from the 'Journal de Med. Vet. Theorique ' for T883, that quot; if the head is held constantly on one side, and the concentric circles are always formed in that direction, the cyst will be found on the depressed side, and probably in the lateral ventricle. If the head is sometimes held on one side and sometimes on the other, and the circles are occasionally in one direction and then in the contrary one, there is a hydatid on each side of the head and probably in the ventricles. If the sheep marches straightforward with his head depressed, running against everything in his way and continually falling, it is likely that the parasite occupies the middle scissure of the brain and is attached to the corpus callo-sum. In a few Ciises the muzzle will be elevated and the head thrown back, the animal still pursuing its straightforward course, except that there will be a reeling motion sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left like a

* There is a most interesting paper on this subject in the ' Journal of Aiiiitomj' and Physiology' for 187980.

THE NEBVOÜS SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;239

boat at sea; the intruder then inhabits the cerebellum or the fourth ventricle.quot; When more cysts than one are present, the indications during life are obscure and no operation would be of service. The French divide sheep affected with gid into turners, trotters, and sailors, accord-iug to their mode of motion. Williams agrees in the main with the above, but states that when the parasite is between the hemispheres the animal steps higher (probably as being blind) and carries his head up, and he sometimes becomes deaf as well as blind.

When the cajnurus occurs on the spinal cord ur crura cerebri or medulla oblongata, it gives rise to paralysis, and when this symptom is combined with blindness it is probable that the hydatid is at the base of the brain.

Pathology.The first crude ideas as to the nature of this affection were that it depended on poisonous plants picked up in wet and moorish districts or badly drained pastures, where it had been observed to occur, though seldom seen ou dry uplands. The exemption to a marked degree of sheep over two years old was considered due to their being old enough to know what food would poison them and what not. Pastures after hoar frosts were supposed to specially give rise to it. Soon it was observed that there were collections of fluid in the cranium, then it was thought enough to say that the disease was serous apoplexy or a form of hydrocephalus. Hogg was under the impression that the fluid became squeezed into the cranium from the spinal canal, and Price found a cause for this in the lamb not being docked early enough! Others thought the collection of fluid due to blows on the head from the shepherd or received in fighting. Such crude ideas gave way when careful anatomical examination of the brain was made. One or many hydatid cysts were found in each case, varying in size from a pigeon's egg to a hen's egg, and in situation ns already described. Each cyst was observed to consist of a wall of two or three layers, one muscular, causing a peculiar vibration of the cyst on firstextrac-tion, and consisting of fibres crossing one another at right angles like the wires of a sieve, and contracting ou exposure

240nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

in laquo;ucli a way tliat if the cyst be punctured its contents will squirt out to a distance. The inner membrane is softer and seroidj and inwards from the cyst project a number of headsj which seem from the exterior like white spots. The contained fluid is pellucid or turbid, and attached to the wall, or free, are minute tapeworm heads, each bearing a circlet of hooks and four suckers, each capable when the K,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;cyst is eaten by a dog of developing into a full-grown

, #9658;

Tmnia vH'.nnrus. These small tapeworms are very active.

|nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; The life history of the parasite is simple and well known.

The adult ttenia is harboured by dogs and foxes, and in due course its segments and their ova are expelled on pastures, with the grass of which they are taken into the stomach of the sheep after various adventures in the method of diffusion similar to those of other ova of parasites. In the stomach the eggs are hatched and the embryos find their way by

means of a boring apparatus into the circulatory canals,

and in the round of the circulation they pass to the brain or spinal cord, where they take up their abode and develop into the cystic organism. We are not quite sure whether the six-hooked embryos are able to travel far through the tissues by boring after escape from the blood-vessels ; probably many of them are lost. The greater penetrability of the tissues of the young animal explains the more frequent occurrence of gid in lambs than in adult sheep.

Differential diagnosis in cases of gid consists in determining the absence of apoplexy, rabies, phrenitis, and certain forms of anthrax, which diseases, being acute in character and generally accompanied by systemic disturbances, can easily be distinguished.

Treatment,We are fairly well assured concerning the details of life-history of the gid parasite, and so are in a position to recommend rational measures of cure, although they cannot effectually and fully be carried into practice. Yet in this, as in other instances of the necessity for prophylactic action on a large scale, it must be remembered that each parasite destroyed is a gain, as it contributes to general extermination of the race of Tamia cenurua. Not only so, but each hydatid burned is thousands of future

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 241

possible tapeworms destroyed, aud each Txnia cienurus expelled in an unsuitable locality or destroyed involves the failure iu life of innumerable individuals yet in the ovum stage. Thus theory tells us to keep our sporting and sheep-dogs (the latter especially), free from teenia by a dose of male feru or areca nut administered every now and then ; to keep our sheep on enclosed lands and away from places where there is a public right of way, and from commons and moors. Further, those parts containing the parasite of lambs and older sheep which die from gid should be burned and not given to dogs. We must remember that such cysts are also found in cattle, and are not uncommon in hares and rabbits, and it is even said that they may develop in situations other than the cerebro-spinal canal.* They have been seen in man and in the camel. As the taänia occurs in foxes, and probably also in wolves and other canines not yet domesticated, it is evidently not possible to entirely exterminate the gid organism, even if general action on the part of sheep-owners and butchers could be secured. It is satisfactory to know, therefore, that experience on the Continent is to the effect that housing lambs during the first year of their lives has sufficed as a preventive, and, further, that with improved general care of sheep the disease decidedly lessens in frequency. Shelter for lambs also is highly beneficial iu this as in other respects, and it has been specially remarked that gid attacks are more frequent in animals exposed to rough and tempestuous weather, which throws increased strain on the nervous system aud tends to increase the debility found in these cases. As it is probable that in a flock of lambs a number have been simultaneously invaded, it is advisable when one or more cases of gid occur to quickly fatten the rest and sell off to the butcher on occurrence of the slightest indication of sturdy in any one individual lamb ; the flesh is not at all unsuited for human food, and there is an impression that it is sweeter than other lamb.

The question of slaughter generally arises as soon as the

* Leuckart tells us that Bichler found cranuri in the suhcutaneous tissue of the sheep.

242

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

laquo;

animal is attacked, aud as a rale the butcher receives the carcass, which is in tolerably fair order. Even when treatment has been successfully adopted, the liability to growth of fresh cysts, to filling up of the old cyst after puncture, and to other unsatisfactory sequelae must be remembered, and it will generally be decided to fatten up the lamb and sell him to the butcher. Various prophylactic measures of treatment have been from time to time put in force with more or less beneficial results. Mercurials administered internally are useless ; tonics, and especially salt, may be of benefit as lessening debility ; rowels, setous, blisters, and mild firing over the skull are of little benefit j heavy firing over the skull may excite so severe inflammation as to involve the dura mater aud. so prove fatal to the cyst in the cranium. None of these methods has proved so effectual as to secure its general adoption. As regards interception of the parasite en route from the digestive to the central nervous structures, this seems hardly practicable ; at any rate, no satisfactory method has yet been devised. The only treatment which has been successfully carried out has been surgical, though lately Hartenstein obtained good results by continuous application of ice-bags to the head. Shepherds observed that rough treatment sometimes cured the patient; they used to cut off the external ears pretty close to the head, and one out of twenty patients thus treated are said to have recovered, the good effect being attributed to the bleeding which resulted. Parkinson observed immediate recovery in the case of a sheep which had beeu caught by the ears and twirled round several times, so he recommends as very effectual the practice of prolonged and forcible pulling of the ears. Others set their dogs at the unfortunate sheep to worry him until he fell down some declivity, when, if he did not break his neck, he was sometimes found to have benefited. These methods probably sometimes acted by causing the cyst to become burst and its contents evacuated and absorbed. Then came Hoyg's celebrated operation of quot; wiring;quot; he conceived the happy inspiration of quot; probing a knitting-needle up the nostril to the very brain.quot;

THE XERVOÜS SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 243

But he must describe his own method. quot; The operator must feel for the pai't of the skull that is soft and lay his thumb flat and firm upon it ; then taking the wire in his right hand, he must push it up the nostril that points most directly towards the place that is soft, where the disease is seated ; and if he feel the point of the wire below his thumb he may rest assured that the bag is perforated, and that if the brain does not inflame the sheep will be better. The bladder being thus pierced on the lower side the liquid continues to drip through the hole as long as any remains, and even as fast as it gathers ; so that the perforation has no opportunity to grow up or close again until the animal is quite-better.quot; Certainly a very remarkable operation for a Bliepherd to invent, and it seems to have proved very successful in his hands through careful selection of cases and skill in performance. Later it has been suggested to operate when external softening is not perceptible, guided by the peculiarity in behaviour of the animal as to the best seat of operation. Also to use a trochar and cannula instead of a knitting-needle. The cannula must be long enough to extend from the nostril to the inner cranial wall behind the horn, being passed through the nasal chamber between the turbinal structures, through the ethmoid cells and cribriform plate, and so into the cranium. A blunt-pointed instrument is used in the cannula while it is passing through the nasal passage, and then for perforation of the bony cells and plate a sharp trochar is substituted for the probe and some force is required. Yonatt's figure is an excellent one for guidance, and his remarks on the operation are very much to the point. He tells us the sharp instrument will perform the actual perforation with less pain and injury than the blunt one, and that no severe bleeding is likely to follow. Yet, quot; it was not always that he could hit at once the plate of the ethmoid bone and enter the skull; for it did not present itself precisely as in the horse or ox. He did not find it so easy a matter as it seems to have been to Mr. Hogg; and when he had perforated it, he might reach a hydatid on the superior part of the brain,

244

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

0 ,raquo;

but uot deep in its surface, and assuredly not in the cerebellum.quot; This being the result of the cranial axis and that of the face not being parallel. Evidently when the hydatid is considered to be in the substance of the hemisphere, the cribriform plate should be perforated as high as possible, and when in the ventricle as low as possible. Death under the operatioa, phrenitis as a sequela, and absence of favorable result, also liability to recurrence of the disease, render this paracentesis cranii through the nose not altogether satisfactory. It is probable that in the cases such as Hogg selected for operation the fatality and risks may be lessened by the more refined method of trephining, or opening the cranium surgically when the skull bones have become absorbed by pressure from the hydatid. Yvart of Alfort (quoted by Youatt) recommends puncture of the hydatid three or four times, with intervals of two days between each puncture. This may be done over the softened spot of the skull by means of a trochar and cannula, or even by a gimlet. The sheep is placed on his back during the operation to allow the fluid to freely flow off, and to the trochar was adapted a small syringe to draw off the fluid, and even the hydatid in some cases. To the trephining operation are raised the objections that air will be admitted extensively into the cranial cavity, but this can be obviated by antiseptic precautions under which no serious inflammation is likely to ensue. It has further been considered that complete removal of the cyst will suddenly alter the intracranial pressure and disturb the balance of the circulation in the cranial cavity. This seems a feasible objection and a difficult one to meet, especially since, as in a case recorded in the ' Lancet' for 183031, vol. i, p. 763, the cyst may occupy practically the whole interior of the skull. In this case after division of the dura mater, Mr. Stephens, the operator, found that the hydatid partly protruded, and bi-oke when he attempted to extract it whole. However, he succeeded in getting it out, and then looked into the large empty cavity remaining, and explored it by letting a wax light down into it. The sheep which had received these elaborate and unprece-

THE NEIiVOUS SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 245

dented attentions got up and fed after the hole had been closed, but on the fourth day died. Autopsy showed a little only of the brain at its base was remaining, and a few remnants at the sides forming an imperfect shell of cerebral substance, and several other hydatids were present. The actual details of operation in trephining present nothing special. The soft spot on the skull is selected as the site, and this is, as we have seen, most frequently just in front of the root of the horn or, in hornless breeds, of the part of the skull corresponding to the horn core. It has been suggested to not completely remove the portion of bone elevated by the trephine, but to use it for closing the opening, care being taken not to separate it from its membranes. No benefit can, however, result from this precaution, and the soft tissues, supplemented by antiseptic and adhesive applications, willsufficeto close the opening effectually ; a leathern cap may subsequently be worn for a time. Insertion of salicylic acid in the cyst cavity has been resorted to, it is said with benefit. It will be evident from the foregoing that although operative removal or destruction of the parasite of gid is not to be despised or neglected, the interests of the farmer lie specially in satisfactory and well-directed prevention, or on that proving insufficient, in efficient supervision of the flock, whereby cases of gid may be taken in time and the lamb disposed of profitably, or with a minimum of loss, to the butcher. It is curious how in some minds different diseases of sheep are confused. Thus, one writer, doubtless misled by^T good results obtained against the fhy, recommends in good faith smearing tar over the face as an. infallible preventive of sturdy.

Fkactubes of the Ceaxidm in the sheep are sometimes seen as a result of falls, blows, and fighting. They present no special features, but must be treated after the usual manner of such accidents, the superior portion of the skull and its base being the most frequent seat of lesion. Immediate death, or signs of brain pressure and subsequent phrcnitis, are results of such fractures.

246

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

,raquo;

Loü ping-ill,* Thwarter-ill, Thorter-ill, Tremblings, Chorea Paralyflca Ovis, Mad Staggers {Dick), Maladie Tremhlante (Fr.), Traber Krankheit (Grer.), are terms applied to a remarkable form of nervous disorder of specially frequent occurrence in Scotland and notably the Silurian districts extending from the Hebrides to the southern extremity of Dumfries-shire, being found in the southern parts of this area from the middle of April till the end of June, and very occasionally in autumn, and in the island of Skye in two outbreaks, in the early summer, and in autumn from September to the middle of October respectively (Prof. Brown). The great losses resulting from this disease, and the obscurity of its pathology, have resulted in a considerable amount of practical and theoretical research into its nature, especially under the auspices of the Highland and Agricultural Society, and conducted by the professors of the Scotch schools, as an outcome of which light is gradually being thrown on the matter. A very important report on the subject was read before the Teviotdale Farmers' Club on November 4th, 1880 ('Veterinarian,' February, 1881, p. 135). In the first place we must note that it is extremely probable that cases of several other well-known diseases have been confused with true tremblings, and that this has given rise to some exaggeration of the prevalence and fatality from the malady. Certainly paralysis from other causes has been recorded as louping-ill, and so, according to Fair, have apoplexy and tetanus. Dr. Hamilton, of Hawick, who has given the subject much attention, notes that many cases of simple inflammation of the lungs are considered by farmers to be the trembles. We must next remember that it is not impossible, in disorders of a specific character, for some cases to assume a nervous type of various forms, so that though the symptoms of paralysis, apoplexy, and tetanus are present yet are all due to one cause only,

* This name is said to be derived from the Scaiulinavian hlonpa = trembling. Dick says the disease is called loupingr-ill because the lamba make convulsive efforts to rise (leap ?), and that in such cases the brain is affected as laquo;'ell as the cord.

#9632;

L-

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;247

namely, the specific element, and that this same cause may produce pulmonary and serous derangements such as quot;we see in louping-ill.

Gamgee seems to suggest that agriculturists have grouped, together under one heading three distinct patlio-logical conditions, louping-ill being dropsy of the spinal cord (hydrorachitis), thorter-ill being due to parasites, #9632;whereas trembling is a disease hitherto unexplained. One report on this subject terminates with the stigma that quot; it certainly is not creditable to agricultural or veterinary science that such diseases should be allowed to exist without a full and scientific investigation of them,quot; but this is not a fair view of the case; both agriculturists and veterinarians have done what they could to investigate the disease in a scientific and exhaustive manner, and though they have not yet arrived at conclusive ideas on the subject of its true nature this is not an isolated instance of the failure of science in elucidation of such problems. Let us see what is really known, and what is surmised so far ; an orderly statement of our position at present will assist future inquirers.

Symptoms.There is difference of opinion as to the sheep which are most liable ; Fair says the ewes and lambs in best condition, another writer (Mathewson) the thin and ill-conditioned. Eichthofer considers the disease has only developed and become hereditary since the introduction of the merinos, and Roll mentions it as specially a disease of high-bred fine-woolled sheep. It seems that at any rate in the early stages of the disease the animals are evidently in poor condition and falling off; they have a dull heavy appearance, and the coat is dead to the feel. Nervous svmptoms set in. These vary much in different cases, being sometimes paralytic, sometimes such as result from hyperstimulation of the brain and spinal cord. In the former there is sudden weakness of the back which increases gradually ; when the animal is approached by a man, dog, or even other sheep it seems much excited and tumbles over, and in trying to get away it drags its bind legs, being paraplegic; in other cases but one

248

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

raquo;

limb is paralysed, and yet again amaurosis, hemiplegia, or total paralysis may be present. In many cases the symptoms are those of clonic and tetanic spasm, the animal stands with head erect, nose protruded, muscles of neck, back, and loins in state of tonic spasm, other muscles, especially those of the limbs, clonically spasmodic. When excited the poor brute falls on its belly and chest with head and neck protruded, and on being raised walks away trembling violently. Or the spasms may especially affect the muscles of one side, the neck being bent and the head drawn towards the shoulder, the jaws locked and mouth frothy. The spasms relax and recur frequently, often once or twice in every minute. The i-espirations are frequent only during the fits, when they are also jerky and irregular, the pulse is frequent, and the temperature high (lÜöquot;Ö^c F., Brown). While down the sbeep rolls and tosses about in a state of convulsions ; giddiness, delirium, lateral rotation, and sidelong movements are also present in some cases. In others the animal is restless aud trembling and lias an anxious appearance as though suffering from thoracic or abdominal pain, the mouth being champed and the teeth gnashed. During the spasms the compression on the oesophagus causes danger of suffocation when liquids are given. fejome cases recover tborougbly, others for some time drag one hind leg behind them, the limb being cold and dead to the feel, and it has been observed that if the foreleg be thus affected with temporary paralysis not uncommonly a tumour varying in size from that of a pigeon's to that of a hen's egg appears, full of pus or ichor, especially in the neighbourhood of the joints, but also on the arms, brisket, or any neighbouring part of the body.

Post-mortem examination shows conditions varying in different cases according to the form the attack has taken and its stage of progress. Dr. Hamilton found inflammation of the lungs and pleura and the serous membranes in genera] liable to be affected, also serous effusion in the cavities arouud the brain and spinal cord. Goodsir, in well-marked cases of the paralytic form, found the spinal

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cord soft, especially its dorsal portion, as indicated hy slight collapse of the cut surface when a section was made through it. The cervical and lumbar portions were abnormally hard. In the soft portions the cells and fibres were normal, but there was an increase of the granular substance, which floated in a quantity of fluid between the nerve-elements. Profs. Williams and Young have found the cord abnormally hard, owing to development of the fibrous tissue between the nervous elements, also a quantity of jelly-like exudation in the spinal canal extending along its whole length outside the dura mater, usually in large masses in the lumbar region, but sometimes in patches only round the roots of the nerves. Such are the evidences given by some observers ; others have found no jelly-like exudation on the spinal cord, the flesh pale and the carcass thin, while Prof. Dick insisted on the importance of the state of the gastric contents, which he found to be a pulpy mass of wool, grass, clay, and milk. Ticks are found in association with the disorder.

I'atlioloijy.Dr. Hamilton considers the disease cerebro-spinal meningitis, that first congestion of the brain and spinal cord sets in, and that their lining serous membrane becomes involved, which he has observed to be more especially the case when lung complications are present. Thus excitement precedes serous effusion in the substance of the brain aud in that of the cord ; when the former is affected sudden death occurs, when the latter, paralysis. quot;VYheu chronic it leads to softeningand paralysis, which is generally bilateral, or death. Goodsir and Robertson consider the symptoms indicate that the nerve-centres are affected, and especially those in the portion of the cord in immediate connection with the brain, and that the changes are more in the coverings than in the true nerve-tissue. Williams considers that there is evidently subacute inflammation of the cord itself, affecting its connective rather than its nervous elements. Dick strongly advocated the ergot theory, and both Eobertson and Hamilton consider that the disease is probably due to ergot on grasses, but this goes no farther at present than a supposition. Brotherton found smut

#9632; ;

250

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

# i

on some Cyperinse of infected pastures, none on the Jun-cacese, bat ergot on the Graminacese. He suggests grazing the pastures bare as a remedy for this form of ergotism. Coarse withered grasses used as food seem to be distinctly associated with the disorder. Brydon, of Traquair, long ago noticed that good fat lambs often suffer from eating the tops of dry rye grass. It has been supposed to follow the eating of rye grass in July and August, and it has been suggested that its following dry weather may be due to the latter securing premature ripeness and over-ripeness of grass. Grass which comes up rapidly to a full bite is a fruitful influence in its production, and Strangeways and other observers have found ergot in quantity on louping-ill-producing pastures. On the other hand, ergot when ingested does not induce the characteristic sy⁷mptoms of the disease, and ergot prevails on many⁷ pastures without producing it. We cannot look on the ergot theory as well sustained. Ticks are supposed to be in direct relation with the disorder ; thus the tick season and the louping-ill season coincide, and where louping-ill prevails ticks also are found. Also destruction of these parasites seemed to prevent the disease. These ticks are obtained from coarse grasses, and are, according to Walley, only concomitants of the disease, though they may prove predisposing and exciting causes of it. Doubtless by the irritation they cause when in numbers and by their blood-sucking habits they much debilitate the animal, and they might produce reflex nervous symptoms. Eobertson suggests they^T maybe conveyers of a specific poison. It has been noticed that in the occasional cases which occur during autumn in the southern Scotch country few or no ticks are present; again, that sheep and lambs may be covered with ticks and yet not suffer from the disease. Thus ticks as ticks do not cause it. So with a view to testing whether they carried the contagion the ticks were put into culture fluids and bacilli were obtained-and termed Bacilli chorese ovis. Similar organisms were said to be found in the gelatinous matter about the cord. However, it was doubtful if the ticks got the organisms from the sheep, for it was found

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that ticks from healthy sheep developed the same organism. It was inferred that the system of the sheep must become susceptible before the disease can be taken; its iuoculability is doubtful and no communication by contagion has been established. Again^ the disease is said to occur in pigs, where the tick theory cannot apply, and it is much more probable that conveyance was by offal or the carcass of a diseased sheep. Considering all the arguments of the case, and that the quot; cultures quot; of the ticks were of a roughness calculated to startle bacteriologists, we must conclude that the probability is that ticks of any form can be only looked on as possible conveyers of the disease. Williams insists that there are three kinds of ticks, and it is not the common form or quot; red.quot; Waldie, of Jedbnrg, long ago suggested that loupiug-ill was due to liming of the soil, and that it disappeared when the lime became exhausted. Over-stocking, poverty, in-and-in-breeding, cold and sleety or dry and frosty east winds, improvement of lauds, coarseness of pasture, transitions from improved to coarse pastures and vice versa have been enumerated as causes, evidencing at any rate ranch doubt and much difficulty in arriving at correct conclusions. It certainly prevails in special seasons and localities, being most frequently enzootic on hills (the Cheviots are said to be free from it), but it occurs at all altitudes and on all sorts of soil. It is periodical in recurrence and sometimes epizootic. The Lowland shires of Scotland are its special seat, and it may cause a loss of 2025 per cent, of the stock there in April and May. It seems sometimes curiously localised, but as an argument against its being due to pasture, cases of lambs becoming affected before they have commenced to g-raze are brought forward, but are manifestly not sufficient to conclude the argument on this point. Want of shelter, hot and dry seasons, lambs being badly nursed and so led to ingest grass prematurely, and to even eat wool to fill their stomachs, wet- lands, cold barren seasons, and manures or top dressings used, also a moist condition of herbage may be added to the confused and contradictory list of suggested causes. Such being the

252

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

I #9632;

unsettled state of ideas on this disease, we are prepared to find no suggestions as to treatment, and but the most general views on prevention. quot; Improve your pastures but ' don't leap in tlie dark/ quot; say the Teviotdale farmers ; annually prejjare a plot of ground for the lambs and ewes to be turned out oil for a part of every day, or give them a small quantity of linseed cake to clear out the bowels, writes Dick; to prevent sturdy and louping-ill Brydon advocates the ploughing up of old pastures when possible, so as to get a good bottom of clover, and to give daily to hoggs good meadow bay and a quarter of a pound of rape or linseed cake when grass is scarce. Remove the ticks by cutting them through; apply dressings of tobacco, creosote, or linseed oil j buru old pastures and give the sheep artificial food ; also give the lamb enough common salt to purge him, and then tonics, are other suggestions. Such of these measures as are practicable may be tried, but it is manifest that the disorder must be better known before scientific treatment, further than that for palliation of the symptoms, can be adopted. We may be permitted finally to remark on the marked similarity as regards causes and symptoms to diseases of the horse and ox tribe which in Asia and America have been found due to spiral organisms in the blood. It is to be hoped that those practitioners who have the opportunity will shortly give the blood of living animals affected with louping-ill careful scrutiny for at least seven successive days.

Simple Paralysis or Palsy is a frequent disease in lambs especially due to cold and want of proper care of the ewe at yeaning time, not supplying her with proper shelter; and after abortion or difficult labour it occurs in ewes. Another critical period is when the young animal is being weaned. Injuries of various kinds may produce paralysis in sheep of all ages. Williams relates a case of general paralysis of a goat apparently due to the mental disturbance caused by removal of her kids, and we have seen that it is a symptom of several serious disorders, such as gid or tremblings. The motor functions are those generally affected, the animal seldom thoroughly recovers, and after

: is

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an attack may suffer from severe and persistent diarrhoea. In such cases probably the cause of the palsy lay in some deleterious substance ingested ; lead spray on pastures has markedly this effect. Sheep are said to be less frequently paralysed than cattle, but this statement would hardly bear thorough investigation. Treatment of lambs paralysed from cold consists in gradual restoration of warmth by friction, clothing and stimulants such as ginger and ale, the little animal being returned to the ewe as soon as possible, and both well protected from the cold. Paralysis in adults may be treated with purgatives, tonics, external stimulants, and other measures calculated to remove the cause and restore vigour to the system, but such cases seldom do well, and immediately after severe accident causing paralysis the best course is to slaughter and sell to the butcher.

Tetanus or LocTxed jaw is, like paralysis, a complex of symptoms rather than a disease. It is not rare in sheep, being especially common when animals, after shearing, are turned out without shelter of any kind and exposed to cutting east winds ; long exposure to rain is another fruitful cause, and at weaning time and after castration is a critical period for lambs. quot; Earns are far more subject than horses to tetanus after castration, and especially on the Continent, where the operation by torsion (bistournage) is often performed with unnecessary severity.quot; The old shepherds pretend to foretell what lambs will fall victims to it after castration. If when the operator is sawing through the spermatic cord with his blunt knife or gnawing it asunder with his teeth, the jaws of the little animal are strongly and spasmodically clenched the man says that the lamb is in danger of locked jaw ; and in order to prevent its occurrence he thrusts his thumb into the mouth of the sufferer and forcibly separates the jaws. quot; Hurtrel d'Arboval laughs at this,quot; writes Youatt with reference to this condition and the crude notions formed by the shepherds concerning it. The same author tells us, quot; The symptoms of tetanus in sheep differ materially from those of the horse and cattle. A peculiar plaintive sigh is present in such

154:

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

cases (Gohier). It generally commences with a singular involtmtary spasmodic motion of the head, or of one or all of tile extremities attended by a grinding- of the teeth and a fixedness of the jaws. To this succeeds a peculiar stiffness of the greater part of the frame ; the neck is protruded and the head Lent back, and forcibly retained in that bended form ; and one leg is drawn up and fixed in an unnatural position. This rigidness occasionally i-elaxes and gives way to violent convulsions of the head, neck, and extremities, followed again by fixidity of them and of the .whole frame. The disease runs its course most speedily ; the animal is often dead within twelve hours from the first attack ; or if he lingers on beyond thirty-six hours it may be regarded as a pledge of his ultimate recovery.

Tetanus is a far more manageable disease in the sheep than in the horse or ox. Thousands die because nothing-is done.quot; Randall observed tetanus among a number of rams castrated by ligature with the waxed cord rather late in the season when the fly was troublesome, those rams operated on under like circumstances by traction not becoming affected. After the animals apparently did well for ten days some were suddenly found rigid and unable to walk, the hind limbs especially being immovable. The jaws were set. quot; The parts of the abdomen near the scrotum were considerably swollen and very Lard. They generally stood with their legs a little farther apart than usual, but their postures were so natural that at a few rods' distance their situation, or that anything unusual was the matter with them, would not have been suspected by anybody. . . . There was not, in a single instance, any peculiar protrusion or retraction of the head or any other member; though I watched them for hours, I did not discover the least approach to a convulsion, or even a spasm involving a single muscle. They gave no peculiar evidences of painbreathed without difficultyand I think that they all died within about twenty-four hours from the time their situation was discovered.quot; The treatment recommended is careful nursing and especially warmth and

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quiet, early administration of a pui'gative and even timely abstraction of blood from the jugular.

Nunn placed on record (in the ' Veterinary Journal,' February, 1884) an interesting case of Chouea in a goat. The animal was a female, four years old ; it stood in a natural manner, but on trying to walk two or three convulsive movements of the hind limbs wei^e first made, and then the hind quarters were thrown up and the hind legs Hexed in a remarkable manner; the animal could walk a considerable distance on its fore feet (over 300 yards) with the hind quarters elevated in the air, and while it did so the hind limbs moved spasmodically but rhythmically with the fore ones, but on stopping were brought to the ground with some considerable force. She had a kid at foot and was a yood milker.

Ti Im

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DISEASES OK THE SHEEP.

CHAPTER X.ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE.

Section I.The Foot.

A cakefül examination of the anatomy of the foot of the sheep as compared with that of the ox shows a number of minor differences and one or two major ones. Brown, writing long ago, shows that the foramina in the pedal bone are fewer, there being less extent of horn-producing surface for blood-supply ; that the ligaments are less powerful, as the foot has to suppoi't less weight; that external oblique ligamentous bands are absent, as luxation is less liable to occur; that the nerves are fewer ; that two large anterior veins are absent; that common integument extends down between the digits; that the two elastic navicular ligaments are absent, but the superior ligament is elastic ; and that there is an interdigital canal. We may say in summary that the foot of the sheep is less highly developed than that of the ox, its horny investment is smaller, more upright, harder, and less elaborate, and the two claws are independent ; there are only traces of a superior interdigital ligament, and the inferior one is elastic. The interdigital, interungulate, or bitiex canal is a remarkable inversion of the skin forming a double pouch, which has au opening of moderate size, visible on separating the two claws, between the pasterns. From its orifice project a few long hairs, generally matted together by the peculiar unctuous matter of the canal. It divides into two parts, one running along the inside of each pastern and bent on itself in a very marked degree ; thus its direction is downwards and backwards, then upwards and forwards. The secretion of this canal is ceru-

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minouSj being yellow and unctuous. It is, doubtless, a valuable protective of the skin of tbe cleft from the ill effects of friction and irritation by dirt and foreign bodies. Ercolani finds tbe deeper part of the canal studded with yellow coiled tubular glands; the yellow secretion when mixed with sebaceous matter from tlie hair-follicles loses much of its yellowness and tenacity, becomes diffluent, and so does not obstruct the canal (Gamgee). Sometimes this structure itself becomes diseased, giving^- rise to considerable disorganisation of the whole tissues of the foot and developing into foot-rot, or the latter disease when originating below may extend upwards and invade the gland of the cleft.

Inflammation of the Intekungulate Canal is denoted by lameness, erythematous reddening around the part, with protrusion and tumidity of the orifice and pain on pressure ; one foot generally is affected at a time, usually a fore one. As in foot-rot or any other serious lameness or pain of the feet, the animal may rest on its knees to graze, or walk about on three legs. If not promptly treated the disorder may increase in severity, and ulceration of the walls of the canal occur, and abscesses and sinuses form fi'om the orifice becoming blocked up and pus burrowing. The sheep may be feverish, off feed and cud, and evidently in much pain. In extreme cases the resulting exhaustion may prove fatal. Treatment comprises, firstly, removal of the cause when practicable ; this cause may be entry of foreign matters such as irritant gravel and grit, or excessive accumulation of dry sebaceous matter in the orifice. The disease is most common after the fatigue and friction of a long journey, especially when the animals are heavy from fat or otherwise and the weather is hot and dry or the roads are very dirty. On hard, dry, sandy pastures the disease is also seen. The parts must be examined and thoroughly cleaned; all foreign bodies and accumulated secretion having been cleared away, the canal may be gently syringed with soap and water and the foot fomented and poulticed. Subsequently an astringent dressing or painting with tincture of myrrh will promote cure. In more

258

DISEASES OK THE SHEEP.

#9632;

severe cases local bleeding may prove of benefit as reducing tbe inflammation, and tbe part may be so disorganised that strong carbolic solution, Burnett^s fluid, or chloride of lime may be necessary as an antiseptic and deodorant application. Or surgical treatment, consisting in laying open the canal, inserting a seton in it, or even dissecting the whole structure out may be necessary; by the use of a 5 per cent, solution of cocaine this may be done without causing the animal any pain. When the case has developed into foot-rot the treatment for that disorder must be adopted. In all cases careful and regular cleansing of the feet is necessary, and the animal may beneficially be taken up and put in a clean straw-yard. The reflex canal is the source of the prevalent idea among rustics that there is a worm in the foot of the sheep. The quaint extract given by Youatt from Sir Anthony Fitzherbert's ' Boke of Husbandry' (1523) is well worth perusal: quot; There be some shepe that hath a wonue in his foote that maketh hym halte. Take that shepe and loke between his clese, and there is a lyttell hole, as moche as a grette pynnes head, and therein groweth fyve or yxe black heares, like an inche long and more. Take a sharpe poynted knyfe and slitte the skynne a quarter of an inche longe above the hole and as moche bonethe, and put thy one hande in the hollowe of the fote under the hynder clese, and set thy thomb above almooste at the slytte, and thruste thy fyngers undernethe forward, and with thy other hande take the black heares by the ende, or with thy knyves poynte, and pull the heares a lyttel and a lyttel and thruste after thy other hande, with thy fynger and thy thombe, and theyr wyll come out a worme lyke a piece of fleshe, nygh as moche as a lyttel fynger, and when it is out put a lyttel towe into the hole, and it wyll be shortely hole.quot;

Other diseases of the feet of a trivial character requiring passing mention are : (1) quot; Mudballing,quot; i, e. the fix-true beween the digits of hard (often frozen) masses of clay, stones, and other foreign bodies, causing their separation to such a degree as to produce much pain, lameness, and tension at the cleft. This if neglected may result in

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actual interdigital ulceration, but if taken in time immediate relief may be afforded by removal of the foreign body causing the mischief and dressing the cleft with carbolized tar. (2) Soee Cleft^ in addition to the above causes, may result from long sharp grasses in pasture, sharp stones, pieces of wood, and other such substances. Tension on the interdigital skin when the animal moves may aggravate this condition. The sheep should have the part dressed with tincture of myrrh or carbolized tar, a bandage put on, and be kept in a house, pen, or straw-yard for a short time, or otherwise be prevented having to travel far for his food. (3) Worn feet result from long journeys, especially by heavy sheep with feet soft from continual grazing in moist lowland pastures ; and when sheep which have travelled far are put at once into such pastures it is common for them to suffer from snppurative inflammation of the sensitive tissues of the foot. In severe cases astringent poultices may be put on, or strong astringent ointment applied, but as a rule such cases require nothing more than constant attention in order to promptly detect and deal with complications. The sulphate of zinc or alum or oak-bark decoction foot-bath will prove useful when many sheep are foot-sore; valuable sheep may be penned on tan or sawdust well impregnated with astringent solution. The American drovers call worn feet quot; travel sore,quot; and find it much more frequent in English than in merino sheep. They dress the feet of sheep on the march nightly with sulphuric acid and tar. (4) Bruised or othekwise injured Feet are not uncommon, but require only ordinary care and methods of diagnosis and treatment.

Foot-Rot; onycJiia, quot;galled feet;quot; jpwrowychia interdigi-talis ; gravelling j loose claics ; quot; -soreness of feet,quot; is a disease with a most instructive history and of great practical importance. It is a very severe scourge to sheep, and has been known as such from very ancient times, although its introduction into several European countries is sometimes said to have been coincident with the spread of merino sheep, and to have occurred recently. So many animals were simultaneously affected that no hesitation was expressed in

#9632; -

260

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

f. gt;

believing that it became spread by contagion^ and special precautions for keeping the lame apart from the sound were

Fig. H2.

Fm. 83.

Fig. 8 k

Fio. 85.

FlG. 82.1. Slirivelled or decayed horn. 2. Dark spot indicating a cavity. 3. Minute fissure.

Fio. 83.Early stage of foot-rot induced by rubbing matter on inteldigital cuticle at a.

Fig. 84.Advanced foot-rot. Hoof-liorn overgrown to a degree highly abnormal; under-surface broken and rotten at b. From one digit the hoof-horn is nearly detached, exposing inflamed foot at n covered with fibres of soft horn. (These three illustrations are from originals by Professor Brown.)

Fio. 85.Section of foot through horn-fissure (a), showing extension of the crack to the interior; (i) edge of hoof bent under, permitting collection of dirt (Brown).

insisted on. Most marvellous stories of its transmission in this way began to be propagated, and the verge of the

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ridiculous was reached when the public was asked to believe that the disease had persisted in a meadow which had been unoccupied by sheep for seven years, so that sheep then placed in it became affected. In the face of the very considerable amount of evidence brought forward in support of its contagiousness, opponents to that view could do little more than feel a suspicion that its transmission by this means was much exaggerated, that certain special conditions were essential for its conveyance, and that such lesions as were found might easily be traced to ordinary causes. Prof. Dick, with his usual energy, took up the matter, and in an able address, which may be read in his collected papers, argued out the contagiousness of foot-rot and decided against it. The disease was nothing extraordinary, we were told, and could be fully explained by our ordinary knowledge of disease, without calling in the aid of contagion. The sheep being naturally an inhabitant of dry mountainous countries, when brought on to the rich old pastures and lawns of lowlands, and to soft, marshy, and luxuriant meadows, underwent certain changes of the feet, the result of want of proper wear and tear. Moisture, as in wet seasons and badly-drained pastures, was found a most powerful cause, and where town drainage was thrown on the fields the moisture and filth combined to produce the disease. But it is also found on light, sandy, soft soils, and in dry localities, and in fact wherever sheep can not get sufficient natural wear for the feet, and especially when the conditions favour the growth of horn. It has been noticed that heavy sheep in general are liable to foot-rot, and Shropshires and Oxfordshires are said to be especially prone to it. Over-stocking may develop it in any breed.

Overgrowth, Dick pointed out, gives rise both to hoof disease and to injuries and destruction of pai'ts situated higher up in the limbs, the sensitive structures become affected, and even the bones, tendons, and joints ultiinately become involved. As the state of the pasture affects simnltaneously all the flock, so it is no wonder that many suffer from the same result of a uniform cause, hence the

262

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

ill'

apparent contagiousness of foot-rot. Further, the apparent invasion of foot-rot among fresh sheep brought into contact with lame ones is mostly a result of the former being subjected to the conditions which have already given rise to it in the latter, and generally it will be found that supposed contagion is due to this. Again, the frequently recorded instances of a diseased ram bringing the disease among ewes is associated with the fact that pregnant ewes are notoriously liable to foot-rot as being much better cared for, highly fed, and less travelled than Hocks intended solely for wool or inutton, and such cases may often be associated with specially wet seasons, which remain unnoticed as possible causes of increased spread coiueidently with putting the ram with the ewes.

The party of non-contagiouists was rapidly recruited by some of the best writers and practical authorities on sheep, and in the present day several authorities stoutly deny the contagiousness of foot-rot. On the other hand, the frequency of apparent contagion continued to attract attention, and experiments made in France supported the possibility of transmission in this way so powerfully that Youatt concludes it is contagious, but also may be spontaneous. Hogg, like most other shepherds and agriculturists, adhered to the theory of transmission by contagion, and stated that he had known simple driving of a flock over a particular farm to cause it. The question was confused by the fact that at first foot-and-mouth disease in sheep, a disease extremely contagious, was thought to be only simple sheep-rot, and some good authorities even were thus led astray; for example, Gasparin, whose statement that pigs and other animals may be affected is thus readily explicable. Gohier, of Lyons, made some noteworthy experiments as to inoculability⁷ of foot-rot. He put fragments of horn covered with foot-rot matter on the sole of the foot cut down to the quick, also he well rubbed the cleft of the foot in another case with a foot affected with the disease; in neither case did any result follow. In his third experiment he pared the soles of the same animal until the blood started, then he bound

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on the part a portion of horn from the foot of an affected sheep. Six days after the piece of horn was removed unmistakable foot-rot followed, and ultimately healed spontaneously. Two subsequent experiments showed that the disease was not communicated until the second inocu-lationj lasted about a month, and then disappeared without treatment. Thus Gohier succeeded in conveying the disease in two cases out of six, but Dick urges that it is not wonderful if the disease be excited by dirt applied persistently to a sore about the foot, and that these results prove nothing. Faure inoculated thirty-two sheep with the matter of foot-rot, and twenty of them became affected Reynal's experiments and observations are confirmatory of contagiousness of foot-rot. Quite recently we find the profession in Great Britain, which seems to have entirely for a time accepted the teaching of the schools as to contagiousness of the disease, beginning to yield to the accumulation of evidence to the contrary. W. C. Spoouer states that quot; as for the disease being always or even generally contagious, such opinion is undoubtedly erroneous,quot; but he considers it sometimes contagious j Prof. James Law cannot explain some outbreaks of the disease otherwise than by contagion, and, finally. Prof. Brown, who seems previously to have firmly held the opposite view, as a result of careful experimentation concludes that quot; in the advanced stages of the disease the exudate may possess infective properties, but the virulent form of foot-rot which is recognised on the Continents of Europe and America is not often observed in this country,quot; and again, quot; The results were so far definite as to establish the fact of the contagious nature of one form of foot-rot properly so-called ; but at the same time they prove that the contagious property is only manifested after a long period, and then under certain conditions. On a perfectly dry surface the disease, so far from extending to sound animals, will quickly subside, but if the necessary amount of moisture is present in the land, foot-rot, it appears, may be communicated by simple contact in from six weeks to three months after the introduction of the diseased aui-

I ⁱ

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DISEASES OF THE SHEEl'.

mals. Inoculation by incision or scarification is found to produce less decided and less durable effects than the application of the matter to the injured surface of the integument ; and it is certain that the disease to which these experiments refer arises quite independently of any defect in the hoof horiij being primarily an affection of the skin.quot; Thus the question should not be worded quot; Is foot-rot contagious?quot; but quot;Is there a contagious form of foot-rot?quot; and we can reply that there is, but it is not nearly so frequent in Great Britain as the simple foot-rot, and the latter must not be mistaken for the former when it arises uniformly among- sheep in a flock subjected to like disease-producing influences. We must next inquire which is the contagious form, and how it can be distinguished from the non-specific form and from other disorders affecting the feet. In the first place, as regards eczema epi-zootica, in which disease as affecting the sheep mouth-lesions are not unfrequently absent. Professors Williams and Brown inform vis (a) tliat foot-rot commences at the sole or inter-digital structures and thence diffuses, causing disease of bones and tendons, with sloughing ; whereas eczema commences in a redness of the skin surrounding the coronet, which first appears as a spot above the interdigital space, especially at the heels, and then extends all round the coronet. {b) That eczema consists in redness, vesiculation, scab, and desiccation in orderly sequence, whereas the changes in foot-rot are suppuration and degeneration of horn. (c) That in eczema the hoofs tend to separate from the sensitive structures owing to inflamniation with serous effusion commencing quot;between hair and hoof,quot; whereas in foot-rot the tendency is for the horn to fall away piecemeal. [d) That whereas there is a strong tendency to fungus in foot-rot there is no fungoid growth in uncomplicated cases of eczema, but Brown insists that the peculiar fungoid structure on which, as occurring in foot-rot, so much stress has been laid, is merely horn in a disintegrated state, wanting the firmness which results from the ordinary arrangement of cells. It is such horn as grows when removed from the influence of pressure, as

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ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSK.

2G5

we see, tor example, in its early condition of development in the foetus. (e) That whereas foot-rot generally commences only in one foot and the others subsequently become affected, foot-and-mouth disease usually breaks out on several feet simultaneously. (/') In eczema fever runs

Via. 86.quot; Fuugoid horn quot; from advanced foot-rot. Sbowihg grit and loose epithelial culls (Brown), x 200.

Fia.87.UlastTafdng the condition of a sheep's foot four weeks afterthe

first or febrile stage of foot-and-mouth disease (Williams).

high and is a constant accompaniment and a preceder of local eruption, but in foot-rot there is seldom much fever present, except when the local ravages of disease are extreme. Wo shall see elsewhere that although these diagnostic indications generally suffice, there are cases of the

266

DISEASES OP THE SHEEI'.

contagious form of foot-rot wliicli are remarkably like foot-aml-moutli disease unless tliey can be seen in the incipient stage. Simple overwear of the feet after a long journey^ especially seen in fat sheep or ewes heavy in young, also mechanical injury to the interdigital structures and inflammation of the interdigital canal, will not be confused with foot-rot when carefully examined, but it must be remembered that each of these conditions may by extension and aggravating conditions become so extended and complieated as to give rise to lesions in no way distinct from those of ordinary foot-rot; in fact they, by neglect, maltreatment, and accident or unfavorable complications, become cases of foot-rot. Brown's records show that in the communicable form of tlie disease the hoof horn is not affected at the cumniencement, but the interdigital skin of the fore feet up to the interdigital canal is red, tumid, and pulpy, and it has a small quantity of white purulent matter on the inflamed parts. The hoof may or may not become much overgrown. The disease occurs sometimes in the hind feet, generally in the fore. The horn breaks away on the inner side of the hoofs, and ultimately the latter may become almost wholly disconnected, the exposed sensitive structures spring up, forming the so-called fungoid, which differs, however, in no respect from that of severe thrush and canker in the foot of the horse and foul in that of the ox. quot; The whole progress of the disease foot-rot and other allied affections is an illustration of the function of reparation in excess ; the development of the elements of the tissue in abundance, unchecked and undirected by the normal conditions which obtain in a state of health quot; (Brown). The secretion of the interdigital canal is excessive and intermingled with foreign matters, lu the contagious form lameness, generally of one foot at first but involving others later on, is followed by pain on manipulation and redness, a moist appearance, and then foul deposit as of pus-impregnated horn on the skin, and beneath this is ulceration which extends down the inside of the claws, and thence passes inwards, forming sinuses and separations between the horn and hoof which com-

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mence generally at the heel. These changes are slow in progress, extending over a mouth, but are apt to result in complete disorganisation of the foot, such as may resemble ordinary foot-rot, from which, when the disease has become thoroughly established, it cannot be distinguished. The non-specific foot-rot is a disorder in which the hoof horn is first involved, and consists in the beginning of one of three conditions, carefully described by Brown : (laquo;) the horn shrivelled and pumiced in appearance, due to a blocking up of the Lorn tubes with grit and dirt, along the outside edge of the wall. (/gt;) A dark spot on the hoof appears, and it indicates a cavity into which, from a crack below, dirt enters. The opening may be very small and yet the cavity large, and horn may even grow over and close the cavity below, and it may grow round so as to embed pebbles and other foreign bodies completely, much in the same way as a bullet may become embedded by growth in an elephant's tusk, (c) A small, black, and apparently insignificant line running transversely on the hoof is the most serious of all these lesions, for it runs into a deep crack or channel penetrating through the wall to the sensitive structures, and through it foreign bodies may gain entry. In other cases puncture from sharp stones, thorns, or even nails may originate an attack, the condition being neglected until there is much miscliief done ; bruises to the feet, overwear, disease commencing in the joints, and other injuries and accidents of the feet may all result in foot-rot. Dick showed how overgrowth of horn through insufficient wear alters the bearings of the foot, throwing extra strain on the crust and producing lamiuitis, how the diseased state of the laminae rendered the horn soft and penetrable by grit, how the horn, curling over, enclosed grit and filth which gradually worked its way up to the sensitive parts, and how excessive growth of hoof gave rise to strains and other injuries of the pastern and fetlock joints. He further noticed that inflammation of the skin of the intcr-digital space might occur from the friction of long coarse grasses, and be known under the popular name of Scald. He found this the most frequent form in low rich pastures

268

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

where the grass was long, but on dry soils tlie form com-menoing from the sole was generally found.

Symptoms,The animal is observed to be lame, generally of one foot ; usually a fore limb is first involved. On examination the claws are found diseased, broken^ and overgrown, and there is a discharge from them of most offensive odour. The disease at first is confined to the foot, afterwards it may extend upwards ; it may involve only one of the quot; clees quot; or claws. The whole foot is hot and tender and the coronet swollen ; the hoof horn becomes soft, rotten to appearance and smell, and detached piecemeal, and as the sensitive structures become exposed they sprout out in the form of fungous masses, which attain considerable size and bleed freely when irritated. The horny sole gradually crumbles away and may leave the sensitive structures of tbe lower part of the foot completely exposed. The ulcers rapidly increase in size, their discharge is thin and not profuse, but most foul in odour, they ultimately extend into the soft structures, forming sinuses. To a degree varying with the climatic conditions and the previous neglect of the cases, maggots invade the wounds and cause further disintegration. In the less acute and severe cases the hoof is not shed, but becomes much deformed, enlarged, ridgy, and bent. It is seldom the case that the whole hoof is shed, some portions usually remaining adherent even in the most severe cases. The affected animals feed on their knees if the fore feet are affected, and crawl on their bellies if the hind feet are severely diseased. The lame sheep lie down a good deal, cannot keep up with the rest of the flock, and fall away in condition from the combined effects of pain and inability to get about and feed freely. Ewes, when in milk, give much less than usual and their lambs do not thrive. The lameness is often progressive, gradually involving feet not at first affected, and increasing in severity, but sometimes, and especially in the contagious form, heals spontaneously. Hogg lias noticed that such spontaneous cure occurs generally at Matinmas; elsewhere we are told that on the hill farms in Scotland the disease appears almost invariably

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about the end of July, and reaches its height towards the end of August or beginning of September, because then the dews are very heavy. A nasty complication is that where the discharge from the feet gets smeared on the wool the fly may deposit its ova, and in due course maggots develop and sores may appear, involving the surface of the body in loathsome disease, and aggravating the debility of the animal.

Causes.It has been suggested that the disease is hereditary, but this idea must be rejected for want of sufficient evidence. Moisture of pastures and the animal standing too long on his own dung and urine are undoubtedly influences in its generation. Overgrowth of hoof and long grasses in pastures (Dick), sandy and chalk soils and clay lands containing much grit (Brown), also changes of pasture have been considered potent as causes. It certainly seems as if race had somethingquot; to do with the matter; thus animals brought from an upland range are notoriously most liable to the disease when turned on marshy lowland. Again a case is recorded where a large flock of half-bred Leicester and Down sheep, though occupying a sound pasture, became affected by a neighbouring plantation which was almost constantly in a wet state being thrown open to them, the effect of which was the development of foot-rot in almost every sheep which entered it, but after a time the flock seemed to have comparative immunity, yet if any strange sheep were turned in they were sure to become affected (' Veterinarian/ vol. xii). A Mr. Black, quoted by Youatt, found that his black-faced sheep were first affected and to the greatest degree ; next in degree was a cross between the black-faced and the Cheviot ; then the Cheviot, and last and least of all the Leicester breed. This was traced to the habit of the black-faced getting up from their lairs the earliest in the mornings, and from their being accustomed to roam from the hill to the glen at the approach of daylight in search of their food, this habit being continued in the form of wandering through the park before they began to feed. The other breeds possessed this disposition precisely in

t^t-

270

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

the order in which the disease appeared. Moisture, though not essential for development of the disease, no doubt proves a powerful predisposing or determining cause ; it is continuous maceration of the feet in damp pulpy soil which proves most prejudicial as softening the horn and weakening it, while increasing its growth and lessening its wear. Spooner insists that decomposing animal and vegetable matter is specially liable to induce such changes when in contact with the hoof ; he also is inclined to attribute ill-effects to excessive paring away of the hoofs by shepherds, resulting in exposure of sensitive structures brought about with the best of intentions to thoroughly remove all under-run horn. That ewes in or with lamb are so often affected, may be due to their greater weight when pregnant (as suggested by Yonatt) or to their getting less exercise and being put on richer pasture and general diet than other sheep. One supposed cause remains to be noticed, and that is the ravages of animalculse in the foot. Yonatt mentions the Pulex penetrans, but in evident disbelief concerning its occurrence and results; later A.xe lias found an acarus in the horn debris in seedy-toe in the horse, and it has been suggested that a similar organism may be present in foot-rot.

However, it is generally acknowledged that when the acarus occurs it is an epiphenomcnon or concomitant of the disease, which finds suitable conditions of growth in breaking up of horn, and not a producer of foot-rot. Dick compares some cases of the disease to chilblain in man, and attributes them to constant expiosure of the seat of the disease to cold and moisture.

Treatment.Must be simple, economical, speedy, and effectual, for generally many sheep are affected, and treatment of them individually runs in to a lot of time, so that it should not occupy long nor need to be repeated, and if it is expensive it will seldom be adopted. Ewes in lamb should not be thrown to dress the foot-rot. Eandall directs procedure as follows :quot; The principal operator or foreman seats himself in a chair, a couple of good sharp knives (one at least a thin and narrow one), a whetstone.

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powerful toe nippers, a bucket of water with a couple of linen rags in it, and such medicines as he chooses to employ-within his reach. The assistant catches a sheep and lays it partly on its back and rump, between the legs of the foreman, the head coming up to about his middle. The assistant then kneels on some straw or seats himself on a low stool at the hinder extremity of the sheep. If the hoofs are long, and especially if they are dry and tough, the assistant presents each foot to the foreman, who shortens the hoof with the toe nippers. If there is any filth between the toes, each man, after first using a stick, takes his rag from the blicket of water, draws it between the toes and rinses it until the filth is removed. Each then seizes his knife, and the process of paring away the horn commences, and on the effectual performance of this all else dependsquot; ('The Practical Shepherd,' p. 363). The routine consists in thoroughly cleaning the foot and softening the horn either by turning the animals in dewy grass or through water, or else by washing, and in severe cases and valuable animals, poulticing ; next carefully examining the parts to determine exactly what is the condition to be dealt with. All loose and under-run horn must be thoi-oughly removed, but no sensitive structure unnecessarily exposed, the sheep-foot knife should be used, also small drawing knives, a rasp, and a toe clipper. Abscesses and sinuses must be opened, and the whole diseased foot washed with a solution of chloride of lime or of carbolic acid. Profuse granulations must be cut off with a knife or, preferably, with a fine, keen, hot iron (Eead), or nitric acid may be applied to them and to the parts in immediate contact with them. Where new but imperfect horn is forming, apply some powerfully astringent substance, and endeavour to secure firm pressure by wrapping tow dipped in tar round the part and fixing it by means of a tight bandage, secured in whatever way the case will admit; pressure on all sprouting points is considered essential. Daily dressing must be carrried out if possible, but at any rate the cases must receive frequent attention. One practical point which has been insisted on is that it is pot

i I

272

DISEASES OF THE SHEKP.

advisable to specially soothe the parts by poultices and carbolic dressings, for this gives rise to sluggishness in repair, which may render the case practically interminable. Further, it is necessary to remove the exciting causes, to pare the feet well down to proper shape and length, to avoid wet places for lame sheep, but run them on diy pasture, or, preferably, take them up and fold or house them on a good bedding of tan or sawdust, or if straw be used it should be kept dry and clean, but it is open to the objection that it irritates the feet when fresh. All lame sheep should be treated promptly, as delay may make the case incurable, and will certainly cause it to give more trouble in treatment. Taking up the diseased sheep is useful, both as facilitating dressing and as securing their shelter and easy access to food, and so lessening the necessity for getting about and the falliug-off which must result from the disease to a greater or less degree. Again, the possibility of the outbreak being a contagious one should be held in mind, and separating the diseased from the health}^ and well washing the cured before allowing them to intermingle with the sound are routine precautions which should not be neglected. Stimulant astringent dressings have been adopted at all times in treatment of this disease. Thus, in 1529 Etienne and Sebault applied alternately quick-lime and verdigris. Lisle recommends arsenic and alum dissolved in vinegar and water, and that the foot be allowed to dry when dressed, and be kept dry for an hour afterwards. Others suggest to throw quicklime over the floor of the house in which the lame sheep are put. The butyr of antimony is the favourite application as a mild surface caustic and astringent in these cases, and rightly so; it can be kept well under control, and the extent of its application determined. It should be supplemented by dressings with carbolised tar (120), which keeps out moisture and dirt, and is antiseptic and keeps away the fly. To the interdigital skin in cases of scald, creosote, or the tincture of the perchloride of iron, dilute hydrochloric acid, or corrosive sublimate solution may be applied with benefit, and tow dipped in these solu-

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tions may be insinuated (by means of a probe) into any small fistulas present, but deeper ones should be opened up. Williams recommends tliat the feet be covered witb a solution of gutta percha or some thick drying varnish ; others have invented gutta-percha foot protectors. Of course, there are some cases of extensive disorganisation of the pedal structures which no treatment can cure, and where the digit or the lower part of the limb must be amputated if the animal after such mutilation would be of any value, otherwise the poor brute must be slaughtered, and if he has suffered much and is very poor the carcass should not be sold as human food, indeed, it will be of little value; in some cases, however, the carcass may reasonably be sent to the butcher. Foot-rot ointments are sold by every druggist, and they vary in efficacy from a negative to a positive degree. We may here mention some of the di-essiugs advocated by different authorities, premising that no dressing improperly, carelessly, and imperfectly applied will cure the disease, that nature sometimes cures cases in spite of the most improper dressings, and that any rational application almost, if efficiently and zealously used, will suffice for cure in all cases not beyond power of recovery. Hogg applied a mixture of eight parts of oil of turpentine in one part of sulphuric acid. Prof. Brown dissolves two drachms of mercury in two ounces of nitric acid, adds an ounce each of hydrochloric and acetic acids, and dilutes the mixture with four to twelve parts of water as the case seems to require. Fleming advises application of a mixture of sulphate of copper and Stockholm tar, and mentions Delafond as advocating nitric acid, and Derenden a mixture consisting of an ounce each of nitric and sulphuric acids, with half an ounce of crude opium dissolved in two teaspoonfuls of water, forming sufficient for nearly one hundred sheep. Solutions of chromic acid and bichromate of potash (210 per cent.) are also advocated by some. When many sheep have to be dealt with and labour is scarce and expensive, as in the colonies, the sheep are only in very severe cases treated individually, but as a rule are

ff]

274

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

periodically driven tlirougli a foot-bath containing some stimulant astringent substance, such as warm solution of sulpliate of copper four inches deep and applied for from five to ten minutes, according to tlie strength of the solution. Prophylaxis demands most careful attention by those in charge of sheep, because in badly cared for flocks the disease may be a most serious source of pecuniary loss, pain to the sheep, and expense in time, labour, and money to the owner, and also because it is very decidedly a preventable condition. Pastures such as are liable to give rise to foot-rot cannot always be avoided, but by care in prevention lands which have borne a bad repute may be so kept free from the disease as to recover from the deterioration in value which resulted from their bad reputation. It must be remembered that for moist lands such vigilance is especially needed in wet weather, but that on dry lands extremely dry weather is when foot-rot most prevails and the necessity for preventive measures is most evident. All injuries to and irregularities of the feet must be promptly detected and corrected. Thus inflammation of the intcrungulate canal may if neglected run on into foot-rot, and an attack may first appear as a simple splitting of the cleft of the foot. Again, a long journey when the feet have been overworn and the laminaa have become congested will be liable to produce suppuration beneath the horn, especially if the sheep be put afterwards on wet pasture. The hoofs of all the flock should be examined at least twice a year, preferably every month, and thoroughly shoi-tened, and sheep grazed habitually on soft pastures might with advantage every now and then be turned out on a wide, dry, bare sheep run, or travelled along a hard road, as suggested by Prof. Dick. This examination and paring may best and easiest be done when the feet are clean after a wet day or two. Polding on good, hard, dry ground is an excellent preventive, and artificial hardening of the feet is spoken of very favorably by Prof. Williams as having been beneficially adopted by certain eminent breeders of sheep. They put arsenic, one pound, with some washing soda in a

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gallon of boiling water (making allowance for bubbling) in a cauldron and continue to boil until the arsenic is dissolved. Tliey place a solution of this strength in a wooden trough nine feet long by four feet wide and one and half feet deep, and drive the sheep through the solution deep enough to cover the feet once a week, or oftener if necessary (but in that case lessening the strength of the foot-bath), and the sheep while driven through the bath are prevented jumping- out by hurdles placed along the sides, and they are folded on a bare spot for a short time after the bath to prevent contamination of the pasture with arsenic. Prevention of the contagious form will require special measures. Hogg shows that the alterations produced by destruction of moles in the soil tend to cause foot-rot, a curious and far-seeing observation which may have a good deal of shrewd common sense in it.

Section II.The Eye.

The eye is somewhat frequently the seat of disorder in the sheep, and, as usual with diseases of this animal, those affecting the eye are apt to assume an enzootic character through uniformity of influences acting on the several individuals of the flock. The occurrence of blindness in sheep is apt to remain unnoticed, as the animal, guided by hearing and habit, remains with the flock, moves about and grazes without restraint and difficulty. Careful observation has, however, made it clear that a number of diseased conditions of the eye and its appendages have to be dealt with in treating sheep, and, indeed, that ovine ophthalmology is not deficient of points of considerable special and general interest. Ophthalmia, vulgarly quot; the Blinds,quot; is very frequent, and apt to grow severe and result in blindness ; it sometimes even assumes an epizootic character, especially in autumn, and brings about rapid changes in the eye, particularly opacity of the cornea. Youatt comments on~the sheep as more than other animals being liable to attacks of inflammation of the organ of

276

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

vision, which frequently originates spontaneously in many cases, without evident cause. This disease is, according to Lawrence, known among shepherds as the sheep heing larlc-ttpurred, hecause they have an idea that when the animal treads in the nest of a lark the bii-d springs up and strikes the unfortunate intruder blind with its spurs. quot; H. D. W.,quot; a student, wrote to the ' Veterinary Journal' inquiring as to treatment of an eye disease of black-faced owes of an evanescent chai-acter and apparently i-ecurrent, seen both in winter and summer, both in old and young; he noted the iris inflamed, conjunctiva a little injected, vitreous opaque and bulging, cornea opaque and yellow, somewhat staphylomatous. This inflammation is, it has been noticed, recurrent in character, each attack proving more severe, until cataract with complete blindness results. Thus in apparently constitutional character, unexplained origin, tendency to recurrence, and severity increasing with each repetition, it resembles specific or rheumatic ophthalmia of the horse, of which disease it is considered a close ally. Its exciting causes are those which are apt to give rise to simple ophthalmia when acting on a system exempt from the specific tendency : they are catarrh, exposure after washing or shearing, changes of weather, over-fatigue, and long journeys on dusty roads. It is not, as has been erroneously thought, infectious. It is remarked that in various blood diseases the cornea becomes opaque, and that in Scab the eyelids are very frequently involved, and thus ophthalmia may be a concomitant. Simple ophthalmia is a frequent complication of ordinary nasal catarrh or from exposure to cold, and must be treated by means of astringent ointments or eye lotions, and keeping the affected parts thoroughly clean. It differs in no essentials as regards symptoms and treatment from the same disease in other animals, local bleeding, zinc, and opium lotions proving curative.

The eye of the sheep is laterally placed and very prominent, so it is well adapted to secure for the animal a wide range for horizontal vision. The iris is of light grey colour, and the tapetum of a greenish yellow, ren-

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dering the interior brighter in colour than the pupils of most mammals. There are no corpora nigra ; the anatomical conditions of the eye are supposed to adapt it for nocturnal use and vigilance in discerning approach of prowling beasts of prey during the night. There is a quot; tear pit quot; or larmier in the sheep, a depression below the inner angle of the eye, consisting of skin, with large sebaceous glands fitting in a corresponding depression of the facial bones. In deer activity of the similar organ seems a sexual function associated with rutting, in the sheep a movement between the cutaneous edges of the pit will be noticed in association with mastication. A well-developed Harderian gland lies in cartilago nictitans. Cataract, save when complicated with opacity of the cornea, is not frequent in sheep. Amaurosis is seen rather often, but as a nervous rather than ocular disease, due to tumours and parasites in the cranium causing loss of power of the optic nerve. It is sometimes seen also as a result of injuries of various kinds and in the later stages of some debilitating disorders, such as louping-ill. Fracture of the margin of the orbit from blows and injuries received from the dog, or shepherd, or in fighting is sometimes associated with a bursting of the eyeball, the result of compression. Here the humours and the crystalline body escape, and the sight is entirely and irretrievably lost. Cancerous disease of the eyeball, causing ultimately thorough disorganisation and, earlici¹, suggesting the advisability of enucleation of the eyeball, occurs in the sheep as in the ox, but less frequently; and an eye thus affected may quickly become filled with maggots and decomposing, most offensive material. Dekmatoid conjunctiva, or the presence over part of the eye, even ex-tendinar over the cornea so as to interfere to an extent with vision, of semicuticular, hair-bearing structure has frequently been observed in sheep, and removal of the portion of conjunctiva thus affected has been followed by satisfactory results. Simple staphyloma has been seen in sheep. One unsatisfactory sequela of conjunctivitis is adhesion of the eyelid to the front of the eyeball through

278

DISEASES OF THE SHEKP.

i' n

I -

union of tlie granulations to two exposed surfaces and neglect of animals with sore eyes. This may cause blindness and permanent opacity of parts beyond the adhesion, and probably this is accelerated by nou-removal of foreign bodies from the front of the eyeball in consequence of fixture of the lid. To prevent this in sheep suffering from ophthalmia the eyelids should be frequently moved, and not allowed to become matted together by discharge, also the handle of a small spoon or a piece of hard smooth wood shaped like a spatula may be frequently passed along the whole length beneath the lids to remove discharges and to break down any incipient adhesions, a little carbolic oil and glycerine being used to facilitate movements of the lids. The ill effects of neglected ophthalmia are not uncommonly very marked in cases of Scab, the eruption on or about the lids may cause temporary or even permanent shedding of the eyelashes, adhesion, and crust-like deposits extending over the lids and for some distance down the sides of the face. Armatage writes of Iritis and Retinitis following simple ophthalmia and due to rheumatic conditions, especially cold and wet following warm weather, also to intense radiation of sun's rays from heated ground destitute of vegetation, as especially in the summer of 18G8, when whole Hocks became quite blind. Warts on the Eveuds are almost as frequent in sheep as in cattle, and sometimes by their size and expansion of base they necessitate removal hy excision of a considerable piece of the eyelid, and precautions lest ectropion supervene. Such growths occur more on the upper than on the lower lid ; they may^ when small preferably be removed by caustic.

Section III.The Eae,

There are no auricular mastoid cells in the sheep (Chauveau). Watson, in the 'Veterinarian¹ for September, 1876, recorded the case of a deaf and dumb Leicester sheep devoid of external ears^ and in the November number

JL.L

OKGANS OP SPECIAL SENSE.

279

of the same periodical two similar cases were recorded. This rudimentary or absent condition of the external ear seems not very uncommon ; sometimes the animal is dumb, in other cases the voice is noted as being peculiar and discordant. The external ear is used for punching in it

FlO. 88.Ear-marking pincers.

marks distinctive of the owner ; it is also subject to lacerated and incised wounds and injuries of various kinds from dogs and shepherds, the latter being very fond of slitting it up for cure of sundry diseases. A large coarse ear is looked on with suspicion as indicating coarseness of breed and liability to fatten slowly. Otitis, or inflammation of the dermal lining of the external earj has been noted, attention being drawn to it by an occasional shaking-of the part and low carriage of the head, which is kept a little to one side. Maggots in large numbers may be present in the diseased part, and must be removed as a preliminary to ordinary methods of cure, especially cleanliness and frequent dressing.

Gustation may be perverted, as in the case mentioned by Youatt of a sheep which would eat tobacco and swill spirits.

Smell is doubtless much interfered with in cases of parasitic invasion of the sinuses. The remaining organs and functions of sense require no special mention, with the exception of the skin, which in the sheep is very liable to disease.

,------,- ^--------

280

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

Section IV.The Skin.

The skin or pelt of the sheep is delicate in structure, and therefore can by tanning be converted into some of the most delicate forms of leather used for bookbinding and glove-making, also for parchment. The researches


*pquot;*		#9830;
^Srlt;
U
N

m i
******
	p	*

Fig. SO.

Ktg. 90.

Fig. 89.Arraiigccmcnt of glands and wool (Ercolani), n. Excretory duct of sweat gland; b. Oil gland; c. Hair follicle; d. Hair bulb. Bight-hand figure from interntignlate canal. (From Gaiugee's 'Our Domestic Animals in Health and Disease.')

Fig. 90.Section of skin of sheep (Ganlt). a. Epidermis; i. True skin ; rf. Wool bulb; e. Stem of wool;/. Hair follicle;,?. Oil glands; ft. Sweat glands ; t. Ducts of sweat glands.

of Ercolani have shown that its sudoriparous glands are well developed, and the sebaceous glands are remarkable for their large size, number, and tendency to, as in the dog, coalesce, and the plentiful secretion by which they keep the wool moist and pliable, and protect the surface

raquo;'a fj ^:

OEGANS OP SPECIAL SENSE.

281

of the body. On the presence of a full amount of the sebaceous material or yolk depends to a great degree the health of the sheep and its power of resisting extreme cold, and, on the other hand, the presence of a good quantity of yolk gives mellowness to the fleece by means of which it is the custom to determine the general state of the health, a dull, dry, quot; dead quot; fleece being much objected to by sheep owners. The yolk is calculated to weigh about one half of the unwashed fleece, it is saponaceous, and therefore supplants the necessity for artificial soaps in sheep washing; it contains a notable amount of

Fio. 91.

Fig. 92.

Flamp;. 91.A. Simple oil glands from near the foot of a sheep (Ercolani). B. Compound oil gland from the skiu of the mamma.' in the ewe. C. (a) Stem of hair; (6) Sehaceous glands; (c) Hair bulb and follicle. (From Gamgee.)

Fig. 92.Portion of stem of wool of sheep, showing the imbricated scales of the cortex (Reissner).

potash, an aromatic oil, and fatty matter ; it is alkaline in reaction. The yolk or wool oil of the sheep, known to the ancients as oesypus, has lately been rcintroduced into the Pharmacopoeia in a purified form as lanolin by Oscar Liebreich He shows that it is found in all horny tissue, and the brilliancy and elasticity of horn is exactly proportioned to its amount. When several times rubbed in it makes the skin distinctly softer. It is a cholesterine fat, neutral in reaction, miscible with water.

After washing it is advisable to wait for a few days up to

282

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP,

m *

a week in order to allow the new yolk to rise in the fleece before shearing, to increase the weight and softness of the wool. There is most and best yolk about the neck and shoulders; it differs in qualities in different breeds, the best being found in merinos ; deteriorated yolk sometimes stains the wool. The more sheep are washed in one water the more rich and soapy it becomes, and the more value it is subsequently as manure ; one of the good effects of folding on land is supposed to be the amount of yolk which passes on to the soil, supplying it with potash, which constitutes so much as 6084 per cent, of the yolk. The yolk lessens after six years of age. The hair of sheep is of two kinds, the ordinary coarse variety such as is seen on wild breeds and goats, and the soft, long, more or less curly form which attains such high development in domesticated breeds as to render it an article of great commercial value under the term wool. The hair in high-bred sheep is apt to crop up at times in the form of quot;kempsquot;* or tufts, unless constantly repressed by following the methods of wool improvement adopted by our excellent sheep breeders, to whose efforts we owe not only the enormous increase in amount of wool produced by sheep, but also its varieties as regards length and quality. Thus, as is well known, long, short, and middle wools have each its own special value and properties in the preservation of which much care, zeal, and knowledge has to be constantly expended. The competition of different countries as to qualities of wool is one in which England has always borne a distinguished part, and her colonies have followed in her steps and are now to an extent becoming her rivals. Various methods, varying in refinement and economy, have

* These kemps are removed by combing and scribbling from the long anil short wools respectively ; their coarseness and want of elasticity spoils the cloth and makes it difficult to dye. quot;Jarquot; is short, detached, not very coarse glistening particles of hair found in the fleece; these mostly drop out in processes of manufacture. They are not so objectionable as the long strong-rooted hair which crops out through the wool on the thighs and on the edges of the folds. quot;Cottir.gquot; is a felting of wool on the back. To give merinos destitute of colour the fashionable tint of some of the liest strains they are sometimes artificially coloured (Kasdall).

41*

ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE.

283

been adopted for removal of the fleece ; two of these require special notice. Tearing is adopted in the northern Highlands, and consists in dragging away the old wool as it rises from the skin, leaving the large proportion of hair, quot; scudda,quot; behind, firmly implanted in the skin. This method seems to be termed quot; rowing quot; in the Orkneys; it is found better than shearing for semi-wild sheep with the coat half fleece^ half hair ; it is done with extreme roughness, the blood is determined to the skin, and if the season be harsh much destruction follows (Gamgee). Lambs do not slied their wool in the first year, and when left to the second summer it is called Hoggett wool; breeds producing finer wools often lose some of the coat in spring, probably woxild lose all in due course. In neglected breeds, also, in summer the greater part or all of the fleece separates from the pelt. Yet cases are known where the wool persisted for three (Lord Western) and even five years without then any disposition to separate ; at four years it attained its utmost limit of staple, fourteen inches; this was in merinos. But the tendency to persistency is not confined to any particular breed; good condition, good health and length of wool tend towards persistency. In olden times sheep used to be confined and starved until they became so debilitated that the wool could be torn away freely. Shearing is preferable for a good fleece to other methods of removal of the wool. The time when it should be performed varies according to the locality, breed, season, and condition, the object being to obtain the maximum weight of fleece but not delay until the wool has been shed and is deteriorating and lost. The operation is generally performed in seasonable, warm and mild weather in May and June, the earlier the spring the earlier the shearing, the object being to anticipate shedding of the winter coat. Neglected sheep may not need shearing until June. Too early shearing is damaging to the health of the animal, and cruelly exposes it to cold ; when the old wool has fairly risen from the skin and a coat of new wool covers the skin the sheep is ready for shearing, but the new coat should be ready before the old one is removed j leaving the

284

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

old coat on too long stunts the groAvth of the new, also the wool is damaged by flies, and much of it may be lost ; the more perfect the shearing the better the new crop of wool. We may follow Youatt's example in quoting the following practical description of shearing. quot; A barn or shed, into which plenty of light can be admitted near the shearers, should be selected, and a part of the floor, covered with a large canvas sheet, on which two shearers can operate. The sheet should be nailed down and a little straw placed under it to soften it as a cushion. The floor of the barn should be swept out quite clean, and a light broom should be at hand to sweep the sheet when necessary. Everything being arranged, a shearer seizes a sheep, and sets it on its rump, and keeps it in position by resting the back against his own legs. He removes all straws, thorns, burs, amp;c., that may have adhered to the wool. While thus held, the wool is removed from the head and neck, so far as the shoulders, and also from the belhy, the scrotum, and the edge of the thighs. The head of the animal is then bent down sideways, and the shearer, placing a leg on each side of the head of the sheep, pushes out the opposite ribs by pressing his knees gently against the ribs that are nearest to him. He next shears the wool from the far side with his left hand, from the belly to the middle of the back, and as far down as the loins. The sheep is now turned, and the right hand is employed to shear the wool from the near side. The sheep is then laid flat on its side, and kept down by the shearer with his face towards the rump of the sheep, resting his right knee on the ground in front of the neck, and his right toe being brought to the ground a little behind and below the poll ; the head and neck of the sheep are thus confined by his right leg, while he uses his right hand to shear the wool from the hind quarter. In this way the clips of the shears will appear in concentric rings round the body of the sheep. The dirty portions of wool about the tail are then removed and kept by the shearers themselves ; the outside of the fleece is folded inwards, beginning at the sides, and narrowing the whole fleece into a stripe

laquo;It

ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;285

about two feet wide. This stripe is then rolled firmly up from the tail end towards the neck, the wool of which is stretched out and twisted into a rope and wound round the fleece to give it a cylindrical shape.quot;

Wool is considered to be good when it is fine with close or thickly matted ground, pure, straight haired when broken by drawing^-, elastic (in consequence of its more or less spiral curvature), not too long in the staple, of white colour, tenacious, without too much pitch mark, and having whatever coarse material is in it very coarse. Bad wool among other defects may be thin grounded, quot; toppy quot; or curly haired, contain little fine fibre, tender in staple, devoid of elasticity, over-full of yolk, or dead white as procured from carcases. The following qualities are especially looked for :Fineness of the pile, i. e. a considerable quantity of fine wool in the fleece and each fibre less than #9632;g-jL- inch in diameter. This quality differs much according to breed, part of the body from which taken, and so on. Fineness of staple is evenness of growth, freedom from kemps and coarse hair, and from quot;breachesquot; and un-evenness, breaches being the joints or roots of wool where the fibre is softest and most liable to break. Soundness is strength and freedom from breaches. The wool of diseased sheep is found to be quot;tender.quot; Free from felting or cotting, a matting together into knots of the wool, as seen in neglected and half-starved sheep, especially when the fleece has been saturated with wet. Long exposure to water deteriorates wool, causing it to become quot; watery quot; and swollen. Another common defect is when it becomes quot; feathery.quot; Softness of pile is an advantage, as it increases the value of the wool. It depends on fine fibre, breed, and state of the yolk. Chalky soil detei'iorates the fleece, and keeping wool stored for some time lessens its weight and moth may invade it. Long and middle wools are used for combing ; the former averages eight inches in staple, the latter five inches; short wool is used for carding, and averages three and a half inches in length of staple. Beating and compressing wool together with the aid of moisture is the oldest and original method of

28G

DISEASKS OP THE SHEEP.

manufacture of fabrics from wool; now cloths are prepared by carding and otlier processes, worsteds by combing and its accessory means. The woolstapler is able to select specimens of no less than twelve kinds of wool; four of these are good : Picklock, prime, choice, and super. Six are inferior: head, downrights, seconds, the abb, livery, and breach wool. The felting of wool is found to depend on the imbricated arrangement of the boruy overlapping scales on the surface of the fibre; there is a direct relation between the firmness of wool, spiral flexure of fibres, and degree of serration and imbrication of the surface. Good feeding markedly increases the firmness of wool ; climate materially affects the staple; thus on rich laud in warm places it becomes long and coarse. These facts are condensed from the valuable chapter on the subject in Yonatt On the Sheep.'

Wool is but a variety of hair, long, fine, spiral, and uniform in diameter. The parts of the body on which hair of the ordinary kind grows vary according to the breed and, to an extent, the individual. In all sheep the lower parts of the limbs and more or less of the face are covered with hair, which may be white, mottled, grey, black, or of some red shade in foreign breeds. The sheep farmers of South Africa have to contend against damage to wool production by the tearing out of the growing wool by the achcne or fruit of a plant called Xanthium sjnnosnvi. This plant was first introduced by the achenes adhering to the fleece of imported merinos, and has now become a perfect pest, needing legislative repression. This pernicious plant has also found its way to Australia (Queensland), where it is called the quot; Bathurst burr.quot; However, Xan. strumarium, the small burdock of London, has also been introduced with cotton seeds from South America, and promises to be not only more destructive to wool as having larger burs than Xan. spinosum, but also when eaten it proves poisonous to cattle and sheep, causing much pain, slimy matter tinged with blood from the bowels, and the animal to lie motionless as though paralysed (Gordon). The principal bur-producing plants are

ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;287

burdock [Arctium Zappa), large and small hound's-tonguo or toryweed {Cynoglossum officinale and virginicum), and the wild bur-marigold, beggar ticks, or cuckold [Bidens frondosa). They must be collected and burnt. The dry prickles of thistles also hurt the wool and render it dis

agreeable to wash and smear (Randall).

Earns should be shorn about a fortnight before being turned among the eM'es, the latter when the rams are taken from them, towards the third week in June. Lambs are shorn less frequently now than formerly. Hog's wool is the first fleeces of long, deep staple kinds, tegs wool of the shorter kinds ; wether fleeces are those of the second shearing ; the term quot; ewes quot; is, in the case of long staples,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;' lt;

applied to short, tender, and inferior fleeces from the old or diseased ; in short staples it is applied to wool, both of ewes and wethers. Skin wool is that from sheep slaughtered for human food (Gamgee). The shearing of ewes with lambs causes great confusion in the flock, for the ewes and their young cannot recognise each other at first; this Youatt attributes not so much to change in appearance as to loss of special distinctive odour of the individuals. It is a good plan after shearing to smear with some greasy substance as a temporary substitute for the yolk, and sometimes the animals are clothed with cloth jackets. At any rate, except in the mildest of weather, they should be housed or sheltered, to accustom them to their loss. Inflammation of the lungs or pleura, tetanus, and other severe disorder may follow exposure after shearing ; erysipelas is a disease sometimes due to this cause; and quot; cutaneous asphyxia quot; may be the true pathology of the quot; very mysterious cases in which it appeared as if an animal poison was the cause of destruction among a flock of shorn sheep,quot; as mentioned by Gamgee. In hot weather the animal should be kept without food for a few hours before shearing. An important preliminary tonbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; r

shearing is Washing. This should not be performednbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; ]

immediately before, but an interval of several days allowed between the processes. Some prefer warm water, as not giving the men and sheep cold, as more freely dissolving

#9830;

2öönbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

the yolk and forming a good, natural, saponaceous solution with it, and as more effectual, but it complicates the process, and is unessential, so its advantages are more than counterbalanced by its disadvantages. The simplest method of washing is to cause the sheep to swim across a pool several times, but more elaborate methods are more effectual; by damming up a stream a good bath may be made, suitable for thorough and sufficient immersion, the men standing against a strong wooden dam, rising above the water level and substituted for part of the bank like the quot; bund quot; of an Indian tank. quot; It is common for men to stand in the water for the sheep washing, by which they sometimes get colds and rheumatic complaints, and must besides be supplied with gin ; so disagreeably situated thoy hurry over the work, and the wool suffers. A stream or pond offers the requisite opportunity for doing it well, and at the same time comfortably to the men. Kail off a portion of the water for the sheep to walk into by a sloped mouth at one end, and to walk out by another at the other end, with a depth sufficient at one part for them to swim j pave the whole ; the breadth need not be more than six or seven feet; at one spot let in on each side of this passage, where the depth is just sufficient for the water to flow over the sheep's back, a cask, either fixed or leaded, for a man to stand in dry. The sheep being in the water between them, they wash in perfection, and pushing them on, they swim through the deep part and walk out at the other mouth, where is a clean pen or a very clean, dry pasture to receive them. Of course there is a way to the tubs, and a pen at the first mouth of the water whence the sheep are turned into it, where they may be soaking for a few minutes before being driven to the washes quot; (* The Sheep/ Warne's Country Library). The washing bath and the dipping bath must, of course, be quite distinct, and the latter should not be allowed to run into streams, as it will probably prove poisonous to fish. A vivid description of washing lowland sheep may here be inserted as likely to be interesting to the reader : quot; At least three, and at most four, men will be necessary to stand in the water, so

ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;289

arranged that the first man shall be the lowest down the stream and the last man shall be the shepherd himself. There should be plenty of hands to keep the sheep near the edge of the water, for the ewes are apt to wander away in search of their lambs, which should be left at the homestead on this occasion. Everything being thus prepared, the first man at the water's edge should get a sheep brought towards him, which he seizes and pulls towards him into the water, and immediately turns over on its back, holding the arm of the fore-leg with the left hand and grasping a portion of the wool at the side of the head with the right hand. He swings the sheep into the water, turning it over on the one side and on the other, while at the same time he pulls it gently backwards and forwards, to and fro from him at every successive turning. In the process the wool waves up and down in the direction of the length of the body, and twirls round the body, first in one direction then in another. He then hands the sheep to the next washer, who repeats the same operation, and he to the next till the shepherd gets it, who, after feeling the skin #9632;with his hand and judging by the clear state of the water of the cleanly condition of the animal, dips him over the head, and turns him gently over on his feet, and assists him up the grassy bank, where he stands dripping and woe-begone. At length, twirling his wool like a mop, and making the spray fly from him iu a shower, he forgets the rough handling he has passed through, and begins to crop the green herbagequot; {' Quarterly Journal of Agriculture/ vol. iii, p. 867). After washing, the sheep must be kept in a dry meadow and sheltered from inclement weather until shearing.

After shearing the owner's mark is put on the animal ; it used to be composed of ochre and tar, but this was difficult to remove and thus lessened the value of the fleece, and a mixture of lamp-black and tallow, with a small quantity of tar, was found preferable, removable by means of soapsuds, but sufficiently durable against storms.

Some efforts have been made to differentiate the simple disorders of the skin of the sheep, but much remains to

#9632;#9632;

i!!

290

DISKASES OK THE SHEEP.

H' '

be done iu this direction. Youatt refers to a form of scab, wbicb is rather Acute Pruritus, but which, as a distinct disease, does not seem to have been fully recognised. It is most prevalent iu Norfolk, we are told ; the sheep look ragged and tufty, some few seem as if mad, jumping about and staggering as though drunk. Most of the flock scratch furiously without a moment's intermission, the wool falls iu flakes, yet the skin is clear and presents no appearance of disease. The better the food the more severe the

i4i

itchiug, but the d

isease

seems not to be contagious. The

animals waste and die in three or four months, and the flesh is found green and stinking. Treatment consists in housing the animals, shearing them closely and washing them every second day with lime-water and tobacco decoction or anointing them with unguentum mercurialis.

Erysipelas is frequent in sheep, more so in them and dogs than in other domesticated animals (Gamgee). It follows injuries to the skin in shearing, and is then severe. Other cases seem to depend on plethora and suppression of skin excretion. Dick observed it generally in winter and first affecting the breast and belly. Fleming alludes to it as a disease of high temperature. Youatt mentions it as quot; erysipelatous scab,quot; a non-parasitic form of skin eruption, which unfortunately has received the name quot; red water/' and so clashed with sanguineous ascites in the nomenclature. In it the skin is raised into blisters containing a reddish watery fluid, which by bursting of the cuticle becomes discharged as thin pus and forms a blackish scab. This is rare, but a similar condition of a more wide-spread and violent character, and quot;to a certain degree infectious,quot; sometimes occurs as an epizootic, and receives the name of quot; wild fire.quot; According to Dick it is most frequent in autumn, continues about eight days, and the sufferer is liable to relapse. Youatt speaks of a violent dermatitis, epizootic only, under the name of ignis sacer. He treats such conditions by bleeding, purging, and local applications of common or camphoretted oil.

Eczema is common in the sheep as in all other domesticated animals assuming the acute vesicular form. Gamgee

¹1

ORGANS OP SPECIAL SENSE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;291

calls it impetigo labialis s. facialis^ Edgar speaks of it as crusta labialis et facialis. It occurs especially in young-slieep when highly fed, is rare when they are on green food only, but has been noted particularly when they are turned in summer to pasture on clover with many bristles (Edgar). In America it has been attributed to St. John's-wort. Morrell tells us that sometimes the body and legs are affected and the bowels become involved, and it proves fatal to lambs, causing brain symptoms. Salt is recommended as a preventive, and tar and lard as treatment. Hering in 1833-4 saw swelling, redness, and sloughing of the white parts of the skin among animals which partook of buckwheat in Hower and seed, and other observers have noted that it follows feeding on buckwheat. Edgar recommends liquor arsenicalis in its treatment, but finds that generally entire change of diet and situation and a dose or two of salines suffices to remove the eczema.

Ecthyma is often seen as an eruption on the skin of sheep, especially in the summer months, of small pointed pustules, which disappear without leaving any cicatrix. These are unimportant, except that they must not be mistaken for the pustular stage of sheep-pox (Brown). Armatage refers to Psoriasis, quot; rat-tails,quot; as seen in sheep when kept on wet pastures containing clay and irritating substances such as lime, particularly in cold weather. The skin of the limbs inflames, becomes blistered, cracks, discharges ichorous fluid, and is the seat of chronic ulcers, which cause much lameness, pain, and loss of condition.

Impetigo larvalis, Lämmergrind (German), is a pustular condition assuming various forms and found on the face and lips of lambs and goats, and supposed to be due to too rich milk or to the presence of irritant substances in the animal's fodder. Gamgee describes it quot; often in lambs either on the under (?) or lower lip, are seen round pustules from which a thick scab or crust drops oS in a few days, leaving a red and inflamed skin. . . Not unfre-quently we find that lambs folded on long grass, especially when there is an abundant dew, suffer from excoriations and pustules. I have seen many cases associated

292

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

I ;

with considerable fever, but all symptoms disappeared on removal of the cause, *. e. ou changing the diet.quot;

Ekythema.Chaps on the udders of ewes and lips of lambs are described as Ery. chronicuni, and noted as remarkable in well-kept plethoric animals at springtime ; we have dealt with them under the heading Aphtha, with which disease they seem to be associated. Randall considers chapped lips perhaps due to the dry prickles of bull thistles in hay. He notes this condition as frequent in winter, and finds that tar and sulphur treatment removes it. Read, of Crediton, in 1846 reported losses from traumatic erythema in his district to amount to 30 per cent, or more, farmers attributing the disease to flies and to hot and scorching weather in June. Acute dermatitis led to early subcutaneous effusion. In some cases the skin was yellow, with petechial spots. Swellings occurred, at first hard and then could be indented by pressure. Death resulted from gangrene. This reads like the disease described above as erysipelas. Erythema in-tertrigo is described by Gamgee as common after shearing, especially in warm climates, and as causing much suffering of sheep in Germany, owing to the filthy stables in which they are kept in large numbers.

(Edema.Of external dropsies from which sheep suffer one of the most remarkable is that which has been termed quot; swelled head.quot; Wounds on the head are said to frequently become thus complicated in consequence of the constant pendent condition of the head in grazing. The swelling is also attributed in some cases to poisoned wounds from insects and vipers. In this latter case ammonia administered internally and carron oil applied externally is suitable treatment. An obscure form of quot; great head,quot; possibly specific oedema, was described by Hogg as occurring in Skye and on the Grampian and other hills among sheep which frequent the bare tops of hills except when driven from them every night. The result of this exposure is cellulitis or cellular dropsy of the head, leading to abscess, the sheep either rapidly dying from exhaustion or recovering. It has been attributed to a peculiar little

i; i

^-#9632;quot;'-'

ORGANS OP SPECIAL SENSK.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;293

monster, Phaam, wlio frequents the mountains, and if any

living being crosses where he lias passed, that being will

suffer from enlarged head in mimicry of his large skull!nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;|

Ringworm has been described as affecting the sheep, but

is rare.

SCAB, SHAB, Acariasis ovis, is a parasitic disorder of the skin well known from the earliest times, extremely wide-spread and a severe pest to the agriculturist, because it destroys the wool and skin of sheep, reduces the condition of the affected animal and undermines his constitution ; it proves expensive and troublesome in treatment, renders its victims for the time it persists unfit for breeding purposes, and, finally, it in many countries places the farmer under legal restrictions as regards removal of the diseased animals from pasture to pasture ; the law also forbids sale of the diseased sheep and compels their treatment in a proper manner (Act of 1878). The disease is, fortunately, less frequent than formerly, and where the legal restrictions are strictly enforced, becomes eradicated, a result said to have been achieved by some of the Australian colonies and much to their credit and advantage. In the united Kingdom the disease still prevails extensively, but is less frequent now than before it was the subject of legal restrictions, which have, however, been longer in force in connection with scab than with any other disease of sheep. It has been observed by Reynal that the prevalence of scab is invariably related to thenbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; (f

development of agriculture in any country, but this sweeping rule will not stand minute inquiry. Youatt observed that there are several different forms of scab related to seasons of occurrence and the animals affected. This observation has been recently confirmed to a degree which would probably have astonished Youatt, no less than three varieties of scab having been distinctly differentiated as being due to various species of acari. Two of these may be promptly disposed of as being only to a minor degree important from a practical point of view.

Saecoptic Scabies.Youatt mentions as described under the name of quot;black muzzlequot; an eruption seen both in

294

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe, consisting of pimples and scab about the nose, sometimes extending to the eyes and ears, encircling the former and covering the latter. Most frequent in lambs, especially when

)

Fig. 98.Dermatodectes ovis (Gbksach).

sucking, considered due to chapped and filthy teats of the ewe or to feeding among stubble or on stony ground. It was thought to be quot; non-infections'^J or not readily

OftGANS OF SPECIAL- SENSE.

295

Fig. 94.

Fig. 05.

Figs. 94 and 95.Ectozoa of sheep ; the tick aiKi tlie loose (for comparison with the acari which produce scab).

Flamp;. 06. Youiiff 6-Icggecl acavus. x 100. Drawu with camera (Brown).

296

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

communicable, and was found to be readily cured by applicafciou of mercurial ointment (I part), diluted with 11 parts of sulphur ointment. Thus Youatt seems to have been acquainted with the disease known in France

#9632; f

i H

Fig. 97.Mature male acaroa from sheep with scab, x 100. Drawn with camera (Hkown).

as Noir Mitseau or Datre (Chabert), information concerning the true nature of which has been introduced into this country by Dr. Fleming. Its first indications are found

#9632; '

.j. muK #9632;

ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE.

297

on the upper lip, around the nostrils, rarely on the eyelids, and around the ears. There is intense pruritus, and on examination may be discerned well-defined vesicles with, red areola. The animal licks the lips and scratches the diseased parts with the fore and hind limbs. Thus the

Fig. 98.Mature female aearus (sheep scab), x 100. Drawn with camera (Bkowk).

vesicle becomes broken, a yellowish discharge escapes and dries into a round hard crust. The disease extends to the parts used in rubbing, so that the legs become covered with papules, vesicte, and greyish scabs, beneath which latter the Sarcoptes can be found. The parasites extend

lt;

^5W

298

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

their ravages only to the parts covered by hah*, the several patches on the face coalesce, and at length form one enormous scab; the skin becomes thick, corrugated.

iO. Drawn with camera (Hrown).

a.nbsp; Mature female acarus in a massnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; d. Ovum with yolk contracted.

of scab.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; e. Ovum containing a young acarus.

b.nbsp; nbsp;Young acarus after change of skin.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; f. Ovum with young acarus in inte-

c.nbsp; Cast-off skin of an acarus.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; rior about to be hatched.

and even ulcerated ; respiration, prehension, and vision are interfered with by the swelling of the orifices. Professor Williams records a case which proved fatal from exhaustion.

SyiiBiOTic Scabies bas only recently been discovered by

I .

M i

ORGANS OP SPECIAL SEXSK.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;299

Zürn, of Leipzig. He observed a disorder on well-bred but neglected slieep, especially of tbe breed known as Negretti, known to shepherds as quot; SalzflusSjquot; because they attributed it to excess of salt in the food of the sheep. It prevailed amongst animals housed in winter as an eruption at the lower parts of the limhs^ and especially the pasterns, in the hollows of which it was much marked. The skin becomes corrugated, thick, and ulcerated after a preliminary stage of infiltration, exudation, and encrusting. It is very local and extends only gradually; examination of the crusts shows the parasites in numerous family groups, the males being nearly as numerous as the females, rather an unusual feature of acari.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;I

Thus Sarcoptes (flesh burrowers or hiders) and Sym-biotes (livers in family groups) are pathogenic in the sheep. The latter have been variously designated Dermatophages (Fürstenburg), Chorioptes (Gervais), and Sarcodermato-dectes (Delafond), but by far the most serious tormentors of the sheep are the Psoroptes (crust hiders), known also as Dermatodectes (skin prickers), or Dermatocoptes (Fürstenburg).

Dermatodectic Scabies or True Scab is that too familiar to shepherds, farmers, and veterinarians in every part of the world. The most prominent symptom is a most severe pruritus, compelling the patient to rub itself wherevernbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;'

possible, against hedges, posts, hurdle stakes, trees, and other such objects ; to scratch and kick himself with hisnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;'

feet, thus dirtying the wool wherever the feet can reach ;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; ;

to nibble and bite himself wherever possible, and to benbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;t

extremely restless and violent in all his efforts to afford himself relief. There is what is termed a quot; flowering of the fleece/' a loosening of it in tufts, giving it a raggednbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.

and tufted appearance, with occasional large bare spots, the wool being irregular, brittle, dry, and hard. The back, shoulders, and upper part of the neck are generally affected, the brisket later being invaded. Gentle frictionnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;,

to these parts causes the animal to move its lips and jaws with pleasure ; this quot; nibbling-quot; may best be detected by putting one hand on the mouth, while the other rubs the

300

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

iit

affected parts, but it is generally detectable plainly when the animal is touched. In a pasture whei-e a scabby flock has been feeding, loose flocks of wool will be found lying about, and especially adherent to all convenient quot; rubbing places,quot; some of which will probably be in use by the sufferers at time of examination. Even in the excitement of being shipped or entrained the sheep cannot resist the inclination to rub themselves, and will take advantage of the edges of boxes, gangways, landing-stages, and such like, to obtain such temporary relief as rubbing affords. The unkempt appearance, roughness and change in colour of the coat, and poor condition of a scabby flock at ouce attracts attention to it, and the various attitudes assumed by the poor animals in their attempts to scratch or rub soon leave no doubt about the matter. In Australia grass seeds often cause biting and scratching, but this is not performed so sharply nor persistently as when due to scab. On cool days, except in bad cases, it may be necessary to pinch and scratch the parts with a sharp instrument to cause nibbling (Bruce). The continuous scratching, biting, and rubbing soon renders the skin raw, and then it is liable to be attacked by the fly, and maggots penetrate the subcutaneous tissues and ravage in their usual manner, increasing the suffering and exhaustion of the patient. quot; When permitted to run its course unchecked, the malady commonly results in a complete loss of the wool and extensive structural (and functional) derangement of the integument ; the surface of the body becomes covered with scabs, the sebaceous follicles, being obstructed at their exit from the skin, are dilated with an accumulation of secretion, and form nodules or buttons all over the body. The fleece on the back, shoulders, and rump becomes light coloured from rubbing ; the wool is knotty or broken, and it hangs in loose tufts about the shoulders from scratching with the hind feet, on the back and ribs from biting, and on the rump from rubbing. The muscles of the back and loin are wasted, the abdomen is pendulous, an offensive odour is extracted from the surface, and the aspect of the animal is miserable in the extreme quot; (Brown). For some time the strength

ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSK.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;301

of the animal enables it to resist the intense irritation of the disorder, and the derangement resulting from functional imperfection of the skin, but gradually the health gives way and the animal at last succumbs. Scab practically never becomes cured without treatment, locally the scab becomes quot; raised,quot; indicating that the parasites have ceased to occupy particular parts of the skin,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; ! which gradually recover their normal structure to an extent, but the whole body is never thus relieved from invasion, for the strength of the animal gives way before it can occur. quot; Foot mangequot; is troublesome scab affecting the skin above the hoof and tending to extend up tj towards the thigh. The progress of the disease is influ- #9632; enced to a mai-ked degree by the weather and season. As Professor Brown remarks, the finer the weather and the better suited it is for sheep the more favorable it is for spread of the disease ; and he urges that quot; no safe rule can be given for calculating the modifying influence of atmospheric changes irrespectively of the condition of the animals, stage of the disease, number of the flock, locality, and the nature of the remedies which are used ; but it is always correct to assert that, all other things being equal, scab will spread more rapidly in hot dry weather than during the prevalence of wet and cold.quot; Taking this fact into conclusion, and considering also the large size of the j flocks and the unenclosed character of the country, we cannot be surprised at scab making enormous headway in a country with such favorable climatic conditions as Aus- ^ftralia. The most striking seasonal phenomenon in Great Britain and Ireland is that during the winter the disease ! is at a standstill owing to quiescence of the parasite, and in cold weather at all times the same thing is to a less degree observed. Thus a recrudescence occurs in the * spring and early summer, when the acari are re-aroused into activity ; this is naturally often mistaken for a fresh attack, and we are therefore told the disease occurs particularly in the spring and after exposure to cold and stormy weather, whereas it may occur at any time from con- j tagion, but the parasites are more liable to migrate, as

jiujBiuajiua xti

502

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

being more active during warm than cold weather, and it has been noted that they become active when the scab dries. Putting a freshly shorn affected sheep among unshorn sheep readily spreads it through the flock, for the longer the wool the more liable are the sheep to invasion ; thus the long-woolled breeds specially suffer from scab, those animals with loose fleece and little yolk being particularly apt to become diseased. Old and unhealthy animals and those exposed to starvation, neglect, over-driving, imperfect housing, and excessive harrying with dogs are said to be most frequently and earliest affected, but it will be observed that these are the conditions of an ill-kept flock or individuals, and that in direct ratio with want of proper care and attention is the liability of the flock or individual to disorder. Whether or not debility predisposes to this as to other parasitic invasions has not been thoroughly settled, but it is probable that laxity of tissue is favorable to invasion of the skin and debility uufavor-able to development of a sufficiency of yolk, the natural protective of the sheep's skin. Ewes in lamb are known to be especially severely affected and frequently invaded. In summer, when the fleece has been removed and the pastures are in good order and the climatic conditions favorable, the disease is much checked in prevalence. The supposed spontaneous origin of the disorder is now considered no longer a tenable view, for it involves spontaneous generation of such highly orgauised beings as acari, recent researches on the life-history of which have shown great tenacity of life and powers of multiplication, such as fully suffice to explain all cases of supposed spontaneity ; indeed, so thorough is the collapse of the spontaneous generationists in this instance that those who hold the opposite view concerning other contagious disorders are encouraged to hope that the inarch of science will prove in due course that they also cannot originate de novo. The skin becomes red and rough at first, or white hard spots form, with numerous points of yellow exudation ; there may be numerous, small, hard points, succeeded by vesicles and pustules. These latter burst, and the fluid

raquo;

ORGANS OP SPECIAL SENSE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;303

which escapes dries, forming the scah or crust, which at first consists of small, round, hard masses ; later these become confluent and form considerable patches. The lymphatic vessels and glands become enlarged, especially in connection with skin abrasion and penetration by the fly. In animals kept in hot and confined sheds and houses the chang-es in the skin are very rapid, and none of the sheep remain exempt from contagion, although in pastures some individuals enjoy comparative immunity. Hot weather or placing the animal in a warm position at once aggravates the irritation. Youatt commented on the frequency of eye disease in scabby sheep, and that sometimes the symptoms first appear on the eyelids. Evidence tends to show that direct transmission from sheep to sheep is less frequent than indirect transmission, the rubbing places being foci of transmission, which are specially potent j it seems that the acari, when on the sheep, are usually comfortable and little inclined to desert, but from the rubbing places they are on the look-out to return to more luxurious quarters on the living animal. However, as Professor Brown shows us, a small quantity of wool and scabs suffice for diagnosis not only as to the disease but also as to its duration, and as to whether the animal from which the wool was taken was at the time suffering from the disease or had completely recovered. Presence of acari with their ova and of their young brood and cast-off skins in all probability will suffice to settle the first point, the condition of the wool, dehrig, and development of the parasites will guide us as to the second, and the raised condition of the scab {i. e. its being attached to the hairs at some distance from their root) suffices lor the third. It is manifest that exact determination as to the period of existence of scab, and as to whether it has or not been brought under control is of great importance in its relations to breach of warranty, to liability for infringements of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, and as regards movability of the animals. Specimens of wool from the dried skins of diseased sheep some months after death may prove a basis for good expert evidence in a law court. A one-inch objective amply


	F i i. i.	J
	1	r

804

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

suffices for diagnosis. The acari are visible to the naked eye as white points, which can he plainly seen on a dark surface. It is the more remarkable, therefore, that they were discovered only comparatively recently, in 1812, by Walz. He found that the parasites are male and female, and described the behaviour of each sex when put on the skin of a healthy animal. His observations have been well supplemented by those of numerous subsequent workers, notably Gerlach, Hertwig, Delafoud, Fürsteuburg, Simonds, Bourguinon, and Brown, so that we are well acquainted with the Ufe-history of Psoropten or Derma-todectes ovis. Both male and female acari (the latter carry young and eggs on their legs. Directly the young are hatched from eggs on the skin they burrow) placed on the skin or on the wool quickly burrow through the cuticle, and bury themselves, leaving either no mark or a small red point to indicate the spot of entry. In man, ten days after invasion by tbe similar parasite, a sense of pricking is experienced. Generally from the tenth to the twelfth day, small papular nodules begin to appear on the surface, preceded by a little hardening of the skin, and a yellow scurf which was noticed on the eighth day by Hertwig, when he experimentally transferred a mature female to the surface. When males only have been transferred, the eruption develops, but is slight and soon ceases, a small scab forming, but when females only or together with males have been transferred, the disease develops fully ; and to explain this we may give a summary of some of the admirable experimeuts (quoted by Brown) of Professor Hertwig to illustrate modes of conveyance of the disease.

I. Contact of sick animals with sound:

(a) Subject left for some days w^rith three diseased. On tenth day, several acari found on the back; on twelfth day, several small, yellowish spots on the skin ; on fourteenth day, the spots moist; on fifteenth day, scabs beginning to be apparent; on sixteenth day, scabs larger, and the sheep nibbled when the parts were rubbed; at the end of the fourth week the scabs had extended over the back and shoulders, and commenced in the neck. At the

i I r ii

ORGANS OP SPECIAL SENSE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;305

end of the tenth week tliey had covered the body. Treatment was commenced on twenty-third day in this case, but proved ineffectual.

(fc) Subject left in contact with one diseased sheep for several days. On seventh day, acari seen, but no irritation of the skin ; on ninth day, yellow spots on many parts of the skin, acari along the back and behind the shoulders ; on tenth day, skin elevated and inflamed in spots, a glairy discharge dried up to form scabs; on fourteenth day, the symptoms well developed, the scab hard and adherent; on nineteenth day, disease had extended to the neck, skin in some places blue and green ; finally, only the legs and feet remained free from the disease.

II. Direct transference of acari :

(laquo;) By means of a lock of wool placed and fixed in contact with the skin. On tenth day small scabs and several young acari were found, and the skin was irritable. At the end of the seventh week scab had formed over the greater portion of the back.

(h) One mature female placed on the skin. On second day the parasite could not be seen ; on eighth day, a little yellow scurf on the spot, and the skin around hardened ; on tenth day, the skin rough and moist, with a yellow exudation ; on thirteenth day, a quantity of yellow scurf, the skin around inflamed, and the animal nibbled when rubbed ; on fourteenth day the scurf darker, and five young acari found under the scab ; on thirty-first day, a patch of disease over five inches in circumference. Gerlach inoculated with skin exudation, dried scab, and blood, but in each case with negative results.

These results have been detailed, because they will prove an accurate guide as to thelength of time disease has existed on an animal or on any particular part of an animal. To determine the duration of any case, the state of the back, the part generally first invaded, should be the guide unless there be any obvious indication to the contrary; of course the oldest disease spot on the animal is that which

806

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

[^! f

'.raquo; I-¹

must be taken as a guide to date of invasion. When the scab is raised, it indicates chronic or cured disorder, the duration of which is uncertain. The condition of the acari also gives a certain amount of information ; they are hatched about the eighth day after the ova are expelled by the female, on the fourteenth day or thereabouts occurs the first change of skin, on the twenty-fifth day the second change, on the thirty-sixth day the third change, and at the beginning of the seventh week the acarus begins to lay eggs. These results have been obtained from the parasite of man, but are approximately those which occur in the corresponding ovine organism. The male has its third pair of legs long and perfect, the fourth being rudimentary and having no suckers. The female has a body larger and rounder than that of the male, with its third and fourth pairs of legs almost equal in size ; the fourth pair bears suckers, but there are none on the third. In the young before the first change of skin, the fourth pair of legs is absent j the young ones are soft and transparent j there are said to be from eight to fifteen in each litter, and they adhere to the legs of the mother (Walz). Gerlach gives an interesting calculation of the rapidity of multiplication of acari, from which it seems that in three mouths a single pair will have descendants to the sixth generation, amounting to about a million females and half that number of males. As the number of parasites is in direct ratio to rapidity of spread of the disease we cannot wonder that the invasion of the skin becomes very marked at the end of a month ; weather influences rapidity of hatching of the ova and therefore of spread of the disease to an extent.

The acarus will not live on the horse, ox, nor even on an animal so closely allied to the sheep as the goat; when placed on the skin of man it produces only a small red spot and temporary inconvenience; thus the disease, though allied to the mange in other animals and the itch in mankind, differs essentially from them ; the common mange of the horse is due to a Dermatodectes, but that of the dog being dependent on a Sarcoptes is still further


	I	t
	*	1
		,j
		'# *

ORGANS OP SPECIAI, SENSE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;307

different from scab in slieep. The scab insect in sheep is rarely found where the wool is thinnest, as on the chest, belly, insides of the thighs, and limbs, it must be searched for in the wool and scab ; the Sarcoptes have teeth adapted for cutting in strong jaws and short legs projecting but little from the body j they penetrate the true skin, but the Dermatodectes are to be found among the wool and the scab. Newly hatched acari when kept in a dry place die in a few days, but the older ones are much more tenacious of life ; Hertwig finds that at 47deg; F. the parasite dies in two hours, and that it lives in cold weather for six days, in hot weather for ten ; Gerlach considers four weeks a sufficient leugth of time to keep sheep out of a pasture which has been infested with these parasites. Other observers give different estimates; thus one finds that at a temperature alternating from 29deg; to 59deg; F. the acari lived for twenty-eight days, another puts the duration of their vitality apart from the sheep's body at the long period of eight months ; the conclusions of Hertwig and Gerlach are to be accepted, these observers being among the most distinguished of the numerous and able veterinarians of Germany. Gerlach's directions for detection of acari are worthy of recollection :

1.nbsp; nbsp;Place _ animals in the sun; Sarcoptes do not get on the surface of the scales and hairs as Dermatodectes do, and these latter can be seen with the naked eye.

2.nbsp; nbsp;Sarcoptes occur below the scales or scabs which may be so firmly adherent that on its removal the skin may bleed. Dermatodectes after exposure of the animal to the sun are found on the outer surface of the scales. '^c The scales examined should always be fresh; they may be laid on black paper, in a warm place in the sun, and then examined by a weak lens embracing a wide field of view. The small Sarcoptes are only discovered when the cuticle has been removed with the scab.quot;

3.nbsp; nbsp;To find Sarcoptes easily and certainly lay the scales with under surface uppermost on the arm into the skin of which they will burrow in twelve hours, under the scab, and on removing this the parasite is seen as a white spot

;

Kff

.., v-

;

308

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

on red skin or a red papule. If many parasites are on the scab they may be found on the arm in a few hours, and if only a few perhaps not till next day. Dermatodectes may be found in a similar way sometimes only in one hour. When Sarcoptes are found in this way the arm should be dressed with 01. Tereb. or oatmeal to dispose of any parasites remaining. Old hard scabs may need to be disintegrated with a little caustic potash solution before microscopical examination.

Post-mortem examination of sheep which die of scab besides the cutaneous lesions and the resulting anaemia show generally intestinal inflammation of a chronic character associated with the presence of many helminths; the liver scirrhous; the spleen enlarged, and frequently effusions into the chest and belly. A rough estimate of the loss in money to France annually from scab is five millions of francs ; the losses in Great Britain, Ireland, and the colonies are still very great. These points will indicate what a serious practical matter the treatment of scab is, and it will be at once evident that its prevention and cure is a matter of national importance. The steps to be taken with this aim comprise (I) legislative measures and the action of the sanitary veterinary officers of Government, (2) vigilance on the part of the farmer to avoid contamination of his Hocks, and (3) energetic measures for repression when unfortunately the disease appears. Quarantine of imported sheep, except those destined for immediate slaughter, destruction of wool and skins in severe cases, but their prompt treatment with acaricides in milder cases, systematic dressing with acari-cides of fair pens, sheep trucks, and sheep-carrying ships, thorough cleansing of places known to have been occupied by scabby sheep, especially such parts of them as are evidently convenient for rubbing against ; substitution in markets and fairs iron pens for wood, as the latter splinter and entangle and retain locks of wool (Gamgee) ; careful avoidance of accidental or intentional coming together of sick and healthy; keeping the diseased 200 yards apart from roads, pastures containing sound sheep, and from

I I

ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;309

other places where sound sheep may become contaminated, are all measures essential for prevention, and further precautionary measures will suggest themselves for avoidance of contagion in particular cases; Ave have seen that places in which scabby sheep have been should not be reoccupied by sheep for at least one month, preferably a longer period. Imperfect and half-hearted treatment is a source of great danger, and so too is the tendency of some owners to give the attempt to eradicate the disorder up in despair, and just keep the disease under control by occasional treatment of those of the flock which are most severely affected. By such measures the disease is simply kept going on a farm, and the annual loss is apt to be augmented rather than decreased. Another danger is lest the men set to apply remedies be allowed to work against time. Great care is requisite when a large number of sheep has to be dealt with that each receives the full attention his case requires, but that no delay occurs un-nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;i

necessai^-ily; thus the overseer of dipping, salving, and other operations adopted for cure or prevention of scab has to be careful, painstaking, and vigilant ; he must not be told that a certain number of sheep are to be done in a certain time, but must be allowed to exercise his discretion. Treatment of scab must be effectual for destruction of theacari, cheap, simple, readily and quickly practicable, it must hurt neither sheep, wool, nor men who apply it. It may beneficially continue in the depths of the wool for some little time after application, that it may destroy the young acari as they are hatched from the ova which escaped destruction or removal; most applications require repetition after about ten days, sometimes even a second or third time. The systems which have been found practicable are dipping, smearing or salving, and pouring, each of which processes must be noticed in detail. The days when it was considered sufficient for the shepherd if he saw a patch of scab on a sheep to catch the animal, spit on the patch, and rub it with mercury ball have long passed by, and some of the methods of treatment now resorted to are most elaborate, especially in Australia and

iquot;JJii!iquot;iP

^^^^

310

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

the otliei* colonies where lahour is expensive and sheep are very numerous. In England the old tub-dipping arrangement is sometimes still resorted to. Dipping consists in the thorough immersion of the sheep in some acaricide fluid contained in a bath (or a dipping well in some cases), its proper performance depends on adoption of a number of precautions and exercise of the greatest care. The liquid used varies much in different cases and countries ; every chemist has his formula for a sheep dip, ranging from McDougall's valuable compound and Tusou's equally valuable soluble sheep-dip mixture to the poisonous empi-i-ical preparations of local country chemists and the ancient recipes in possession of shepherds and farmers. So numerous are the preparations which their originators and possessors arc prepared to swear by, that one is driven to the conclusion that any acaricide if properly applied will be effectual, and, further, that if improperly applied it may prove extremely fatal to the flock. With a view to a clear understanding of this subject of dipping we may first describe some methods adopted by practical authorities, and then give some of the recipes of our leading-authors, winding up our remarks on the subject with some precautions as to details of the pi-ocess. Mr. Bruce, Chief Inspector for Sheep in New South Wales, issued official instructions on dipping, which were published in the ' Edinburgh Veterinary Eeview.' Of these instructions a precis may be given, as they are most practical, and give the process as carried out on a large scale. The receiving and forcing yards should preferably be of a circular form ; this turns to advantage the habit of quot;ringingquot; which sheep have when disturbed in a yard, and saves labour by men and dogs, and the sheep cannot quot; packquot; or stop, however much they try. It also is advisable to have the exit of the yard near the entry, because the instinct of the sheep prompts him to try to get out where he came in. If the sheep are at all backward in moving let a man jump over the fence and run through the flock in a direction opposite to that in which they are wanted to move, this will start them at once.

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There must be several yards in series, so that too many are not in any one of them at a time ; from the last yard to the dip must run a race 2 feet 3 inches wide hy 20 feet long-, and having the last five feet smooth and at an incline of 25deg;30deg;, in order that the sheep may slide along it into the dip. The yards can be used for drafting purposes, after disinfection, by simple modifications. The race and commencement of the dip should have high fences to prevent the sheep jumping out. Around the dip should be a stage from which the sheep can be thrnwn into the dip either by men or by means of a tilt. The sheep on the race and stage should not be able to see the dip, nor those in the yards be able to see the stage and dip. Decoy pens may be placed in such a position that the sheep coming up see those in these pens and suspect nothing ; this economises much time. A slide gate separates the race from the dip, and is better than use of simple hurdles for the purpose. Three kinds of dips are used in Victoria and South Australia.

(1)nbsp; nbsp;Bound, 9 feet in diameter and 8 feet deep in the cleai', having a drawgate 4| feet wide at the commencement of the race from the dip into the draining¹ yard, which race is 1015 feet long by 4i feet wide, commencing at 2 feet from the bottom of the dip and gradually rising to the level of the draining yard.

(2)nbsp; nbsp;Oblong, 2025 feet long by 4 feet long at the stage end narrowing gradually to 2 feet 3 inches at 12 feet from the end of the stage, remaining that width to the race to draining yard which is 2 feet 3 inches wide by 1015 feet long.

(3)nbsp; nbsp;Is used with circular yards. It is similar to No. 2, but is 2 feet 3 inches across throughout. The dip is made of pine tongued and grooved or of colonial timber sawn or in slabs. Around the race and dip should be puddled to a thickness of 2 feet if colonial timber be used, and the slabs should be secured with stays attached to posts in the ground behind the dip. The depth and contents in gallons should be indicated by a plainly marked scale on the sides ; there should be a depression

312

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

on the side next to the boilers to collect the mixture. Both dip and draining race should have water-tight covers. The draining' yards (which may be two in number each for 200-300 sheep) and the gangway which leads to them should have battens so arranged as to allow the drippings to flow back into the dip. The tobacco and sulphur dip is used. Infusion boilers with air-tight covers must have one pound of tobacco to five gallons of water, and the infusion be made in the same way quot; as though making tea,quot; allowed to stand for eight to ten hours, then fresh water may be boiled with the tobacco for two houi-Sj this may be drawn off and a second boiling tried, after which the tobacco will be exhausted. A measure consisting of a cask gauged and marked lies on the tube running from boiler to dip, and serves to gauge the amount of water passing in. The sulphur water must be thoroughly mixed with the tobacco infusion. Six men and the overseer will be required for the job, one to the yard, two to throw in the sheep, one to the boilers, and two men armed with crutches consisting of a seven-foot handle attached to the middle of a head 12 inches long of half-inch round iron bent so as to either pull or push. The clip is filled to within 12 inches of the top, each sheep is made to swim round the No. 1 dip at least twice, with Nos. 2 and 3 swimming along the full length is sufficient. By means of the crutches each is made to pass at least twice completely into the solution. The overseer at the drawgate of the draining gangway passes each sheep as sufficiently dipped. Care must be taken to keep up the strength and temperature of the bath, and it should not be let get lower than 2 feet 3 inches from the top lest the sheep's legs be broken against the bottom when they are thrown in. With a short fleece the bath should be at 110deg; F. in winter, 100deg; P. in summer, and the sheep left in each about for one minute. If the dip be cooler they should be kept in longer, but it should never fall below 85deg; P. j with a long fleece 90deg;95deg; in summer and 95deg;100deg; in winter will suffice, and each sheep may be kept in a little shorter tune because it will take longer to drain. The

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sulphur must be kept well stirred up from the bottom in order that each sheep may carry away some on the fleece.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;\

quot; In putting through the first and second dipfuls of sheepnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; i

it was at first found that some of them were killed, as has been generally supposed, by the fumes of the sulphur, which, when allowed to do so, collects at the commencement of the dipping on the surface of the mixture, and

the practice has been to keep the mixture well stirred up

until the third or fourth lots have left the dip.quot; When care is taken there are few deaths.

4. Small portable zinc dips, 4 feet wide by 4i feet deep, 6 feet long at the bottom and 9 feet long at the top, are used for the smaller stations ; they will hold three sheepnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;\

at a time, and GOO sheep can be dipped in them daily.

A careful description of sheep dipping is given in the 'Scottish Farmer' for 13th February, 1864, which may be extracted as giving the process on a smaller scale than that described by Bruce. The dippiug apparatus may be in form of pond or trough, and may be fixed or movable. It should be narrow and deep to economise the liquid, and narrower at the bottom than at the top. It should hold not more than 80100 gallons of fluid, if for flocks of thirty to forty score a movable dip capable of holding 5060 gallons will be sufficient. One end of the troug'h should slant to facilitate lifting of the sheep on to the drainer, and should be fitted with battens to enable the sheep to walk up when turned on to its legs by the shepherd, who lifts the head, while his assistants leave the hind legs free and lift the fore-quarters. The trough should be freely washable and have a ready outlet, and water shouldnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; '

be constantly kept in it to keep it water-tight. The drainer is a wooden or metal grating on a wooden channel inclined towards the trough, sufficiently large to accommodate forty or fifty sheep at once, surnmnded by a railing, and divided into halves, each with a gate of entry and one of exit, the latter being furnished with a sliding board to prevent injury when the sheep are lifted off the drainer. The dipper should have beside him a stool or inverted pail on which to turn the sheep to prevent rough and

314

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

hurried handling. Not fewer than six men are required for the movable appai'atus, and four for the fixed. One catches the sheep, the shepherd holds the head, two men catch the legs and turn the animal into the bath, two more men hold the sheep on to the drainer. Two enclosures should be to hand, one near the apparatus for three or four sheep, and a larger for about fifty sheep; fixed dipping apparatus may be paved, and roofed to keep out the rain. To begin with, the bath should be of extra strength rather than a weak one, the dip should be at 80deg;95deg; F. Not more than fifty sheep per hour sbould be done, and six men can do 500 in a day, giving two or three minutes' immersion for each scabby animal. The mixture recommended is Melossoon dip, which dissolves readily in tepid water, and is non-poisonous, even at five times the necessary strength (of 1 to 40). Gamgee points out that all substances used for smearing, pouring, or dipping sheep must contain active principles to destroy vermin which live and breed on sheep, and must fix in the fleece materials which will not be washed otit by the first shower of rain. These must be mixed with excipients or vehicles, such as soap, solid fats, or oil. The active principles must not injure the sheep or wool, and the excipients must not destroy the colour of the fleece nor so mat it together as to endanger the life of the animal by rendering it an impervious coating, nor must it prevent the clips realising a fair price in the market. Gamgee then first deals with excipients. Venice turpentine, called by shepherds quot; white tar,quot; impregnates the wool, and makes it less valuable as difficult to work and liable to impede the machinery, to cause the wool to break and tear. Besins are even more objectionable and less powerful. Common tar discolours the wool so that it can only be used for darker fabrics and those not required to take brilliant colours, and when applied in quantity causes the wool to pack so much as to injure the sheep ; wool dressed with it is called quot; laid wool.quot; Oil of tar kills the parasites and may also kill the sheep ; it is devoid of tenacity, and not readily miscible with other smearing substances.

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Fats, such as rancid butter, promote growth of wool and make it soft, but are adulterated with water, which is bad for the fleece, and some fats give the wool a golden tint. All oils are deficient in tenacity, so are suitable only for lowland countries. Oily dips are useful to protect the fleece and the sheep, and are most effectual if warm. Few oils, however, are of use, and fish oil is objected to by the wool merchants as giving the wool a permanent odour. Soaps do not actively destro}^r vermin, they wash out readily, and are useful onlyfor cleansing purposes. Watery dips are now generally accepted as most satisfactory on a large scale, soap assists their cleansing and penetrating properties, but increases the expense, and is superfluous, for the natural yolk is saponaceous. We may pass in review some of the methods which have been recommended, selecting from the many those which have been advocated by competent authorities.

(a)nbsp; nbsp;Youatt suggested an arsenical solution of strengtli one pound to twelve gallons, the skin having been first cleared of scab and yolk by washing ; he, however, prefers smearing.

(b)nbsp; nbsp;Finlay Dunn :Take arsenic, pearlash,soft soap, and sulphur, of each two pounds,aud addto 100 gallons of water; this is described as effectual, but discolouring- the wool.

(c)nbsp; nbsp;Infuse or boil a pound of common tobacco in about eight gallons of water, and apply thoroughly after washing with soap and water. This is expensive, but effectual (Spooner).

(cZ) Take arsenic and soft soap, of each half a pound, potassium cai'bonate four ounces, water twenty gallons; boil the arsenic and potash together in half the water, and dissolve the soap in the other half; mix for use ; will suffice for twenty sheep, and may be used moderately warm (Simonds).

(e) Take terebane (cresylic acid), a liquid residue obtainable from carbolic acid, and water and mix in proportions of 1 to 40, add bar soap in proportion of two pounds to each gallon of the terebane, and stir with a wooden rod, warming the mixture in a water-bath, until the soap dis-

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316

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

solves, but do not let it boil. When the mixture, removed from the fire, ceases to give oö vapour, add oil of turpeu-tiue, one pint, to each gallon of terebaue aud pour the mixture into casks or carboys ready for use. Add water according to circumstances : when about to use for sheep with long-standing scab, one gallon of the mixture to forty of water; for fresh cases of scab, one to fifty j for lambs, to remove lice and ticks, one to a hundred. For scab, keep the sheep in the dip for at least two minutes, longer in severe cases ; repeat in eight to ten days (Brown). Carbolic solution in water, 1 per cent, strength, kills acari in two minutes, but 2 per cent, strength, which is quite safe for sheep, destroys all acari in ninety seconds. Williams objects to the carbolic preparations, as altering the colour of the wool.

(/) Take impure carbolic acid, 1500 grammes ; quicklime, 1000 grammes ; carbonate of soda, 3000 grammes; and soft soap, 3000 grammes ; mix, aud dissolve in 260 litres of tepid water to dip 100 sheep. Dress badly affected animals in about three days. Immerse the body and apply with friction (Zundel).

(g) Tessier's bath, as improved by Clement. Arsenious acid, 1 kgr. ; zinc sulphate, 5 kgrs. ; peroxide of iron, 4 kgrs.; gentian powder, 2 kgrs.; water, 100 kgrs. ; boil eight to ten minutes, put in the dip. When of proper temperature, immerse all the sheep, except the head, and keep in for ten minutes. A second dipping very seldom required.

(h) Arsenic 1 part, alum 100 parts, soft water 1000 parts (Matthieu).

(i) Gerlach recommends two baths, (1) the preparatory consisting of pot. carb. 2 parts, calc. oxidi 1 part, aquaj 5 parts,and (2) the parasiticide, a tobacco decoction (120), about three pints is required per sheep. A 15 decoction of tobacco will destroy the parasites in ten to twenty minutes, but may kill sheep; a 125 or 30 decoction will destroy the parasites but will cause no harm to a dog or sheep immersed in it for five to ten minutes ; a 110 decoction destroyed parasites in two to five hours, and a

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150 decoction in four to ten hours. Thus tobacco is an effectual and practicable parasiticide, as has been proved on a large scale in Australia.

Whatever preparation or method of dipping is adopted, there are certain precautions which have to be taken both to protect the sheep and to ensure that the application be effectual. Animals should be dipped only when in good health and able to stand it; ewes in lamb should be handled gently and only dipped for scab, those with lamb should not be dipped until the lambs be weaned, unless non-poisonous dips be used. A useful precaution with ewes is as a preliminary to smear the udder and teats with an astringent ointment. The dipping is useful not only to cure scab but also for removal of lice, ticks, and other ectozoa; it is usually resorted to at least twice a year, the entire flock being dipped in October, the hoggs after being taken off turnips in the spring and the ewes in summer. It is considered that fat sheep should not be dipped before going to market, because the drippings on the grass from the fleece on the pasture give the flesh a bad odour. Settled weather should always be selected for the process. Hot weather is found to be dangerous if the poisonous solutions be used, but dry warm weather is best; frosty weather is not bad, but the sheep will require shelter then, especially at night, until the fleece is dry ; a fleece saturated with wet from continuous rainy weather does not take the dip mixture readily, and wet weather necessitates sheltering after washing, lest all the mixture be quickly washed out. In cold weather of any kind there is risk to the health of the animal from exposure after washing; good warm drying weather when the animals can be exposed to the sun in the open air is best. If shelter is necessary the sheep must not be overcrowded, or they will not dry properly. After exit from the dripping yard, the flock for a time should be put in a perfectly empty place lest they poison themselves by picking at grass or other food impregnated with poisonous drippings. In Australia after use of dips which not only kill the parasites at the time of dipping but also have an effect of some

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318

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

duration as tlioroughly impregnating the wool, the sheep are turned from the di-ipping yards to their own infected yards, where they prove the most effectual means of disinfecting^- trees, fences, and other rahbiug places. It is better, however, to put the dipped sheep on a clean run and not again expose them to risk of invasion by acai'i. All stragglers ought to, as a matter of routine, be dipped once or twice for precaution's sake, and special care must be taken with what are in Australia termed quot; crawlers,quot; poor brutes scarcely able to get about in consequence of emaciation induced by disease, generally advanced scab. These get concealed in the bush, and are apt to remain uncollected when the rest are brought in from the run to be dipped ; they may act as fresh foci of disease, so should be destroyed before the dipping commences and their carcases burnt. It is always as well to dip a second time at an interval of from ten to twenty-one days, although on the Continent after some dressings it is thought enough if those sheep only which give indications of disease be redressed after an interval of five or six days ; from what we know of hatching of the ova, the British method is decidedly the more practical, and should be adopted. Very bad cases may with advantage be subjected to quot; spotting quot; or quot;pouringquot; the day before they are run through the dip with the rest. This consists in giving a preliminary dressing with strong solution (such as tobacco infusion, one pound to four gallons) at 110 F. One man should hold the sheep either on its side, on the ground, or standing up and opening out the wool over the affected parts, while another pours the strong mixture from a coffee-pot on to the exposed parts, and beats and rubs them with his hands to cause the wool to absorb the mixture. These sheep should be kept in the yard during the night. The dipping may require to be repeated a second time as some eggs are hatched as late as sixteen days after the first dipping ; this second dipping also serves to make sure of any sheep which may have been insufficiently dipped the first time being freed from the disease.

Animals should not be brought into the dip when

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excited or heated; any scabs present may be removed by brushing so as to let the poisonous matter gain access to the parasites, and in the draining yard, especially with long-woolled animals, the process of removal of superfluous fluid may be removed from the fleece by pressing or scraping it with the hand and a scraping- instrument, and the opportunity may be taken to rub a little of the fluid over the head sufficient to moisten it, for except when non-poisonous dip mixtures are used the head must be carefully held above the surface while the sheep is in the dip. Besides the animal accidentally swallowing poisonous solution, absorption through a broken or even entire skin may occur or the animals may suffer¹ from being, while still wet and dripping, turned out on a pasture and eating the grass or other food on which the poison has dropped. These different methods of poisoning in relation to dipping have been elsewhere dealt with in detail, but we may remark that the chances of poisoning are inversely related to care in dipping. Exposure to cold after dipping or sudden changes of weather at this critical time may cause ordinary disease such as stiffness of limbs and rheumatism. The use of warm dips has been objected to as giving rise to catarrh, but this has not been found true in practice, and the warm dips are more effectual than cold and more comfortable to the animal. It is always advisable that one of the adjuvants in a poisonous bath be some astrigent which will lessen the tendency to absorption by the skin, and such baths ought preferably not to be of a high temperature. Care should be taken lest the refuse after dipping prove poisonous to animals, it should be made use of when required for killing lice on cattle, otherwise it should be thrown down a drain, or if held over should be kept in a covered vessel. The dip and draining yards should not be accessible, but the former kept covered and locked and the latter shut up and padlocked. Men when using poisonous dip mixtures should not have open wounds about their hands, and ought to smear their arms with oil and grease before commencing work. Gamgee forcibly urges that veterinary surgeons should more fre-

320

DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

qucutly than hitherto be called on to treat scab, for, besides the inadvisability of trusting shepherds and other such men with poisons, few men are able to treat scab with the necessary judgment except those who have received a professional training in animal disease repression. quot; Veterinary surgeons should not be called when animals are gasping for breath and moribund. It is unfair to them, as they cannot perform miracles and purify poisoned blood in the way in which pure water may be made to displace impure from a pitcher. This is a stupid notion which professional men encourage when they bleed as a means of purifying the blood.quot;

Salving or Smearing is the application to the skin of mixtures with an oleaginous or fatty basis for removal of parasites, the cure of skin diseases, and to protect the animal and the wool from severities of climate, and especially from cold and wet; hence they are much in favour in cold countries, where they supersede dipping, and where it is found that salving is essential for fulness, softness, and richness of the fleece. The process consists in having the sheep held, making a parting of the wool from head to tail along the upper part of the animal, putting on the quot; shed quot; or parting a sufficiency of oiut-mout or salve, next making parallel with this line successive partings not more than four inches distant from one another, and the whole body having thus been anointed, well rubbing and kneading the salve into the wool and skin by means of the hand. Of all applications for this purpose mercurial ointment seems to have been most in favour until it was found that, though quite effectual in destroying parasites, it sometimes caused death of the sheep. In mild cases it is mixed with lard in the proportions of one part of the former to five of the latter ; one to three was used in severe cases. Others used the mercurial ointment mixed with olive oil and a little oil of turpentine, and brought to the consistency of thick cream for pouring on the exposed skin. In parting the wool all scabs must carefully be removed, not much force must be applied to ewes in lamb, otherwise abortion may result j

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about one third of the amount required for a sheep should be used for a lamb ; this will vary according to the extent of disease, but should not exceed two ounces for an adult. Mercury has been to a great extent supplanted by less poisonous agents equally good for the wool and protective to the animal, but not so effectual against parasites ; indeed, sometimes the latter object is comparatively of little importance in smearing, simple rancid butter being used to supplement the natural coating of yolk; as a rule, however, common tar was added as a parasiticide. The simpler the dressing the better, because sometimes, especially when the animals are able to get only sufficient food, in spite of all cai'e and precaution in the processes of dipping and salving, fatal cases will occur. Tar and butter is simple enough, but mats the wool too much and gives it an odour and colour, so Graham, of iSTewbigging, substituted a resin ointment composed of butter and lard, of each eighteen pounds, resin twelve pounds, Gallipoli oil one gallon ; this sufficed for fifty-five sheep, and left the wool quite white. We may give a few more i'ecipes for salves, but may premise that the subject has not been materially advanced since the days of Youatt, by whom the processes already described were mentioned :

(a) Hogg's ointment:Take powdered corrosive sublimate, eight ounces ; white hellebore powder, twelve ounces; whale or other oil, sis gallons ; and resin and tallow, of each two pounds; mix the sublimate and hellebore with some of the oil and add to the other ingredients melted over a fire ; thoroughly incorporate. This ointment is reputed to be dangerous.

(amp;) A preparation recommended by Hogg is train or seal oil, four gallons ; tar, half a gallon ; oil of turpentine, one pint. Mix, and in applying well rub in after shearing, a time when salves are especially valuable as protectives and effectual for destruction of parasites.

(c) Spooner finds the following useful:Take oil of tar, half a pound, and sulphur, one pound ; mix these together gradually and rub down with them lard or palm oil, two pounds.

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DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.


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Smearing may require to be repeated for effectual removal of scab; it is stated that rapidity of growth of wool, the result of this process, compensates thoroughly for any slight deterioration iu quality, but the quot; white quot; or un-salved wool is, of course, of the highest value.

Paeasitbs othek than Acaei infest the skin of the sheep and prove troublesome : ticks, lice, and the fly require special attention. Law notes that Leptulaquo; autumnalis (harvest bug) and Leptus Americana attack the skin of sheep around the muzzle, and also the skin around the pasterns. The subcorneous tissues are not, however, as in contagious foot-rot, involved, and quot; the true chigoe is unknown iu the latitudes of Iowa and New York,quot; where contagious foot-rot prevails.

Ticks, Keds, or Fags are not true ticks in a zoological sense. Melophagus ovinus is an apterous insect of a dark red colour with white abdomen, but no abdominal segments. It has six legs which arc muscular and powerful, each bearing claws like harpoons, toothed and striated ; accompanying the claws is an elegant feathery tarsal brush, and on the under side of the last tarsal joint is a bilobed pectinate organ. Eyes small and oval ; setas (or piercing instruments), three enclosed in two sheath-like, hairy, un-jointed organs {labial paljxi), resembling otherwise those of pulex, and arising from the sides of a triangular labium (Micrographic Dictionary) ; the animal almost buries its head and proboscis in the skin, and once fixed hangs on for weeks or months. It is nimble and active and sometimes as large as a horse bean. Its antennae are small and sunken in an eye-like cavity of the head. It has nine pairs of spiracles, two thoracic and seven abdominal, round in form, edged with simple cilia. These spiracles are less numerous and complex than those of the common fly, they dilate and contract, and the cilia shorten by muscular contraction at the base. In the rectmu are four papillas as in most of the Diptera, but Melophagus has them covered with short spines. They have a branch of tracheal vessels and short muscles, work freely and seem to assist in the process of defsecation. The sheep tick propagates


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rapidly, but not so rapidly as the sheep louse. It is pupi-

viviparous. A single egg occurs in the body of the female

attached by an umbilical cord. At an early stage of

development it has two spiracles at its base by which air

is conveyed to the pulpy substance within from an open

aperture on the abdomen of the mother. Later, eighteen

spiracles develop on the surface and remain covered with

a thin transparent membrane till birth. The pupa-case

is brown and hard, and is called by the shepherds an egg ;

at the anterior end is a slight seam through which the

Melophagus w⁷ill emerge. As in the dung-tly there is anbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; \

distinct pUUnevm or soft elastic membrane which the

animal inflates and so pushes open the lid of the pupa case

(' Intellectual Observer,' Januai'y, 1864). The tick will

exist on the shorn fleece for twelve months ; it prefers the

region of the neck and shoulders, and its excrements give

the wool a tinge which is difficult to remove. These

parasites sometimes prove serious when they infest lambs

by causing so much irritation as to arrest growth. They

abound on ewes in spring-, and when the ewes are shorn

they pass to the lambs, which have to be dipped to remove

them. Mere washing with soap and water does not suffice

for their removal; either the ewes should be dipped before

shearing' as a preventive of them passing to the lambs,

or they must be snipped through one by one, and some

mercurial ointment or oleum terebinthiuaa applied around

where they hold on.

Lice.Siphohoxea ocina v. Trichodectes sphserocephai/us is the sheep louse, and it differs markedly from the goat louse, Hsematopirms stenopis, being more nearly allied to that of the dog. It is found often in large numbers, associated with scab, or producing symptoms somewhat like those of scab in hogs and lambs out of condition ; it prefers the inner part of the thigh or of the arm, and the sides of the neck. When the lambs lie in the sun, the small, active, brown parasites come to the surface of the fleece. As they are most numerous in the neck, and cause irritation, the sheep may get his head sideways between the bars of a gate and, straightening it suddenly, becomes


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DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

fixed and strangled. Hogg talks of another accident which may result from their presence, which he terms quot; hridUng.quot; It consists in quot; the animal bending its neck extremely, in order to claw its throat with its teeth, on which occasions the teeth often fasten in the wool, so that it cannot disengage them, and it soon loses the power of its neck. I have known several die in this way, and many more who, if they had not been relieved, must necessarily have perished.quot; When the wool is broken short, or detached, and the sheep nibbles the flanks and other parts of the body and scratches his elbows with his hind feet, examine him for lice (Sirnonds). Tobacco water or mercurial ointment will at once destroy these pests, but the latter should not be used in cold or wet weather. Gohier made some experiments, showing that tobacco and hellebore are more effectual against these parasites than staves-acre or common salt, but, as Prof. Sirnonds shows, sulphurated oil is safe and sufficient even for in-lamb ewes.

The Fly, Musca vomiforia v. Sarcophaga carnaria, prevails in sultry weather and after showers in summer, and is specially frequent in May in woody districts with high fences and among sheep kept in enclosures. In milking ewes the animal should not be steadied by holding the tail with the milky hand or putting the hand impregnated with odour of the flanks and udder, on any part of the wool, for this will atti-act the fly. The maggot season ceases in autumn in England, but at the latter end of their time the flies get very fierce, and a mild season may prolong their stay. Dirty locks of wool should always as much as possible be removed. It deposits its eggs on the wool, where it lives on yolk, especially about the tail and other parts which are contaminated in diarrhoea and dysentery. Further, it finds out sores o£ all kinds, and is very frequent among rams and other sheep after fighting in wounds and abrasions of the head. Its presence in foot-root, scab, eye injuries, and other disorders and accidents constitutes a serious complication. Directly the eggs are hatched the young maggots begin to burrow and torment the animal. The victim becomes very un-


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easy, stamps, shakes the tail, i'uns about, or bites himself, or he may stand listless with head hanging clown, and apart from the rest of the flock ; the wool at the seat of injury is raised and rough. Price informs us that even a dog is able to tell when sheep have been struck by the fly. A mercury stone rubbed into the place after the fly has struck will prevent all mischief. Spirit of tar applied freely, and the surrounding wool being cut off will suffice to destroy the maggots and keep off the fly. A simple ointment of butter and flowers of sulphur is sufficient to keep the wounds clean. Fish oil smeared over the fleece is effectual, but it gives the wool a peculiar smell, which is difficult to get rid of, and makes the sheep unpleasant to handle; a few drops sprinkled on the animal in May will protect it for the whole season. Some so-called quot; fly-oils quot; are harmful as being poisonous ; many are the preparations recommended for prevention of ill effects of ticks and flies ; we may give a few examples :

(a)nbsp; nbsp;Arsenic, one and a half ounces, boiled in a bag in water and mised with tobacco two ounces boiled in water, and the two solutions mixed when cold to form one gallon, in which three ounces of bar soap in slices are dissolved by boiling for half an honr (Earl of Leicester).

(b)nbsp; nbsp;Tobacco water, ten gallons ; arsenic, four ounces; soft soap, half pound; and assafoetida, one ounce.

(c)nbsp; nbsp;White lead, -i parts ; arsenic, 1 part; sulphur, 6 parts; and cinnabar, two parts, mixed.

(d)nbsp; nbsp;Powdered white lead is a good remedy for maggots, which must be removed with apiece of sharp-pointed wood.

(e)nbsp; nbsp;Youatt recommends that for sore head a plaster composed of pitch, one pound, and beeswax, two drachms, be melted and spread on soft leather or linen which should be sewn on the head or otherwise fixed, such as by applying when warm. The following is an astringent powder recommended by Spooner for a sore which by inattention or neglect has spread: Take each of the following, finely powdered, and mix together in the following proportions : Cretae Prgep., 5quot;] gt; Alum, gj ; Bol. Armen, et Plumb. Alb. ää 5j j Calc. Chloridi, gj. Dipping prevents the fly

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DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

striking, but is inefficient unless there be quot; such a bite of wool as will retain sufficient dip for tins purposequot;

(Walker).

Nevtor mirahilis, the New Zealand parrot, has latterly taken to sucking sheep's blood instead of the juices of plants, and the blue-nosed baboons of South Africa occasionally are guilty of killing and devouring sheep. Lucilia sericata by change of its food in the larval stage has become a dangerous parasite of sheep. The larvae vised to live in dung, especially of the sheep, and dead flesh, but in many districts of the Netherlands the maggot now infests the flesh of living sheep ; it is most formidable in luxuriant marsh pastures, and is sometimes a veritable pest. Ritzema Bos says the fly deposits its ova on excrement adherent to the wool or, less frequently, on clean parts. These are in groups of ten to twenty until about 500 ai-e deposited in twenty to forty hours, according to the state of the weather. Maggots like those of the blowfly escape and grow for fifteen to twenty-four days, then they fall to the ground and become pup;e in the grass of the pasture and pass the winter, but there may be several generations in one summer.

The irritant effects of the larva3 on the skin cause exudation of offensive serum, which gives the wool a bad odour, and mats it together ; the skin is bored by the maggots, and becomes hot, blood red, and swollen. Recovery may follow fall of the parasites, but generally there are successive invaders, and the disorganisation extends sometimes into the very muscles. The occurrence of this maggot disease w^ras first noticed in 1860, and it was erroneously supposed to have been introduced from England. The fly is increasing in Germany, but not yet known to have attacked the sheep (' Scientific News').

Much remains to be learned about the cutaneous disorders of ovines, which promise in the future to be an interesting and complex study ; there has hitherto been too great a tendency to confuse them all together under the heading Scab. Youatt comments on the skin of the sheep as being defective for excretion, perspiration, and heat

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regulation as compared with that of many other animals. Gamgee found from experiment that quot; substances dissolved in water are not dissolved through the skiu of the sheep,quot; an important matter in relation to poisoning by sheep washes. Only about half as much caloric is said to be radiated in proporlion from a sheep as from a man, and it is suggested that the covering of wool is valuable as a means of preventing active convej'ance of infection, as in scab for example, but this view is purely theoretical. Czokor states that Oschatz has found in the meibomian glands of the sheep a Demodex which is larger than that of man.

OfiDiNAEr Wounds and Surface Lesions op the Body present but few features of special interest. Bruises are rather rare in consequence of the amount of protection afforded by the thick and elastic fleece and the care exhibited lest the mutton be damaged. It may be remarked also that after serious injuries the scar seldom produces wool, but a thick hornlike mass of epidermis. Sore head is an annoying form of wound caused by injuries or as a result of the sheep scratching the part with the foot on account of irritation by the fly. Once the skin is abraded maggots are a cause of rapid and troublesome spread. The fly is said by Spooner to be different in species and smaller than the ordinary one j he recommends whale oil smearing as a preventive, and cure by means of covering the wound with common sticking plaster, and then with a canvas cap having loops to admit the ears and tape to tie under the chin and throat. Lacerations of the ears and limbs are often caused by dogs, which animals should be dispensed with as unnecessary on close pastures, and no shepherd should keep a savage dog. It is sometimes necessary to detect a dog which has been worrying sheep, and this has been done with sufficient accuracy to satisfy a court of law by administration of an emetic causing the animal to disgorge ingested pieces of mangled carcass.

828

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

CHAPTER XI.POISONS AND POISONING.

The subject of tliis chapter compi-ises medicines mal-administered or mal-applied, and their effects ; deleterious agents wilfully administered or accidentally ingested ; and certain blood contaminations, which partake somewhat of the nature and character of the true blood disorders, as elsewhere dealt with. These latter can most conveniently be dealt with here, because they are practically associated with the poisonous influences of certain salves or smearing agents. It is not only in this respect that the subjects of blood-poisoning and specific affections are related to one another, but also there is generally a question of differential diagnosis when extensive mortality has occurred in a flock. Sudden and considerable mortality among sheep is generally due to one or other of the following causes : Anthrax, rinderpest, acute liver disorder, poisonous plants in the pasture, or poisonous contamination of food, absorption of poison from the skin in cases of too-powerful or impropei'ly-used sheep dips, sewage contamination of pasture, and suppressed cutaneous action due to exposure, or to investment of the skin with an impervious coating. The investigator has often a difficult task before him in determination of the cause of fatality, but the history of the outbreak, results of post-mortem examinations, and symptoms shown by the living will generally, when carefully considered in all their important bearings, enable him to arrive at a correct conclusion.

ScrppREBSED Cutaneous Action first requires notice. Although the skin of the sheep is naturally covered with a thick coating of wool and a greasy investment of yolk, we have ample and sufficient evidence that when its action

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is interfered with, either by extreme cold, as from exposing^-shorn animals or newly-born lambs, or else by an impervious coating of salve, accumulation of effete materials in the blood occurs, and the animal dies. A lamb covered with the freshly-flayed skin of another, for which it is being substituted, may be killed in this way if the false coating be kept on too long, and so may sheep in the northern countries, when the wool has been much matted by ointment, and especially when dry weather enables the dust and dirt to accumulate and convert it into an impervious coating. Feinberg, in the ' Archiv f. Pathol. Anat. u. Physiol.,' recorded the effects of covering the surface of the body with an impervious coating. He found the following symptoms :Cutaneous hyperassthesia, with proportionate reflex excitability ; trembling was an initial symptom, and sometimes continued until death occurred ; constant immobility, the result partly of mechanical impediment to muscular activity, and partly of sanguineous extravasations in the spinal cord and muscles ; convulsions rarely absent, paroxysmal, and usually tetanic ; as a rule, a day before death incomplete pai^alysis, especially of the posterior part of the body, paralysis of the bladder with incontinence of urine frequent; respiration diminished and heart's action becoming gradually feeble ; temperature varying; if the coating was a good conductor of heat the rectal reading sometimes fell to 68deg;66^-quot;2^c F., if a bad conductor, the mercury ascended above the normal and remained there until shortly before death, when it descended more or less rapidly; an absence of hunger and thirst, fasces normal, often passed involuntarily. Ai\topsy showed dilatation of all the subcutaneous vessels, and enormous distension of the pulmonary capillaries, and frequently subpleural hEemorrhage. Repletion of the heart's cavities with blood, and hfemorrhage into the texture of the organ. Yery great dilatation of the branches of the vena portse, and sanguineous extravasations in the liver and mucous membrane of the stomach. Catarrh of the intestinal mucous membrane, and hyperasmia and parenchymatous inflammation of the kidneys. Catarrh of the mucous membrane of the

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DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

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bladder. Capillary dilatation and hajmorrhagic extravasations in the peripheral nerves and striped muscleSj with injection of the ineniuges of the brain. Intense congestion of the grey substance of the dorsal and lumbar portion of the spinal cord ; and, histologically, dilatation of the capillaries and oapillary hastnorrhage, with destruction of the nerve substance. In many cases there was intense proliferation of the neuroglia in the spinal cord ('Veterinary Journal/ 1875, p. 146).

These researches admit of comparison with the cases of suppressed cutaneous action which have been recorded as occurring in sheep. In these latter the respiration is quick, pulse small and frequent, eyes red, aud frothy mucus flows from the rnouth and nose, in fact the symptoms are of asphyxia similar to those which result from suffocation, and the animal is supposed to have died of some lung complaint. On autopsy the blood is found dark coloured and fluid, the abdominal organs healthy, the lungs engorged, and the air passages full of frothy material. The conditions present have, it has been remarked, a great resemblance to those seen when plethoric sheep succumb after sudden transference from a poor to a rich pasture. Death occurs in a few hours. Often the animal is noticed to be out of sorts, and it would seem that we have seldom to do with suppressed skin action pure and simple, there being almost invariably some complicating conditions in the case. Exposure of freshly-shorn animals to cold is penal ('Veterinary Journal,' 1877, August, p. 157). A remarkable form of cutaneous asphyxia from exposure to the sun of newly-shorn lambs in very hot weather is referred to in the 'Veterinary Journal ' for September, 1876. The animals died suddenly, gangrene of the skin commencing at one part, most frequently the hind legs and buttocks, aud extending over the body very rapidly, so that in a few hours the lambs were quite black. Some died on the day when clipped, others in two, three, or four days after the operation. Autopsy showed skin, subcutaneous tissues, and muscles intensely hyperaemic, as though the surface of the body

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had been burned or scalded, blood very dark-coloured, semi-coagulated in right side of heart. In the more prolonged cases nervous derangement, general erysipelas, and gangrene were the causes of death.

Mercurial Poisoning.Ruminants, especially sheep, are considered more than other orders of mammalia susceptible to the action of mercury. Hertwig found that calomel in 1530 grain doses purges a sheep, although its action may not be apparent until the third day, but if the dose be repeated suppurgation will set in, together with the symptoms of mercurial poisoning, and prove fatal. This agent is said to be safe in doses of two to three grains, but in excess to cause speedy insalivation and break up of the constitution. On post-mortem examination of such cases the stomach and intestines are found pale and flaccid, the blood-vessels empty, the organs blackened or grey in appearance, and the intestine often quite empty. The intestinal mucous membrane sometimes bluish-red or leaden coloured, inflamed, deprived of its epithelium, the seat of blood extravasation and excoriations with pale or whitish borders. Gall-bladder full of bile, liver and other viscera soft and friable, red patches duo to inflammation or blood extravasation in the abomasum, duodenum, and rectum. As regards corrosive sublimate, it is found that one drachm kills a sheep in twelve hours, the most remarkable symptom being a peculiar exhausting cough. Ordinary mercurial poisoning results from several causes ; thus excessive smearing and inunction with blue ointment insufficiently diluted with lard, abuse of the practice of applying the ointment indifferently to all newly purchased sheep as practised by some farmers, and in the case of lambs sucking ewes which have been dressed with mercurials (Gasparin). It has been observed especially when an individual sheep has been dressed with mercurial ointment a second time, and Dickenson, of Boston, recorded fatality of 525 per cent, in flocks, probably from this cause, but possibly from high feeding on rank grass and over-manured turnips.

Symptoms.A few premonitory indications are detectable

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DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

on careful observation, although not generall}' noticed by the shepherd, such as dulness, unwillingness to move, appetite doubtful, breathing a little quick and nostrils dilated. The urgent symptoms set in some nine or ten days after the application; they are purging, salivation, loosening of the teeth (Gamgee), redness of the skin, foetor of the breath, panting and sudden signs of suffocation, pulse small and frequent, eyes bloodshot, rapid sinking and sometimes spluttering of frothy mucus from the nose immediately before death. Treatment consists in promptly removing the wool from all the salved sheep, washing them with alkaline solutions, sheltering the sick and supporting their strength with stimulants such as wMsky and wine. The remainder must be removed to a bare pasture apd carefully watched in order that cases may be taken in hand dii-ectly any symptoms are shown. Professor Brown mentions a less acute form of mercurial poisoning than that above referred to, the symptoms being extreme debility, diarrhcca, foetid breath, loss of appetite, emaciation and death.

Arsenical Poisoning.Two drachms of arsenious anhydride introduced into the stomach poisons a sheep, and this accident may readily take place if an arsenical wash be used for dipping sheep and the animal when in an excited state allowed to dip its head under the surface of the solution ; or again if the pasture become contaminated with the sheep dip by the animals being turned out before they are dry, or if there be fodder in the drying yard which can become covered with arsenical solution in this way a poisoning dose may be ingested. That actual absorption of a sufficient amount to poison the animal can take place seems to have been disproved by direct experimentation, especially the researches made by Gamgee. Therefore it must be inferred that whenever any extensive mortality from this cause occurs there is a probability of negligence in the process of dipping. Apart from the unsatisfactoriness of permitting shepherds to handle and use poisons there are many arguments in favour of non-poisonous dips constantly being used, but unfortunately

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they are as a rule less effectual as parasiticides than the poisonous ones. The arsenic, in whatever way it enters the system, acts on the bowels, but it is always out of free access by antidotes ; in such cases the remains of the dip may be removed from the sheep by washing-, and the usual measures for arsenical poisoning adopted.

Carbolic Poisoning.When terebane or other forms of carbolic acid in washes are not completely dissolved, they may injure or kill sheep, especially those first put in the bath. The brownish scum which floats on the surface covers the first animals dipped with quot;undiluted acid which acts at once and energetically as a caustic, causing prostration and death, unless immediately on observing the symptoms of distress means are taken to wash off the agent with warm water and soap; this treatment is not, however, at all times successfulquot; (Brown). Coates, of G-ains-borough, recorded fatality of sheep turned out on wheat top-dressed with soot in spring. Paralytic symptoms were present, but other causes may have been operative ('Veterinarian,' xvi). The soot may have been impregnated with carbolic and other products of combustion. Certainly carbon in itself would not prove fatal.

Hellebore Poisoning.Sometimes hellebore is an ingredient of sheep dip. One to three drachms of the drug, Helleborus niger, given internally kills sheep.

Tobacco Poisoning.Occasionally it is found that some of the first sheep put into a tobacco and sulphur bath succumb, but this is generally attributed to sulphur vapour. Tobacco can be freely introduced into the stomach of the sheep or goat in the form of dry leaf without detriment or apparent inconvenience.

As regards poisons which may be acquired at pastures by sheep a number of interesting observations have been placed on record. It was observed as a direct result of experiment by Linnaeus that of the indigenous pasture plants of Sweden sheep ate 387 out of 528 species, whereas horses ate only 262 and oxen 276 {' Veterinarian/ 1833, p. 532), and Youatt remarks that, as compared with the horse and ox, the sheep is when left entirely uninfluenced

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DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

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by man on grazing land not only less liable to be poisoned, but able actually to consume a greater variety of plants ; be mentions that lambs are more frequently tlie subject of poisoning from noxions plants than adults because they have less power of discrimination, and be considers yew and crowfoot the most frequent poisonous vegetable substances. Gamgee in his ' Memoranda Toxicologica quot;Vete-rinaria' has collected a number of useful facts and records, from which some may here advantageously be summarised and collected, the original records being mainly in German veterinary periodicals. Yew leaves prove most fatal when dry, and ai-e eaten freely by most herbivora. Spooner reminds fanners to avoid yew bough hedges, to be suspicious of green yew leaves, which may do mischief though generally they have no deleterious effect, and to be careful lest sheep escape into flower gardens and eat rhododendra. Dried ivy prunings have proved fatal to sheep. Rununculus, or the crowfoot of various forms, is found in rich pastures; R. acris, E. repens, B. jlammula, and R. sceleratus being those which have been specially observed in pastures where enteritis prevails, i?. hulbosus is said to be eaten by sheep with impunity (Daubenton). R. a/rvensis, common crowfoot, isthat which has most frequently proved prejudicial to sheep. Brugnon (' Ins. et obs. s. les mal. des An. Dom.,' iii, p. 309) describes how in two hours three out of seven sheep died with symptoms of hoven and colic from eating the roots of this form of ranunculus which seemed palatable to them. He appears to have stopped the fatality by giving white wine vinegar. He found on post-mortem examination the blood rather liquid, dark-red patches on the lining membrane of each of the stomachs, these patches being large, almost black and gangrenous in the abomasum; some similar patches extending for someway along the duodenum, and the roots of the crowfoot in the stomach. Lipp saw a flock of sheep poisoned by this plant. In half an hour after they had been put on the pasture some began to tremble, become convulsed, and died ; almost all showed symptoms of vertigo. Immediately after death the abdomen was found distended,

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stomach inflamed, liver and spleen black and soft, eccliy-moses beneath the skin and in the flesh. The young of Caltha palustris, the marsh-marigold, is eaten with impunity by goats, R. flammula is said to cause fatal enteritis (Fabregow), and R. sceleratus to be even more dangerous. As in other forms of poisoning with acrid vegetable substances, rumenotomy, use of the stomach-pump, encouragement of purgation, especially by oily cathartics, and the administration of vegetable charcoal are the principal measures of relief.

Savin, given in frequently repeated doses, induces tym-pany and dysenteric symptoms ; Erica v. Callima vulgaris, the common ling, is supposed in excess to cause dysentery, and Gasparin considers it produces red water; fresh Hyo-scyamus niger, henbane, is said to be eaten with impunity by hcrbivora, and belladonna is stated to be harmless to the smaller ruminants ; Cicuta virom, the water-hemlock, has, in Sweden and Norway, been found extremely fatal to goats and sheep, more especially the latter.

Rhododendron, nine hours after Ingestion by two goats, produced colic and ejection of the partially digested material from the mouth, slavering, and vertigo from time to time. Free bleeding and administration of olive oil proved ineffectual, for both animals died in less than three hours. Autopsy showed inflammation of the rumen, and its contents somewhat thin and liquid, a little food in the reticulum, some fluid in the omasum, and in the abomasum the medicine which had been given. Small intestine bluish red, brain injected, a red fluid in the ventricles (Gemelin). Dunlop found in rhododendron poisoning, fast respiration, frothing at the mouth, attempts to vomit, during the paroxysms of which the animal emitted a peculiar sound. Autopsy : General fulness of vessels, lungs congested, clots in both sides of heart (' Veterinary Journal/ February, 1881). Thompson reports poisoning of sheep by digitalis, the green leaves of which were eaten while snow was on the ground.

Conium maculatum, spotted hemlock, is recorded by Read as destroying lambs which had eaten it from a boggy

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part in the pasture. The symptoms shown were giddiness, listlessness, inability to move about, struggles, and death. The contents of the rumen wore found to be of a beautiful green colour and of a peculiar odour. Bleeding, sulphate of magnesia, and dilute sulphuric acid sufficed to prevent the death of all except three {' Veterinarian/ 1845).

Aconite is said to be eaten by goats on the Austrian mountains with impunity, but quot; Hertwig has seen sheep, and still ofteuer goats, eat the flowers of monkshood and die speedily afterwards. Hübner says that goats that eat it become affected with tympanitis, vomit frightfully, and have a starving and anxious look. They recover without treatment; and the milk secretion, which is checked from the influence of the poison, soon returns quot; (Gamgee). It is probably the Acunitum ferox which proves fatal in the majority of cases in mountainous districts.

Lolium perenne (the rye- or ray-grass) has been supposed to be prejudicial to sheep, but this probably has arisen from the tendency to confuse it with Lolium temu-lentum, the darnel-grass or quot; sturdy.quot; Sheep eat the L. pererme freely, and in preference to most others when it is in the earliest stage of its growth, but after the seed approaches towards perfection they leave it for almost any other kind (Sinclair). Brosche observed the effects of the darnel-grass in sheep, which became giddy and staggering. After death no lesion of the alimentary canal was found, but inflammatory spots on the upper or right side of the brain, and on the right side of the medulla oblongata a table-spoonful of clear liquid (Gamgee). An ounce of mix vomica caused death of a sheep in half an hour, but it required eight ounces to produce marked symptoms of poisoning in a goat (Tabourin, from the Report of the Lyons Veterinary College, 1812). Fromment recorded considerable loss among sheep in Frauconia in 16635 from eating mildewed herbage ; and Delafond, in his quot; Traite de la Maladie de Sang des Betes a Laine,quot; states that mouldy forage causes intoxication, and a diseased condition of the blood different from carbuncular affections. Sheep have been observed to succumb to a

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cliarbon-like affection when they have eaten the ordinary shepherd's-purse, Gajisella hxirsa-jiastoris, on which grew Uredo Candida.

Ergot of Rye is said to frequently cause sudden loss of sheep in autumn, the symptoms being' dysentery, enteritis, diarrhoea (the evacuations resembling coffee-grounds), succeeded by exhaustion, collapse, and death. Abortion has also been noted, and where the ergot prevails it is said foot-rot is constantly present, though the soil be light and porous and on a slope. The animals avoid the dry mature plants (infested with ergot) as much as possible, probably warned by the odour of trimethylainine, which appears only when the sclerotium of the ergot has fully developed and the starch quite gone. Kluge, of Berlin, observed that, for some reason or other, the properties of ergot vary according to whether it is gathered before or after the harvest, in the former case it being energetic, in the latter frequently powerless. The conidia of the fungus may be generally detected post mortem in the intestinal canal of a poisoned animal by use of a low power of the microscope (Stoddart, ' Veterinarian,' July, 1880). Ergot is less frequent as a cause of abortion in the ewe than in the cow. Only in early breeding districts are the ewes sufficiently advanced in pregnancy to abort before the spurs form, this accident being most frequent between the second and third month. Ergotism is to be feared in England from the beginning of August to Christmas, or even later j in Ireland it occurs a month earlier. In a report emanating from the Agricultural Department, Washington, an outbreak of severe ergotism investigated by Salmon, in Coffee County, Kansas, is reported. The symptoms were so like those of foot-and-mouth disease that the disorder was considered as such until proved to be non-contagious; gangrene of limbs was a conspicuous symptom. The following details concerning ergot as given by Walker {' The Sheep and Lamb') will be found useful :quot; The different states of ergot are as follows :The spurs fall to the earth with the seed of the grass in the late autumn or early winter, ripening at the

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DISEASES OF THE SHEEl'.

Itlaquo;

same time as the host plants. The spurs lie impervious to frost, rain, or the inclemency of winter weather. In spring the fungoid spores throw up small bodies (from one to ten on each spur) resembling minute mushrooms. These, the first growth, are called ' Claviceps purpürea.' They mature in a week or ten days, and then discharge uncountable millions of invisible spores or seeds. These are so numerous as to almost fill the air, and they alight on all summnding objects both far and near, but only such as fall upon the grass bloom prove fruitful. Being needle-shaped, they quickly find their way into the section of the grasses that should develop the grass seeds, and while the plants are still in bloom they support and nourish the parasite, imparting to it such sap as nature had provided for the true seed, and the ergot thus nursed soon arrives at maturity. Later on the spur has a second reproducing period, called the ' sphacelia ' state. When the fungus is nearly fully grown, it forms an apex or snout at the end of the ergot grain. This apex abounds in spores, myriads of which are thrown off, and, as they settle on other grasses, ergotise them. Thus it will be seen that the first reproducing bodies are the Glaviceps purpurea, and the second the contents of the apex, called the ' sphacelium ' state. No wonder, therefore, that in a humid season many grasses are diseased, seeing that at two periods in the life of the ergot spores are thrown off in such profusion, and are scattered by every passing breeze. Ergot revels in moisture in all stages of its life, and it is chiefly found between August and December in low-lying meadows that have not been mown under hedges, in lanes, on road-sides, by rivers and their tributaries, on the banks of canals, round ponds, and indeed in all humid situations. The pest is best destroyed by mowing all meadows and rough grasses, on pastures and other places where the plants are liable to be diseased, before the seed is ripened if when in full bloom, so much the better; by draining all wet land ; by keeping hedges low and trees lopped to give a free current of air, and by setting women and children to hand-pick when the spurs are visible. Nothing

'^r .'

POISONS AND POISONING.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 339

is lost to the farmer by cutting his hay in good time, for the quality will be much better than if the plants are overgrown.quot;

Law divides the effects of ergot and of the smut of maize into three categorieSj according as the poison acts on the brain, producing convulsions, profound paralysis, or profound lethargy ; on the womb, tending to abortion ; or on the extremities, causing dry gangrene. Symptoms of the nervous form.Unsteady gait, a great tendency to lie down and to remain in a torpid state little conscious of what is passing around, loss of lustre of wool, coldness of skin, dilatation of the pupils of the eyes, and dulness of the special senses mark the early stages. This may go on to paralysis or deep lethargy without any active nervous excitement, or paroxysms supervene, during which the special senses become more acute, the animal very excitable, and twitching of the muscles or spasms, like those of lock-jaw or epilepsy, convulse the patient. Then there is a relapse into the former stupor and drowsiness, with palsy of the hind limbs or knuckling forward of the fetlocks. Death may ensue in a few hours or days, or the affection may become chronic, the patient remaining with variable appetite, but getting no good from his food, with spasms of the pharynx, vomiting, or diarrhoea: he usually passes off in a convulsion {' Farmers' Veterinary Adviser'). Ergot was introduced, it is supposed, with rye-grass seed into New Zealand, and is extending to native grasses. In dry seasons it affects sheep, which under its influence will quot; take a fit if disturbed or made to run, and even if moved gently will stagger like a drunken man. I have seen two or three thousand sheep in one of our paddocks that we could not remove out of the field except with the greatest difficulty, and by giving them any amount of time. I have heard of sheep having to be carried out of the field, as they would not drink, and the owner was afraid of losing them. We generally leave them completely undisturbed when we find them affected, as even riding through the paddock causes several of them to tumble over. I don't remember ever seeing any sheep paralysed permanently quot;

jflrrquot;

340

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

(Captain Lockhart's Report on Louping 111, ' Veterinary Journal,' February, 1881).

Francis, of Adelaide, records (in ' Nature,' February, 1878) the effects of a Conferva indigenous and confined to the lakes forming the estuary of the Murray River. It is considered to be Nodularia spermigera, allied to Proto-cocciis, and floats on the surface of the water, being wafted to the lee shores and forming a dense scum like green oil paint, some two to six inches thick, and as pasty as porridge ; it is swallowed by animals when drinking, and sheep die from its effects in one to six or eight hours, showing stupor and unconsciousness, falling and remaining quiet as if asleep unless touched, when convulsions come on, with head and neck drawn back by rigid spasm, which subsides before death. The scum given experimentally in doses of thirty ounces caused death in fifteen hours, and autopsy showed no green scum in the stomachs, but their contents dry ; two pints of serum in the abdominal cavity ; heart flaccid but not pale; much effusion of serum around the heart. Dura mater congested. Blood black and uncoagulable, did not become scarlet on exposure to the air.

Simonds and Brown have on record in the 'Veterinarian ' for 1884 some interesting facts concerning acorn poisoning through cattle and sheep eating the acorn fruit or quot; mast.quot; It seems this may be used as food for all kinds of stock, but needs quot; grinding.quot; It seldom causes death, but it tends to produce constipation ; however, this tendency may be lessened by malting.

In the ⁽ Veterinarian' for February, 1877, is an account by Young, of Braintree, of sheep poisoning apparently by Kalmia. The victims were in-lamb ewes, and strayed into a garden during the night, and were found there in the morning lying down at rest as though they had been in for some time. When driven out one was very ill, and by evening 130 out of the 150 were attacked with symptoms described as those of gripes, the sheep being full but not swollen. Some difficulty was noticed in swallowing the castor-oil given them, and those which lived longest were

POISONS AND POISONING.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 341

stiff before death. Twenty died. Two species of Kahnia are known to be poisonous: K. latifolia, quot; laurel ivy,quot; is said not only to be poisonousj but to render the flesh poisonous, giving rise to trembling sickness. K. tmgusti-folia is called the sheep laurel because it is poisonous to sheep. Both are natives of North America. Morrell, in * The American Shepherd/ attributes to St. John's-wort irritation of the skin sometimes extending over the whole body and legs, and he considers that if eaten in too large quantities it produces enteritis, fatal in lambs and sometimes in adults, denoted by fantastic capers and various other peculiarities in behaviour. Kahnia latifolia is said by the same writer to be eaten by hungry and unwary sheep, causing the animal to be dull and stupid, swell a little, and constantly gulp a greenish fluid, which it swallows down ; a part of it will trickle out and discolour the lips, and quot; in the early stages if the greenish fluid be suffered to escape from the stomach the animal most generally recovers. To effect this, gag the sheep, which may be done in this manner : Take a stick of the size of your wrist and six inches long, place it in the animal's mouth, tie a string to one end of it, pass it over the head and down to the other end, and there make it fast. The fluid will then run from the mouth as fast as thrown up by the stomach. In addition to this give roasted onions and sweetened milk freely.quot; Kalmia latifolia is said to be equally fatal, by Grennell, in Massachusetts ' Agricultural Report,' 1860 (Eandall).

Lupine Poisoning is described, from the labours of several German observers, in the ' Veterinarian ' for 1880. Reports from various sheep farmers go to show that lupines act differently on different sheep, and that when injurious they have generally been grown on a poor damp soil, or on one which has been sown with lupines for several years previously. In the lupines are found three alkaloids (Schulz), the first crystallizable and harmless, the second and third combined to form a yellow oily liquid, which causes tremors, violent cramps, diarrhcea, and death; but in no case could the same appearances be

jwr?

5^^

mmm

342

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

found as when death had been caused by feeding on lupines. In the latter case the disease arises from urinary and biliary impregnation of the blood. Dammaun experimented on this poisoning as very frequent in Prussia, though lupines are often a great part of the food of sheep there. He fed sheep on lupine hay slightly infested with Pleospesa fungus : this killed most of the experimental animals, but whether fodder or fungus proved toxic was not clear. Death was due to ursemia combined with bile poisoning, the result of paralysis of the urinary and gall bladders, and reflux of their contents on their respective glands (Oest. Viert, f. Wissen. Veterinär-kuude). Andromeda ovalifolia of the Himalayas has been recorded as poisoning sheep and goats {' Journal of the Agri- and Horti-cultural Society of India/ vol. xiv).

Schutt found that fully ripened flax with seed capsules attached caused a ^laquo;(m'-paralytic condition and strong convulsions ending in death. He considered this due to a narcotic principle which causes inflammation of intestines and kidney disease.

Martin, of Rochester (' Vet. Jouru./ May, 187(3), records the results of lambs in low condition being put on buckwheat, beech-wheat, or quot; Saracen cornquot; {Polygomnnfago-pyrum, v. Fagopyrum esculentum) when in full flower or nearly ripe. quot; They soon began to exhibit symptoms of giddinessin fact, of intoxication, and they fought and butted each other, behaving generally in a most extraordinary and unlamb-like manner. Soon their faces and heads broke out into sores and ulcers, while their ears also became ulcerated, but did not drop off. A great many of them became blind owing to swelling of the eyelids completely excluding the light; not only this, but in some cases the eyes became ulcerated, and were totally destroyed. There was also a muco-purulent discharge from the nose ; the lips were swollen; the appetite was entirely in abeyance, and the sun and flies appeared to terrify them extremely. Nine of the number died. The noxious effects of this plant are not entirely new; it has been recorded as blanching the wool of sheep, and to be

raquo;laquo;

POISONS AND POISONING.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;343

especially powerful in dry bright weather. It acts when in the dry strand or trodden strand state as well as when in flower.quot;

Eanciman, of Market Deeping (' Vet. Journ.,' March, 1885), relates non-fatal poisoning of in-lamb ewes by Scrojjhularia aquatica, the water-betony. The symptoms shown were reeling and staggering, followed by complete loss of voluntary muscular power, loss of appetite, constipation, and inactivity of the kidneys. All recovered under treatment with a cathartic, stimulants, and mix vomica. One had partial paralysis of a hind leg for two or three days after the others recovered.

Dr. John Shand, in his paper quot; On the Disturbing Influence of Extensive Sheep Farming on the Vegetation of South Africa quot; (in vol. xiv, p. 208, ' Journ. of the Linnaean Society,' Botany), speaks of some poisonous Asclepiads, Tripteres, and the Melica or Drouk-gi'ass; Dr. Pappo adds Dicecia monaäelphia (Davidjes) to the list of known poisonous plants of South Africa, but much remains to be added to our knowledge in this respect.

ANIMAL POISONS other than those of specific disorders are seldom seen in sheep, although snake and serpent poisonings have been noted abroad, and viper bites are said to sometimes produce oedema of the face in Great Britain. Scorpion hites may cause similar conditions, and the tsetse fy produces its peculiar anthrax-like effects on sheep in the countries which it inhabits, especially the northern parts of South Africa and the hill regions about Assam. These conditions have but little practical relations with the health of the more valuable breeds of sheep, and their effects on the smaller ruminants have not yet been specially recorded. Hence we need notice them no further in this place. Cantharides powder taken internally in doses of a drachm proves fatal to a sheep. Sheep are said to eat the poisonous Tarantula with impunity. A remarkable case of poisoning by drinking urine was recorded by Gavard in May, 1879 ('Journal de Medecine vete-rinaire). Symptoms: Immediately after Ingestion violent general tremors, bead outstretched stiffly, gait staggering.

f'fF~

IStfUJlftüUUlaquo;

344

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

aspect staring ; later, tyinpany and difficulty in breathing ; death in less than an hour. Half an hour after, tlie carcass violently tympanic, conjunctiva blue, thick black blood flowing from nostrils.

MINEEAL POISONS accidentally ingested or wilfully administered seldom cause mortality in flocks. We may refer casually to the fact that sheep may suffer, as cattle do, from lead spray on pastures, and that somewhat peculiar conditions, perhaps due to mineral matters, but more probably to decomposing animal matter, have been observed as a result of .sewage contamination of grazing land, the sheep on which suffer from dyscrasia and emaciation of an obscure character.

Lambs are recorded to have died from licking walls covered with nitre, but why the walls were thus covered is not very evident, and the practical value of the observation simply lies in the fact that it shows nitre cannot be abused by too free use in sheep practice, especially in administration to young animals. Tartar emetic, on the other hand, has been administered to sheep in large doses without appreciable effect.

Herpath, in the * Chemist,' 1855, records the results of his study of the effects resulting from erection of smelting furnaces on the Mendip Hills in 1853. These seemed due to oxide, carbonate, and (perhaps) sulphate of lead on the herbage, hedges, and hay, even as far off as half a mile to a mile from the chimney. The live stock became stunted in growth, lean, short of breath, paralysed in the limbs, especially the hind ones, swelling of the knees took place, and death in a few months; no constipation nor colic. The young suffered most severely. quot; Lambs were yeaned paralytic. When three weeks old they could not stand, although they made efforts to do so. In attempting to feed them from a bottle they were nearly suffocated from paralysis of the glottis. Twenty-one died early out of twenty-three.quot; The milk of ewes was reduced in quantity, deteriorated in quality, and contained minute traces of lead. Autopsy showed the mucous membranes pale, the lungs with large portions of a dark red

i i

laquo;laquo;

' raquo;

fil

 1

#9632; .;

J ^

POISONS AND POISONING.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 345

colour, with circumscribed edges, not unlike ordinary inflammation, but evidently surcharged with fluid. A blue line appeared in the gum of the lower jaw, and this, on analysis, was found to contain lead.

As the subject of poisoning is intimately bound up with that of the action, uses, and doses of ordinary remedies, it will be as well to give a list of the latter here. Further, such a list will prove useful to the reader who has not a standard work on Materia Medica available for ready reference.

The subject of Ovine Therapeutics has not been so thoroughly worked out as it ought to be, and it is too often taken for granted that the dose for the sheep is in direct proportion to that for the ox. Further, it is assumed that medicines in all cases act on the sheep as on the ox; this is certainly a fallacy in some instances, perhaps in more than have hitherto been recognised.

#fR

^------..iJi_iW|

346

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

lt;.

raquo;ft

t^;

LIST OF MEDICINES

Administered internally and aj)jgt;Zied externally in Ovine Practice; after various Authors, especially Morton, Finlay Dun, Qamgee, and Tuson.

amp;

f* iff


		Actions, special on sheep.
Agent.	Uose to ;ulult.
Agent.	Uose to ;ulult.	luterually. Externally.
Acetic Acid .	laquo;IV----XV
Vinegar Aconite, Tinct. #9632; Alcohol	5,1 ..vvjx (V.M.) quot;l'jgt;ij (FlgO Spt. Kect. t'Jss	Hertwig finds sheeji and goats take 610 oz.
		freely, and
Aloes .	3'.)33	enjoy it		Tardy and un-
				certain.
Alum . h\i{. Amm. Fort. .	grs. xx5iij ^f3ii
Amm. Carb. .	grs. xxx
Liq. Amm. Acet. .	fgss
Ammoniacum	3.1
Amyl Nitrite	mxv
Anise, Coriander,
amp;c. . Liq. Antim.Terch.	5ÜSss		Useful in foot-rot, diluted with an equal
		¹ quantity of Tinct.Myrrha;
Tartar Emetic		Effects nil in : medicinal doses.' Four drachms has been known to kill
Areca Nut .	33
Tiuct. Arnica;	f5ij	! Useful for		i
.		bruises
Wliite Arsenic \	K^rs-,i'J: Liq.,	5lOgrs.caused poisoning

i I

^klraquo;i

I 1:1 I

LIST OF MEDXCIKKS.

347


		Actions, special on sheep.
\raquo;'Pnt	Tlnan in ulnlt			RemarkB.
ajjousraquo;	L'UcL IU UUUILi	luterually.	Externally.	RemarkB.
Asafoctida	5j
Bellad. Ext.	9j	Munch says sheep and goats eat the belladonna plant with apparent satisfaction and no evident harm
Atro^jiaj Sulph.	g^r- TÜ
Calabar Bean	Pulv., gr. i
Physostigmine	gr- Ä
Liquor Calcis	laquo;5gt;jlaquo;S'j	Antacid to lambs
Chalk .	Squot;!5iv
Calcii Phos. .	grs. vj
Calumba Root	si		;
Calx Chlorata	5j	In hoveu	In loot cases
Camphor	9j
Cannahis Ind. Ext.	grs. xx
Canth. Pulv.	grs- 'j
Capsicum Fruit .	grs. v
Ac d. Carbol.	mvX
Cardamoms .	Bij
Cascarilla; Cortex .	5j
01. Kicini .	*5raquo;y	To lambs,in milk
Catechu	5!
ChamomileFIowers	ÖJ
Charcoal	5ij	Useful in vegetable poisoning
Chloral	5iss
Chlorine Vapour . f	fjj, ana;sthetic;	Inhalations for lung worms
Chloroform . lt;	raquo;ixx, internally, through stomach
Chloric Ether	fjij
Cinchona liark	5'.i
Quina; Sulph.	grs. vii^
Cod-liver Oil	laquo;Sj
Colchicum Corm. .	9j
Cupri Sulph.	9j		Useful for foot-rot combined with equal parts of gunpowder and lard (Dun)
Cu. Amm. Sulph. .	9iss
Verdigris		Seldom used internally
Creasotc	n\,xxx
Croton Seeds -1	3i seeds
Croton Seeds -1	= grs. x

\frr

- .^Jl'J-J*-

s^msmm

mmm

348

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.


		Actions, special on sheep.
Agenl.	iJose to adiill.			KcniHrks.
Agenl.	iJose to adiill.	Internally.	Externally.
Crotoii Oil .	niv
Cuiuiu Fruit	5J
Digitalis Fol,	grs. viij
Krgot of Rye	si	Twenty sheep ate together for four weeks S) lbs. with impunity (Phoebus and Pereira)
Ktiier Sulph.	f3quot;j
t'ilic. Mar. Rad. .	3gt;v
GillltC .	5^SS
Acid, Tiinnic	jss
Gamboge	3.1
Gontian	5i.i
Ginger	5.i
Glycerimua .
;Giiiii acacia .	S.i
lilelleb. Nig..		5j to iiij induces fatal colic (Hertwig)
Hemlock	Snccus, f^ss; Tiuct., fjj SUCCUS, fjiss ;
Henbane . laquo;	Tlnct., fjiij ; Kxt., grs. vij i Alk., gr. i
I Hydroclilorio Acid	rrixxx
iCanuab. Ind.		Effects doubtful
iIodine .	grs. xx
Ipccacuanba.	grs. xxx
Ipccacuanba.	grs. xxx	Dun's torn	c drench.
		Gruel 1 ,^. or Ale l⁰^
Perri Sulpli..	9j-3ii .	Sulphate of iron jij. Än}lt;quot;-^s. Mix and give !\s a touic drencb
Kcrri lodid. .	^	(3 doses)
Kcrri lodid. .	3j
'Fcrri Pcrcbl. Liq.	f588
Iodine .	gr. v
Jaborandi	5ss
Pilocarpine .	gr.i
Juniper Berries .	3'j
Plnmbi Acct.	grs. xv
Linseed Oil .	Hn	Gentle and s!ii'c^:for Iambs (Dun)
Mag. Carb. .	5iv

i m

I.IST OP MEDICINES.

349


		Actions, special on sheep.
Agent.	Dose to ndult.			Reniiirks.
Agent.	Dose to ndult.			Reniiirks.
		Internally.	Externally.
Mag. Sulph.	3iv
Calomel	grs. x
Corr. Subl. .	s^r- ,i
Methyl. Spirit	f5j
Myrrha	5gt;v
Acid. Nitric.	nixxx
Acid. Nitro-hydro-
chlor.	111X--XX
Nux Vomica Jieaus	grs. x
Strychnia	gr.i-l
01. Olivffi .	^f'Squot;J
Opium, Crude	grs. xx
Laudanum .	t5quot;i
Morph. Hydr. v.
Acet.	e^T- .i
01. Menthffi .	mvx
Black Pepper	9j
1'odophyllum	grs. vj
Pot. Bicarb.	5)
Pot. lodid. .	grs. xxx
Pot. Broin. .	5ss3j
Nitre .	äi
Pot. Chlor. .	9j
Hydrocyanic Acid	mx (P.B.)
Quassia; Liq.	33
Quercus Cortex .	3J
Mhei Had. .	3i
Acid., Salicyl.	grs. xv	Useful in rheumatic arthritis (Oresswell)
Nitrate of Silver .	grs. \j
Sapo (mollis et da-
ms) .	5iv
Sodas Uenzoas		Useful in rheumatic arthritis
Soda; Carb. .	si
Sodte Boras .	3d
Soda; Sulphas	3quot;.!
Soda; Sulphis	} s
Soda Hyposulplds	} s
Soda; Chlorid.	Vi
Soda; Chlorata	Sol., fjj
Sugar, Treacle, and
Liquorice .	3iv
Sulphur	Sj-ij	Aperient
Acid. Sulphuricnm	föss (med. acid)
icid. Sulphurosum	f5ss (med. acid)
Spt. JEth. Nit. .	fjii
Tobacco	grs. xxx
I'urpentine .	3J

350

DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.


	Actions, special on sheep.
Agent.	Dose to adult.---------------------1------------------.Remarks.
	Internally. Externally.
		Drenches for lamb disease.
		Take of
		I. Epsom salt 3VJ.
		Nitre Jiv.
		Boiling water Oiij.
		Add when milkwarm:
		Oil of turpentine Jiv.
		Bol. armin. gss.
		Mix well, anil give 3 or 4
		tablespoonfuls every other
Oil of Turpentine .	fSjiv -	day (Crisp). II. Common salt 3 lls. Powdered ginger quot;I of each Powder nitre J ^ lb.

		Dissolve in water 3 galls.
		Add when nearly eold :
		Oil of turpentine Jxxiv.
		Give to a lamb 4 to 6 months
		old two ounces as a dose
Resin .	9]	(Crisp)
Resin .	9]
Tar .
Vaseline
Veratrum	grs. xx
Zinc Oxide .	grs. v
Zinc Sulphate	grs. x
Zinc Chloride			Useful in foot-rot, as Burnett's fluid i

Ilaquo;.

INDEX.

Abdominal tumour . Abomasitis Abomasuin, impaction

nbsp; rupture

PAGE . 132 . 121 . 121 . 121


		PAGE
	Arsenical poisoning .	. 332
	Ascites	. 173
	sanguineous .	. 22
	Asthenic sheep-pox .	. 31
	Atony of bladder	. 180
	Auscultation	8,83
	liacillus anthracis	. 45
	chorea; ovis .	. 250
	emphysema infectuosui	a . 59
	tuberculosis .	. 92
	Bane....	. 132
	Barren, inflammation of	. 222
	Bathurst burr .	. 286
	Bayoor	. 72
	Bearing	. 211
	pains .	. 221
	Bell wethers	. 17
	Benign cpulis .	. 114
	Bezoars	. 120
	Bile ....	. 133
	Biliary calculus.	. 133
	Binding lands .	. 24
	Biscuiola .	. 145
	Bistournage	. 202
	Black leg .	. 58
	muzzle .	. 293
	spauld .	. 46
	Bladder, atony of	. 180
	rupture of .	. 180
	Blain	. 52
	Bleeding .	. 13
	Blindness .	. 275
	-Blindsquot;.	. 275
	Blisters	. 15
	Blobwhirl .	. 233
	quot;Bloodquot; .	. 10
	Blood	. 18
	disorders, simple .	. 18
	-------specific .	. 25
	quot; Blood-rotquot; .	. 22
	Blood-vascular glands	. 79
	Bloody flux	. 129

Abortion .

211

Abscesses, fluke. Absence of external car Absorption of virus . Acari, detection of Acariasis ovis . Aconite

Acorn fruit, effects of Actinoinycosis . Action of skin suppressed quot; Acute dropsy quot;

nbsp;pruritus Adherent eyelid Administration of medicines Adrenals . After-pains Age of sheep

Algerian sheep in anthrax Alvitis Amaurosis. Amputation

nbsp;of womb

nbsp;of quot; worm quot; . Anaemia Anajsthetics

Andromeda . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;

330 . 148 . 278 . 41 . 307 . 203 . 336 . 340 68, 114 . 328 22 . 200 . 277 . 12 . 80 215, 221 . 107 . 50 . 119 . 277 . 191 . 212 . 178 . 20 . 15 . 342

Ante-partum rupture of vagina. 212

Anthraeoid

nbsp;erysipelas Anthrax .

nbsp; fever .

nbsp; intoxication .

nbsp;prophylaxis .

nbsp; vaccination . Anus, imperforate Aphtha

Apoplexy, cerebral Apparatus, genital, fem-------male

131

109, 110, 111

231

204

197


f j	r-. #9632;	i
¹ H i i	.';.
i	#9632;
I y'
	;#9632;

~~~j--^H IILH~~

25S

352

INDEX.


	PAGE		PAGI
Blossom .	. 226	Clapping ....	7
Bots ....	. 87	Chitting ....	. 200
Bowel sickness .	. 46	Clavelee ....	. 25
Brain	. 228	Clavelisation	. 38
Braxy	. 43,46	Claviceps purpurea .	. 338
Breeding ewes .	. 17	Claws, loose	. 259
rams	. 17	Clees.....	268
stock .	. 225	Cleft-sore ....	. 259
Bridling .	. 324	Cling ....	129
Brisket	. 82	Coast disease	. 10
Broken teeth .	. 107	Coathe ....	138
Broken-mouthed sheep	. 109	quot;Codquot; ....	202
Bronchitis.	. 01	Ccelosomian	208
parasitica	. 98	Ccenurus cerebralis .	237
simplex	. 93	Colic.....	122
Bruised feet	. 250	Conferva poisoning .	340
Bruises	. 327	Conium ....	335
Buckwheat	. 342	Conjunctiva, dermatoid	277
Burning (castration) .	. 201	Constipation	131
Burr....	. 286	Consumption	65
Bursting of eyeball .	. 277	pulmonary .	91
		Contagions diseases, repression	43
Cachcxia aquosa vcrminosn	. 135	ecthyma . . . 10£	, HI
Ca?sarian operation .	. 210	foot-rot	73
Calculi	. 120	mammitis	224
gall-bladder .	. 172	pleuro-pneumonia.	72
renal .	. 170	Cordial ....	125
urethral	. 177	Corrosive sublimate .	331
Canal of foot	. 256	Cotting ....	282
Cancer of eye .	. 277	Covered operation (castration)	201
Cantharides	. 343	Cranial circulation .	230
Capacity for resisting dise	xso . 10	Cranium, fracture of.	245
Carbolic poisoning	. 333	Crapaud ....	73
Carbuncular fever	. 53	Crawlers ....	318
Castration	. 198	Crusta labialis .	291
Cataract .	. 277	Cuckoo lambs .	207
Catarrh, gastro-parasitic	. 128	Cud dropping .	116
nasal .	84, 85	loss of .	116
Catarrhal epizootic .	70,71	Cumberland disease .	45
Catching a sheep	. 6	Cutaneous action suppressed	328
Cathartics.	. 12	asphyxia . . 287, 329	,330
Causes of disease	. 9	Cutting (castration) .	201
Cerebral apoplexy	. 231	Cyclopean ....	208
Cervicis uteri torsio .	. 213	Cysticercus tennicoilis	173
Chapped lips	. 292	Cystitis ....	179
#9632; teats .	. 292	Cysts in mutton	195
Chaps	. 292
Charges	. 13	Datre.....	296
quot; Chockered quot; .	20, 138	Dead fleece . . . .	281
Choking .	. 115	lambs.....	208
Cholocystic calculi	. 172	Deaf and dumb sheep	278
Chorea	. 255	Deformity of horns .	195
paralytica ovis	. 246	Dcmodex.....	327
Chrones . . . .	. 107	Dormatodcctic scab .	299
Circulation, intra-cranial .	. 230	Dermatoid cornea	277
Circulatory system .	. 77	Detaining sheep	4
Clap of udder .	. 118	Detection of acari	307
Clapped wool	. 20	Dew scald.....	110

INDBX.

353


	PAGE		PAGE
Diagnosis .	. 8	Ewes, fatality in	. 215
Diarrhcea .	. 124	Examination of sheep	. 5
parasitic	. 125	Exhaustion after labour	. 210
Digestive system	. 104	External anthrax	. 53
Digitalis .	. 335	ear, absence of	. 278
Dipping .	. 310	Extirpation of spleen	. 80
Dips ....	. 310	Eye ....	. 275
Discrete pox	. 31	Eyeball, bursting of .	. 277
Disease-resisting capacity	. 10	Eyelid, adhesion of .	. 277
Diseases of man	. 17	warts on	. 278
Dislocations	. 191
Distomum	145, 172	Fteces, state of .	. 9
Diuresis, simple	. 175	Fags.	. 322
Docking .	. 191	Faik, impaction of .	. 119
Donve	. 145	Fallen fleeces	. 50
quot; Drawing quot; a flock .	. 151	False presentations .	. 207
the testes	. 201	Fardel bound .	. 119
Drenches .	. 12	Fasciola	. 145
Dressing feet .	. 270	Fascioliasis	135, 140
quot; Droppingquot; the cud	. 116	Fatty degeneration, heart	. 77
with water quot;	. 179	liver	. 133
Dropsy of the brain .	. 232	Fäule	. 138
Dry hraxy .	. 40	Feet, galled	. 259
Drying up ewes.	. 226	minor diseases of .	. 258
Ductless glands.	. 79	worn .	. 259
Dumb and deaf sheep	. 278	Felting	. 282
Duties of lambor	. 20G	Fever	. 18
Dysentery.	. 129	parturient .	. 213
		-------malignant	. 279
Ear.....	. 278	parturition .	. 221
amputation .	. 191	Firing, castration	200, 201
inflammation	. 279	Flat variola	. 29
Echiuococeus in liver	. 134	Flax seed, effects of .	. 342
Ecthyma contagiosa .	. 109	Flock, management of	. 6
Eczema . . . .	. 290	Flowering of the fleece	. 299
epizootica	. 61	Fluke . . . .	135, 145
Egelseuche	. 138	abscesses	. 148
Embryotomy	. 210	life history .	. 153
Emphysema infoctuosum	. 58	Flux, bloody	. 129
Emphysematous shcep-pox	27,32	Fly.....	. 324
Encephalitis	. 229	oils . . . ,	. 325
Enemas . . . .	. 13	tsetze .	. 344
Enteritis .	. 123	quot; Flying stock quot;	. 225
Enteromycosis .	. 53	Fodder plants, poisonous	. 333
Enzootic pleurisy	. 71	Fomenta .	. 15
pneumonia .	. 71	Foot ....	. 256
Epilepsy . . . .	. 231	and mouth disease	. Gl
Epizootics .	. 09	dressing	. 270
Epulis, benign .	. 114	mange .	. 301
Ergot of rye	. 337	rot	. 259
Ergotism . . . .	. 339	------- contagious	. 73
Erysipelas.	. 290	Forms of shcep-pox .	. 25
Erysipelatous scab	. 290	Four-horned sheep .	. 194
Erythema .	. 292	Fracture .	. 190
chronicum mammillarm	n . 223	cranium	. 245
intertrigo	. 292	horn .	. 195
Evil ....	. 65	orbit .	. 277
joint	. 183	Fragilitas ossium	. 188

(#9632;#9632;fffquot;

354

INDEX.


PAGE			TAOE
Free martin . . . .	208	Husk	. 93
Frenzy . . . . .	229	Hydatido-ccphalus .	. 233
		Hydatids .	. 134
Gad-fly ....	8C	in lungs	. 93
Gull-bladder calculi .	172	in spleen	. 79
Gall-lamb ....	218	ou the brain .	. 233
Galled feet . . . ,	259	Hydrocephalus .	. 233
Gangrenous stomatitis	68	Hydrorachitis .	. 247
Garget ....	224	Hydrothorax	. 91
Gastric catarrh, parasitic .	128	Hysteritis .	. 214
Gastrorrhcea parasitica	129
General symptoms	7	lies ....	. 138
Generative apparatus, female	204	Ill, joint .	. 183
-------male	197	Impaetion of abdomen	. 121
Gestation ....	279	of faik .	. 119
Giddiness ....	233	of rumen	. 118
Glands, salivary	114	Imperlbrate anus	. 181
Gleet, nasal	85	Impervious teats	. 220
Gloss-antlirax . . , 4	5,52	Impetigo larvalis	. 291
Goat-pox ....	45	Imports, inspection of	. 431
Goggles ....	233	Indigestion	. 116
Goitre ....	80	Infectious aphtha	. 01
Grass staggers .	119	- mammitis	. 224
Gravelling	259	Infiltration, fatty, of heart	. 78
Great head . . 454?	, 292	Inflammation of intestinal	canal 254
Green skit	124	of larynx	. 90
Guide sheep	17	of spleen	. 79
		of womb	. 213
Ilcomatosepsis .	58	Inflammatory fever .	. 45
Hamiatomyosis .	222	Injured feet	. 259
Hiemuturia	180	Inoculated sheep-pox.	. 41
lliemorrhagic sheep-pox .	187	Inoculation	. 39
Haemorrhoids	132	Inspection of imported sheep . 43
Hiemostasis	45	Instruments and appliances of
Hair balls.	120	lambcr	. 206
Handling sheep	5	Interdigital paronychia	. 259
Hard ....	22	Internal temperature	. 8
Hardcrian gland	. 21)9	Interrelation of human	and
Head sore ....	. 327	ovine disorders .	. 17
Heart ....	77	Interungulate canal .	. 256
water ....	. 70	Intestinal anthrax	. 53
Heat.....	. 204	Intestines .	. 122
Heath ....	. 335	Intoxication by anthrax	55
Hellebore poisoning .	. 333	Intra-venous blood-injection . 59
Hemlock ....	335	Inversed uteri .	212
Henbane ....	335	Iritis	'. 278
Hepatitis ....	134
Hermuphroditism	208	Jack-rot .	. 13G
Hernia; ....	123	Jacobson's organ	. 81
Hog-jawed sheep	144	Jar ....	. 282
quot; Holding quot; by ewes.	207	Jaundice .	. 19, 133
sheep, methods of	5	Joint evil .	. 183
Hoose ....	',13	ill ...	. 183
Horns, injuries und disease
of . . . .103-	-195	Kalmia poison .	. 341
Hot iron (castration) . 2O0	, 201	Keds.	. 322
winds, effects of .	10	Kemps	. 282
lioven ....	lligt;	Kidneys, inflammation of	. 175

IH '

Ipk

INDEX.

355


	PAGE		PAGE
Labourj prolonged	. 210	Melophagus	. 322
Lacerated ears and limbs	. 327	Mensuration	. 83
Laid wood	. 314	Mercurial poisoning .	. 331
Lamb disease	. 93	Mesenteric disorder .	. 98
Lambcr, bis duties .	. 206	Metro-peritonitis	. 213
his instruments, amp;c.	. 206	Micrococci of sheep-pox	. 34
Lämmergrind .	. 291	Middle turbinated	. 81
Lanoline .	. 281	Milk, analysis of	. 220
quot;Lark-spurredquot;	. 27G	sickness	. 07
Larmier .	. 277	utcriue	. 223
Laryngeal inflammation	. 90	Mineral poisons.	. 344
Lashing (castration).	. 201	Misdirection of horns	. 195
Lead poisoning .	. 344	Mollities ossium	. 188
smelting furnace .	. 344	Monstrosities .	. 208
Leberkrankheit.	. 138	Mouldy forage, effects of	. 336
Log evil .	. 88	Mudballiug	. 258
Leptus autumnalis .	. 322	Multiparity	. 205
Lesions of surface	. 327	Muscular system	. 181195
Lice ....	. 323	Museau, uoir	. 296
Life history of fluke .	. 153	Mutton hams .	. 51
Lift a sheep, to .	. 6
Lightning stroke Limb amputations Ling .... Liver degeneration	. 25 . 191 . 335 . 133 . 133	Names of sheep. Nasal catarrh . gleet Navel-ill . . .ISO	. 108 . 84 . 85 215217
rot Locked jaw Loose claws	. 135 . 253 . 259	Necrannia . Nephritis . Nervous system	. 25 . 175 . 228
Loss of cud	. 110	Nestor mirabilis	. 320
uf wool. Louping-ill Luciiia sericata .	9 . 246 . 320	New Zealand parrot . Nitre Nodularia poisoning . Noir museau Nux vomica	. 320 . 344 . 340
Lumbar prurigo Lupine poisoning	. 07		. 290
Lumbar prurigo Lupine poisoning	. 341		. 336
Lympli preparation .	. 40
Lymphatic system	. 78	(Edema	. 292
		(Estrum	. 204
Mad staggers .	. 240	tEstrus	. 80
Maggot disease .	. 320	Oil poke .	. 175
Maggots . . . .	. 89	Oily dips .	. 315
Mai d'araginee .	. 225	Onyehia .	. 259
Maladic de Sologne .	. 45	Operation, C'ajsarian .	. 201
tremblantc .	. 240	covered castration	. 210
Malignant aphtha	109, 111	Ophthalmia	. 275
carbuncle	. 50	simple . . . .	. 277
parturient fever .	. 219	Orbit, fracture of	. 277
sheep-pox	. 31	Oregon disease .	. 21
Malposition of horns.	. 194	Organs of special sense	. 256
Mammillary erythema	. 220	Os uteri, scirrbous	. 212
Mammitis. . . .	. 224	Osteoporosis	. 189
Man, derangements of	. 17	Otitis . . . .	. 279
Management of a flock	. 6	Otter breed	2
Manyplies. . . .	. 119	Outbreaks of disease .	'. 11
Mast of acorn .	. 340	Ovariotomy	. 220
Materia medica	. 345	Overcrowding, effects of .	. 10
Measures, preventive	. 15	Overstocking, effects of	. 201
Meat inspection	. 195	Ovida; . . . .	. 1

=*=#9632;

Im i i

356

INDEX.

f ! !


Ovinution .	PAGE . 39	Proctatresia	PAGE . 131
Ozaeiia	. 85	Prolonged labour	. 211
		Prophylaxis of anthrax	. 58
Pains, parturient	. 221	Pruritus, acute .	. 290
Palsy	. 252	Psoriasis . . . .	. 291
Pancreas .	. 133	Psoroptcs . . . .	. 304
Paralysis, simple	. 252	Pudenda, inflammation of	. 222
Parasites .	. 11	Pulex penetrans	. 270
in rumen	. 122	Pulmonary consumption .	. 91
Parasitic diarrhoea .	. 125	Pulse . . . .	7,18
gastric catarrh	. 128	Puncture of rumen .	. 117
Paronyclna	. 259	Punt ....	. 233
Parotulitis	. 115	Pustular fever
Parturient fever	. 230
-------malignant	. 219	Quarter-ill	. 58
Parturition fever	. 221
Pathological anatomy of	sheep . 34	Rabies	. 01
Paucity of specific diseai	c . .16	Raddling .	. 197
Pelt ....	. 280	Ram fights	. 3
Pentastomes	. 85	Ranula	. 114
Percussion	8, S3	Ranunculus	. 334
Pericarditis, traumatic	. 77	Rat-tails .	. 291
Poritoueura	. 172	Red water . . 2:	!, ISO, 290
Peritonitis	. 173	Renal calculi	. 170
Pervious uraclms	. 180	Repression of contagious d	isease 43
Phlebitis, umbilical .	. 180	Respirations	. 8
Phlebotomy	. 14	Respiratory system .	. 81
Phthisical tubercles .	. 94,	Retinitis .	. 278
Phthisis .	. 91	Retroversio uteri	. 212
Pietiu	. 73	Rheumatism	. GO
Piles.	. 132	Rhododeiulrou .	. 335
Pimling	. 129	Rickets .	. 187
Pining	24, 45, G5	Rinderpest	. 59
Pits ....	. 30	Ringworm	. 292
Plants, poisonous	. 333	quot; Ripe quot; sheep .	. 109
Plenalvia .	. 118	quot; Rippling quot;	. 151
Plethora .	. 19	Roseola	. 29
Pleurisy .	. 91	Rot ....	. 135
epizootic	. 73	of foot.	. 259
Pleui-o-pneumouia conta	giosa . 72	of the lights.	. 92
Pneumonia	. 91	Rough diagnosis	. 8
epizootic	. 70	Rowing	. 283
sporadic	. 91	Rumen, parasites of .	. 122
Poisouous fodder plants	. 333	Rupture of abomasum	. 121
Poisons	. 328	of bladder .	. 179
Poke oil .	. 175	of vagina ante-partum	. 212
Poked	. 20	Rye-grass .	. 33(J
Pollards .	. 193
Polled sheep	. 193	Salivary .	. 114
Polygonum	. 342	Salves	. 321
Poultices .	. 15	Salving	. 320
Pouring	. 318	Salzlluss .	. 299
Pox ....	. 25	Sanguineous ascites .	. 22
Pregnancy	. 205	Saracen corn	. 342
Presentations, false .	. 207	Sarcoptic scabies	. 372
Preventive measures.	. 15	Savin	. 335
Prickly fruits ou wool	. 28Ü	Scab ....	. 293
Prohang, use of	. 150	Scabies	. 293

H i

t i

I. \


	INDEX.		357
	PAGE		PAGE
Scald	. 207	Specitic disorders	. 25
(lew	. 110	Spleen, diseases of	. 79
Scale....	. 187	extirpation of	. 80
Scoliasis .	. 66, 184	Splenic apoplexy	. 45
Scorpion-bite	. 344	Sporadic pneumonia	. 91
Scouring lands .	. 124	Spotting .	. 380
Scraping (castration)	. 201	Sprains	. 195
Scrofula .	. 05	Staggers .	. 47, 216
Seudda	. 288	Staphyloma, simple	. 277
Seizing sheep .	. 4	Staple	. 283
Senility, diseases of .	. 16	Sterility .	. 203
Sopticannia	. 72	Sternum of sheep	. 82
Serpent-bite	. 344	Stomatitis .	. 110
Setons	. 16	gangrenous .	. 68
Setting fractures	. 100	Stoppage of the raquo;-ate	t . . 177
Sewage contamination	. 344	Straining .	. 215
poisoning	. 72	Strangles .	. 08
Shab,	. 293	Stranguillon	. 78
Shafpocken	. 25	Strangulation .	. 123
Slmpe	. 211	Stretches .	. 122
Shearing .	. 283	Sturdy	. 233
Shecp-pox .	. 25	Substitute lambs	. 200
Sliell sickness .	. 175	Succussion	. 83
quot; Shot of blood ^:'	. 58	Snperfoetation .	. 212
Shuttle-gobbed sheep	. 144	Suppressed cutaneous	action . 328
Sickness, shell .	. 175	Surface lesions .	. 327
signs of	. 7	Swelled head	. 292
Signs of age	. 109	Swelling of Joints	. 181
Silence of sheep	. 81	Symbiotic scabies	. 298
Siaiple aphtha .	. 110	Symptoms, general	7
blood disorders	. IS	System, circulatory	. 77
broncbitis	. 93	digestive	. 104
diarrhoea	. 124	generative .	. 107
diuresis	. 175	lymphatic	. 78
ophthalmia .	. 270	muscular	. 181105
paralysis	. 252	nervous	. 228
pneumonia .	. 92	respiratory .	. 81
staphyloma .	. 272	urinary	. 174
stomatitis	. 110
Skeleton .	. 181	Tabes mesenterica	. 78
Skin ....	. 280	Tail amputations	. 191
Skull	. 181	Tapeworm disease	. 125
Smallpox .	37, 38	Tapping the belly	. 173,213
Smearing .	. 320	Tart lauds	. 121
Smell	. 270	Tearing	. 283
Smut	. 330	Tear pit .	. 277
Snake-bite	. 344	Teats, diseases of	. 220
Snots	. 93	impervious .	. 220
Snuffles	. 84	Teeth	. 104
Soot as top dressing, el!	jets of . 333	Temperature, iuterna	1 . . 8
Sore cleft .	. 205	Tetanus	. 253
head	. 327	Therapeutics, ovine	. 345
Soreness of feet	. 259	Thermometry .	. 8
South African poison pi	ints . 373	Thorter-ill	. 240
Spauld .	. 405	Throwing, sheep	. 4
Spaying .	. 226	Thrush in the mouth	. 109
Special sense, organs of	. 250	Tluvartcr-ill	. 240
Specific diseases, paucity	of . 16	Thymus	. 80

#9632; ^#9632;-#9632;.~!U #9632;....#9632;#9632;If

358

INDEX.


	PACE		TAGE
Thyroid bodies .	. 80	Vaccine disease of sheep	. 38
Ticks	. 322	Vaginitis .	. 221
in louping-ill	. 250	Varicella ovium	. 45
Tobacco poisoning	. 333	Variola caprina .	. 45
Tongue, condition of .	. 9	ovina .	. 25
Torsio corvicis uteri .	. 213	Variolous disorders .	. 37
Traber Krankheit	. 246	Vegetation influenced by sheep-
Tracheotomy	. 'JO	farming	. 343
Trapping (castration )	. 201	Vehicles .	. 12
Traumatic erythema .	. 202	Venom of snakes	. 314
pericarditis .	. 70	Vinquish .	, 24
Travel sore	. 250	Virus, absorption of .	. 41
Trembles .	. 67	Vomition .	. 116
Trembling disease	. 07
Tremblings	. 246
Trephining for gid	. 244	Warts on eyelids	. 278
Tricocepbalus .	. 127	Washing .	. 287
True scar .	. 209	Water-bellied .	. 211
Tsetee fly .	. 344	betony .	. 343
Tubercles in pancreas	. 133	braxy .	. 179
Tuberculosis	. 05	red	. 22
Tufts	. 282	rot	. 142
Tumour, abdominal .	. 132	Watery caehexia	. 188
mouth .	. 114	poke	. 138
Tupping .	. 107	Whirquibus	. 170
Twin	. 233	White skit	. 124
Twin-sick .	. 233	tar	. 314
Twisted neck of womb	. 213	wool	. 322
Tying (castration) .	. 201	Wholesale treatment.	. 11
Tympany of rumen .	. 116	Wild Bre .	. 290
Typbus	. 45	Wiring for gid .	. 242
		Wool	. 283
Udder clap	. 118	eating .	. 116
Umbilical phlebitis .	. 180	loss of .	. 0
quot; Unsound pasturesquot;	. 143	Woolsorter's disease .	. 50
Uraehns, pervious	. 180	Womb, amputation of	. 212
Urethra] calculi	. 177	inflammation of .	. 213
Uretbritis .	. 198	Worm, amputation of	. 178
Urinary system .	. 174	in foot .	. 258
Urine	. 174	Worn feet	. 259
poisoning	. 344	Wounds . . . .	. 327
Usual method of castralioi	i . 198	Wry neck . . . .	. 191
Uterine inversion	. 212
milk	. 223
		Yew leaves	. 331
Vaccination, anthrax	. 54	Yulk ....	. 281

':raquo;

i i i

INDEX OF AUTHORITIES.


		PAGE	PAOE
Altken	. 50		Chalmers.....134
American veterinary	Journal . 125		Chauveau . 32, 33, 50, 55, 57, 278
-------Review .	. 210		Chemist.....344
Andral	19, 21		Clark, Bracy . . 85, 87, 88, 90
Annales des Sc. Nat.	. 77		Clayworth.....69
Archiv f. Exp. Path.	. 06		Clement.....316
-------pathol. Anat. 0	Phys. . 329		Coates.....333
Arloing	. 59		Cobhold 89,96, 98,100,126,127,138,
Armatage ,	. 291		164, 169, 195, 234
Arnulphua	. 138		Colin.....34
Aveling, Dr.	. 217		Colin.....18
Axe . . . 110, 118, 221, 270			Columella.....109
			Cornevin.....59
Baillarger .	. 80		Coventry.....137
Bakewell .		. 150	Cox.....125, 212
Bancroft .		. 127	Crisp.....79,350
Banham .		. 25	Cross .... 126, 128
Barthelemy		. 50	Culley.....205
Barnes		. 212	Curtice.....120
Bath Society's Papers		. 141	Czokor.....327
Beattie .		151, 152
Beck .		. 216	Dammaum .... 342
Belliol		. 33	D'Arboval, Hurtrel . 27, 31, 57, 253
Bibra		. 174	Darwin.....10
Black		. 260	Daubenton . . . 227, 334
Bland, Dr.		. 217	Davaine ..... 237
Bollinger . . 16,	19, (	16, 68, 114	Degive.....80
Bourguinon		. 304	Delafond 10, 19, 21, 116, 273, 299,
Boutet		. 50	304, 336
Bowler and Bros.		. 167	Derenden.....273
Bremond .		. 37	Dick 52, 91, 114, 116, 132, 133, 134,
Brotherton		. 249	137,214, 229,237, 216, 249, 252,
Brown 8, 46, 72, 109	, 110, 167, 210,		261, 263, 2G7, 269, 270, 274, 290
248, 250,263, 26-	i, 266,267, 269,		Dickens.....ISO
273, 291, 300, 30]	,301,315,332,		Dickenson .... 331
340			Dowdeswell . . . .59
Bruce	300, 310, 313		Drew.....234
Brugnon .	. 334		Dun 66, 167, 169, 315, 346, 347, 348
Brydon	. 250, 252		Dykes.....102
Carless	. 72		Edgar .... 188, 291
Ceely	. 38		Edinburgh Veterinary Review 224..
Chahert .		. 128	310

; !l

! II

360

INDEX OP AUTHORITIES.

if I

i i:

EdU, Dr. EicMer

Ercolani Etienno

PAGE . 218 . 241

98, 257, 280

272

PAOE

Hawes.....118

Heissler.....19

Hering .... 37,291

Herpater.....344

Hertwig 31, 37, 45, 304, 307, 331,

348 Hewitt, Dr. Graily . . . 217

Hicks, Dr.....218

Hippocrates .... 137

Hjaltelin.....135

Hogg 24, 40, 47, 49, 53, 239, 242,

243,244, 202, 268, 274, 292, 321 Hutcbeon .... .72 Hutcbinsou . . . 214, 218 llnzzard ..... 237

Intellectual Observernbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. . 323

.lobanni ..... 164 Journal Agric. Soc. of India . 342 Anat. and Pbys. . .188,238

nbsp; Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 194

nbsp; Comp. Path, and Tber.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 102

nbsp; de Mcd. Vet.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. . . 342

nbsp; dc Med. Vet. Thcor. . . 238

nbsp;Linntean Soc. . . . 343

nbsp; Koyal Agrin. Soc.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; . 177, 213

Fabrcgow.....335

Pair.....240, 247

Farmers' Magazine . . .43

Eaure.....263

Feinberg.....329

Feser . . . .50, 172

Fitzherbert . . . .258

Fleming 5, 8, 10, 15, 21, 29, 36, 37,

40, 41, 43, 45, 47,49, 63, 67,71,

138, 193, 195, 204, 224, 273,

290,nbsp;290

Francis.....340

Friedberger . . . 148, 152 Frommeutnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.... 336

Fiirstcnburg . . 176, 299, 304

Gamgee 8, 11, 18, 32, 33, 45, 46,49, 51, 53, 58, 59, 83, 93, 100, 101, 114,126,132,174,176,177, 179, 221, 224, 226,247,257, 286, 290,

291,nbsp;319, 327,332, 333, 334, 336, 346

Dr. Arthur . . . .223

Gaspariu .

Gavard

Gavarret .

Gemelin .

Gentleman's Magazine

Gerlaeh 37, 128, 151,

172, 304, 305, 306Gervais Giornalc di An., Fis., c

Animali Girard Gohior Goodsir Googe Gordon Graliam Graves, W. Grennel Grcsswell . Grey Gurlt

. 195 34, 57 . 337 92, 94 . 98 . 37 . 8 . 107 . 37

. 126

. 15,241

. 133

. 83

. 103

263, 322, 339

. 122

, 331, 335

. 342

19,21

. 335

. 194

157, 104,

T, 316

. 299 degli

. 224

31, 36

254, 262, 263

. 249

. 194

. 286

. 321

. 23

. 341

66, 349

95,97, 98, 102

. 107

. 120

Kirk

Klein

Kluge

Koch

Koch, Alois

Koruer

Krabbe .

Kreuzer .

Küchenmeister .

La Clinica Vet..

Lancet

Landerer .

Lassaigne .

Laulanie .

Law . . 67, 73,

Lawes

Lawrence .

Leicester, Earl of

Leuckart . 103, 147,

Levie

Lewis

Liebrieb .

Linnams .

Lipp.

Lisle.

Litt .

Live Stock Journal

Lockhart .

231,

276

325

148,157, 241

. 175, 176

. 213

. 281

. 333

. 334

. 272

. 174, 177

. 138

. 310

Guttridste .

Hallier . Hamilton, Dr. Hamont . Hardy Hartenstein Harvey Haubncr .

. 34 46, 246, 248, 249 . 135 . 68 . 242 . 217 33, 37, 63, 07

INDEX 0¥ ÄÜTHOKlTIKä.

361


		PAGE			TAGK
MacSougall		. 310	Renault		50, 65
MacFadyean		. 223	Reynal		. 263, 293
MacGillivray		68, 212	Heynault .		. 112
M'Gillivray . ^ .		. 185	Kichthofer		. 2)7
Mackenzie, Sir G. S. .		. 58	Riley		. 87
Hanson		. 37	Ritzeraa Bus		. 32fi
Mark Lane Express .		. 198	Rivolta .		126, 224, 225
Miirtin		. 343	Robertson 20, 21	22	184, 187,188,
Uatbewson		. 247	249, 250
Matthieu .		. 316	Roche Lubin		50, 7u
Memoires de l'Acad. de Uijou . 77			Roll .	31,36,37,41,217
Moffat		. 97	Roloff		. 172
Morel		. 74	Rose, Dr. .		. 215
Morrel		291, 311	Roy .		. 57
Morton		133, 346	Sac-co		. 37
National Live Stock Joumi		1 . 80	Schutt		. 34:!
Xaunyn .		. 37	Scientific News		. 326
Jiegretti .		. 299	Scottish Farmer		. 313
New York Herald		5	#9632;Seamen		. 213
Nocard		113, 224	Sebault		. 272
Nunu		. 255	Semmer Seron		. 60 . 71
Gest. Viert, f. wiss. vet		. 342	Seyard		. 110
Olver		. 119	Shand, Dr.		. 343
Osborne, Ur.		. 217	Sibbold .		. 214
Oschatz		. 327	Siedamgrot/.sky .		. 8
			Simoudraquo;, Prof. 27	20	30, 34, 37, 89,
Paget		. 203	43, 46, 63, 69	80,	107,109,110,
Pallas		. 10	111,113,127,	128	139,141,151.
Pappe, Dr.		. 343	152,154,155,	171	184, 222, 234,
Parkinson .		125, 242	304, 315, 324	34C
Pasteur	54, 56, 57, 63		-Sinclair		. 336
Paulet		. 100	Singleton .		. 8
Peele		. 64	Smith, J. .		. 184
Pereira		. 348	Smith, Robert .		. 125, 130
Perselius .		. 348	Spallanzani		. 116
Pcuch		. 37	Spooner, W. C. 11, 24, 65, 74, 90.
Pipin		. 38	174,179,190,	193	200,201,223,
Play fair .		. 216	263, 315, 321,	325	, 327, 331
Poggiale .		. 18	S tephen .		. 100
Practical Farmer		. 198	Stephens, Dr. .		. 244
Price		230, 325	Stevens		. 177, 178
Priestley .		. 217	Stoddart .		. 337
Pritchard .		. 60	Strangeways		. 250
Pye-Smith		. 175	S trocker . Sutton, Bland .		. 133 . 188
Quart. Jouru. Agricultnre		. 289
------- Vet. Sc. in India		. 55	Tabonrin . Tait .		. 336 . 229
Eabl ....		. 128	Tessier		205, 231, 316
Kaillot		. 103	Thomas		. 59
Ranciman .		. 343	Thomas, Dr. 144,	148,	151, 154, 156,
Uandalie, 64. 69, 74, 80, 84, 88,106,			157, 164, 170
100,115,122,130,	131	195, 254,	Thompson .		99, 144, 335
270, 282, 286,202, 341			Tiedemanu		. 116
Head.	270.	292, 335	Tindal		. 179
Rec. de med. vet.		. 115	Tochelin .		. 79 24

^:^r

, SlZtfSo

362

INDEX OP ADTHOKITIES.

FAG£

Tornwaldtnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. . . .187

Toussant . . . . 57, 58 Trans, of Higlilaud Agric.Soc. . 151

nbsp;of Linntuan Soc. . . . 85 Tuson .... 310, 346

Varnell . . . .59, 114

Vatcl.....63

Vetennarian 25, 43, 57, 64, 71, 87, 89, 101, 119, 120, 125,135, 136, 177, 179,212,213,220,233,246, 269, 278, 333, 336, 337, 340,341 Veterinary Journal 6,19,22,34,37,58, 63, 66, 72, 73, 80, 99, 109, 185, 187, 203,207, 219,255,276,330, 335, 340, 343

nbsp; Kecord .... 175, 184 Vicrordt . . . . . 77 Voigt's Magazine .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; . . 25 Von Bibra . . . .174

Wakley, jun. . . . . 15

Waldie '.....251

Walley 66, 98, 101, 109, 110, 111, 112, 114, 132,185,219, 220, 250 Walter . 117, 211, 223, 320, 337 Walters . . . .36, 195 Walz.....806

l'AOE

Watson.....278

Wentworth .... 89

Western, Lord . . . .283

Williams, Prof. 20, 21, 22, 62, 94,

95,107,114, 128, 133, 176,184,

234, 238, 239,249, 251, 252, 264,

273, 274, 298, 316

Williams, Roger . . . 175

Wilson, Erasmus . . .15

Wiltshire.....70

Wiltshire, Dr. . . . 204,217 Woch. f. T. und Thitrzuclit . 38

Youatt 9, 11, 15, 22, 37, 38, 46, 47, 52, 61, 65, 66, 67,68, 09, 70, 78, 80, 84,88,90, 91,92, 96,98,106, 109,110,114, 117,120,121,123, 129,132,133,135,138,139,140, 141,144, 146,147,148,150,184, 193,194, 202, 205, 206, 227, 229, 238, 243, 244, 253,258, 262, 269, 270,275, 279, 284, 286, 290,293, 296, 315, 321, 325, 326, 333

Zenker . . . . .195 Zuudcl . . .37, 167,316 Zurn 31, 128, 157, 164,172, 224,290

laquo;i

PRINTKI) BY ADLARD AMD SON, BAKTHOI.OIIKW CLOSB.

W.r'L



r	I'KEPACE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Vll the enormous rise in the value of sheep, together with the increase in number and wider distribution of qualified vetei'inary practitioners, will in the immediate future determine more professional attention to ovine pathology. It is unnecessary to enter into details as to the high prices realised by the prize stock of improved breeds of sheep, the enormous annual value of imports and exports to the United Kingdom and the Colonies of live sheep and mutton, and the large and ever-increasing trade statistics of wool, especially of the more improved staples, the constant notices of these matters in the daily and agricultural papers, should prove incentives to increased study of sheep diseases. Professor Brown gives statistics of the number of sheep in G-reat Britain and Ireland in June, 1884, as follows #9632;---

England Scotland Wales Ireland Isle of Man Channel Islands		16,428,064 6,083,293 2,656,907 3,243,572 63,764 1,097 29,376,787
Total

It is estimated that in 1870 there were six hundred million sheep in the world, and that the wool clip of that year was worth three hundred million pounds sterling. We find in our notes that during the first ten months of 1871 about 800,000 sheep were imported into Great Britain and Ireland, worth over one and a half million sterling. The dire experience of many a year has led the farmer to look for the assistance of the veterinary profession in outbreaks of rot, scab, foot-and-mouth disease, sheep-pox, and numerous other diseases which will be duly noticed by us ; it has also convinced him of the urgent necessity for adopting sanitary precautions in his folds and sheep-runs. The periodic enormous losses of sheep, while constituting a national misfortune, on many occasions have led to excellent legal measures regulating the importation and inland traffic in sheep, which measures are based on the



CONTENTS.

,	CHAPTER I.INTRODUCTION. PAGE The wild and domesticated Ovidaj uses of domesticated forms j relative lunetious of tlie farmer and the Veterinär}' surgeon ; variation. Methods of offence and defence; general physiological characteristics of ovines; methods of seizing, throwing, and detaining. Catching. Work of the shepherd; holding for operation or examination ; to throw a sheep. Bcntine management of afiock as a cause of disease; domestication predisposes to, hut feral sheep not exempt from, disease; they also sull'er from ravages of wild beasts. The General Symptoms of disorder ana. signs of health. Pulse; internal temperature; respirations, auscultation and percussion; the rougher methods of diagnosis; state of the tongue, fieces, and urine. Loss of wool; condition of the skin. Causes: miscellaneous; effects of hot winds. Constitutional tendencies of sheep in disease. Parasitesspurious enzooty and epizooty; its influence on treatment. Wholesale administration drenching, cathartics, vehicles, enemata. Bleeding; rough methods; surgical methods; the angular vein, saphenous, jugular, and cephalic veins. Anaisthetics, effects of chloroform. Blisters; setons ; charges; fomentations and poultices. Preventive measures. Paucity in numbers of specific diseases of sheep ; influence of diffusion of races. Effects of early slaughter in lessening disease. Longevity of quot; guide sheep.quot; Bearings of sheep diseases on derangements of man ....... 117	I

CHAPTER II.THE BLOOD. Composition and characters. The pulse. SIMPLE DISORDERS: Feter, Jaükdice; Plethora, Bollinger's researches. Axjemia ; form seen after shearing, symptoms of anamiia; different observations on debility by Williams, Fleming, and Robertson. Disease in Oregon. SAXGriNFOrs Ascites, Bed water, or acute dropsy.


	r^-

	XIVnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; CONTENTS. PAGE bot in the sinuses, Youatt's views, Bracy Clark's opinions; supposed quot;mnggots in tlie brain;quot; records of French observers; treatmentmigration of the larva from the sinuses. The pupa stageprevention. Inflammation of the LakynxTracheotomy. Inflammation of the respiratory organs in the chest. Pleurisy, hydrothorax, sporadic pleuropneumonia, pneumonia, bronchitis, phthisis pulmonalis. Youatt's views. ' Simple pneumonia, quot;rot of the lights,quot; chronic pneumonia, %rfa/irfs in the lungs, SIMPLE BHONCllITIS. PaEASITIC BEONCIIITIS, HUSK, hoose, quot;snotsquot;two forms of parasite present; quot;lamb disease;quot; description of Stro,)yylus filaria; its condition in the lungs and elsewhere; its development; Cobbold's views; discussion as to mode of entry to the lungs; Ercolani's, Koch's, Grey's, and Cobbold's researches on vitality anil life-history of the parasite; causes and conditions under which the disease occurs. Losses. Symptoms. Treatment. Thompson's preventive measures; other prophylactic means; Stephen's method of fumigating; intra-tmcheal administration of remedies. Further prophylactic measures. Strongylus rulesceus, its effects and diagnosis .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 81103

	CHAPTER V.THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. Anatomical and physiological points. Teetb, accidents and injuries of; Dentition table; signs of age in the Sheep; names given to Sheep according to age, shearing, etc.; Aphtha, Thrush in the mouth, pustular fever, or contagious ecthyma. Aphtha simplex, stomatitis; Aphtha maligna: its relations with Chapped or Cracked Teats; Coataginm, honoydew, amcebie, oidium, Walley's account of the disease; symptoms, treatment. The tongue : Actinomycosis; Kannla; benign cpulis, salivary glands; paro-tiditis; Choking, passing the probang, cesophagotomy, Sbronü tumour in the gullet; Loss of the cud, dropping the cud; Vomition, Indigestion; Hoven or Tympany of the iivmen; symptoms, treatment; Plenaltia ; Hawes on the effects of eating standing wheat; Axe on disease due to mangold tops; Olver on the effects of eating maize; Muminotomy or Paunching ; Alvitis rare; Fabbel bound, GiiiSS Staogbes, quot; Drying up,quot; irapactiou of the faik or manyplies; Calcüloüs and oihee Concretions, earth-eating. Hair-balls in the rumen, Bezoars in the Abomasum, Abomasitis; gnstro-euteritis, Pantas or moor evil; Rupture of the Abomasum. Impaction of the Abomasum. Parasites in the rumen. The intestines, their length and proportions. Colic, strangulation, herniee. Eniebitis ; Diaertkea, simple, quot; white skit quot; and quot; green skit;quot; Parkinson



	CONTENTS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; XV PAOE ou superstition :is to euro of this disease; parasitic diarrhoea, outbreaks due to Tania expansa; Cox, Cross, Cobbold, Gumgee, Curtice on this subject; outbreaks due to neinatodes, Simonds* views on Trichocephiilus. Parasilic Oastric Catarrh or Oas-trorrhaa parasitica (Williams) ; DtbbhibbY, blooily Hux or quot;cling;quot; quot;pindingquot;Constipatiox. Im'perforate anus (Proc-tatresia), Htsmorrhoida or Piles. Properties und cbaracters of Sheep's dung. Fibrous tumour in abdomen .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 101133 APPENDIX I: THE APPEXDAOKS OF THE ALIMENTARY CANAL.Pancreas. The Liver. Jaundice, Acute and chronic liver degenerations; plethora from overfeeding; Hepatitis; eehinococcus cysts in liver; Fascioliasis, fluke disease, liver rot, or Cachexia aquosa verminosa. A quot;jack rot;quot; history of research into the nature of rot; Vouatt's views and those of Simouds and Cobbold. Pathology of rot, how the fluke produces its effects; supposed cases of fatal rot without flukes, quot;water rot;quot; determining causes, influence of pasture, season, overstocking, overgrazing; a very brief period essential for invasion; relations of the disease in sheep to it in other individuals and species, various supposed causes; the Fluke; coucomitant presence of other parasitic forms. Post-moitem appearances, Friedberger's researches; quot; fluke abscesses quot;Symptoms j Bake-well's method of linishing sheep for slaughter, question as to dishonesty of the process; Gerlach on the stages of rot; premonitory symptoms according to Simonds and Beattie; state of the mucous membranes and skin. Effects of the carcass on human beings. Life-history of the Fasciola ; Thomas's researches ; mode of development of the parasites; development and diffusion of the ova; larvce; the intermediary bearer, Liinnams ; invasion of the liver; chances against development of any one egg into a fluke; Treatment. Necessity for State action, Zundcl's suggestions, regulation of and dealing with pastures, destruction of intermediary bearers. Summary of preventive measures. Curative treatment. Distoma lanceolatum. Cholocystic Calculi 133172 APPENDIX II! The PeritoneumCysticercns tenuicollis ; Pebi- TOKITIS, A3CITE8nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;....nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 172, 173

	CHAPTER VI.THE URINARY APPARATUS. Chemistry of the urine and anatomy of the urinary system; Litt on the verniiform appendage. Simple diuresis. Nephritis in lambs, by Roger Williams. Levie on Whihqdibus, shell sickness, or oil poke. Renal Calculi, analyses; Litt, of Shrewsbury, on Urethral Calculi. Praudnlent amputation of the quot; Worm quot; in


	^p

	XVInbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; CONTENTS. PACJE breeding rams. C'i'STiTis or Water BraxyBuptara of the Bladder j simple Atony of the Bladder ; pervious urachus, quot; navel-ill,quot; umbilical phlebitis; Iliumaturia or spurious quot; Red Water quot; 174ISO

	CHAPTER VII.THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM. Summary of points iu the anatomy of the skeleton. The skull; some observations on breeds as affecting shape of skull; Joint-ill or Joint Erii; Williams', Robertson's, Youatt's, Simonds' (quot; Seoliasisquot;), M'Gillivray's and Walley's views; treatment, prognosis. Rickets, Robertson's researches j Fragilitas et mollifies ossium, Robertson on this disease. Osteoporosis. Pbactctbbs, Spooner on setting fractures. Dislocations. Wryneck. Amputations : of the limbs, of the ears, of tlie tail {quot;Dockingquot;)Methods of Fleming, Youatt, and Spooner. HOENS, AND THEIR INOTHIES AND DISEASES ; Anatomy of the horns; advantages of quot;pollards.quot; Many-horned sheep of Iceland and Cyprus. Malposition of hornsFracture of horns. THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM. SprainsCystic larva of Tcenia tenelhi; cysticerci of T. mediovanellata in the goat (Zenker). Characters of healthy muttonnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 181196	*;

	CHAPTER V11I.THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM. SECTION I: MALE GENITAL APPARATUS.Anatomy. Physiology. Vrethritis ; Castration. The quot; Practical Farmer quot; on the usual method of operation on lambs ; Spooner on the firing or hot-iron method; the covered operation; quot;drawingquot; and scraping methods. Castration of older sheep; tying or lashing, trapping, burning, cutting, bislournage, or the French method (Youalt), Paget's method. Sterilitynbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 197__£03 SECTION II: FEMALE GENITAL APPARATUS.Anatomy and physiology. (Estrum, pregnancy; prolonged bearing in ewes and multiparity ; quot;Chitting;quot; Instruments and appliances required by the lamber, his duties; False presentations. Monstrosities. Mermaphroditism, dead lambs ; quot;substitutes;quot; Embryotomy, Casarean operation. Exhaustion after lambing. Abortion. Snpertoetation; luvcrsio vel Retrovcrsio Uteri; Seirrhous os uteri; Torsio cervicis uteri. rARTUBlENT Fever Seamen on the disorder. Inflammation of the Womb Metroperiionitis, False quot;red water;quot; Hysieriiis, Sibbold and Dick on this disorder. Discussion at the Obstetrical SocietyWalley on Malignant parturient fever. Axe's



	CONTENTS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;XVÜ

	report on this disease. Vaginitix. Heating pains, aftee-pains, ok Pabtueition feveb. luflamumtion of the pudenda. Ecematozymosis. Casualties at time of parturition; Uterine Milk. Mammitis or quot; Gargetquot;Nocard'8 contagious form ; Bivolta's septic mammitis. Teats, injuries and diseases; ery-ihema chronicnm; imperviousuess. Characters of ewo's milk. Spaying or OtakiotomyYouatt's description of the operation and its uses .....nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 204227

	CHAPTER IX.THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. Anatomy and physiology; Feenzy or Encephalitis j Epilepsy ; Cerebral Apoplexy; HydeocephalüS; Stuedy, Gid, Tuen-sick, Hydatidocepiialus, amp;c. Losses due to this disease; symptoms; positions where the parasite chiefly occurs in their effects on the symptoms j pathology. Differential diagnosis of Gid, life-history of the parasite; Treatment: general; Hartenstein's ice-bag method, empirical methods for destruction of the hydatid, Hogg's operation of quot;wiring,quot; Youatt's modification of this method ; Trephining, Y'ouatt's method ; importance of prevention. Fractures of the Cranium. Louping-ill, Tebmbles, Mad Staggers (Dick), Tn waetee-ill, amp;c.; Brown on the range of this disease. Contusion in diagnosis; Gamgee's views on its pathology ; symptoms, post-mortom appearances, Goodsir's observations. Pathology, views of Hamilton, Williams, Robertson, and Goodsir. Botanical examination of pastures where loapintr-ill prevails near Rrotherston. Influence of Ticks in causation. Miscellaneous causes. Prophylaxis and curative treatment. Simple paealysis or Palsy; Tetanus; Chorea .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 228255

	CHAPTER X.ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE. SECTION I: THE FOOT.Anatomy. Interdigital Canal, Ercn-lani's researches on its anatomy, Inflammation of the Canal. quot;The Worm in the Sheep's footquot;JSItidhallmg. sore cleft, loom feet, bruhed or otherwise injured feet. Foot-hot, Faronycliia, amp;c.History; Dick's views, Williams', Youatt's, and Hogg's opinions; Gohier's experiments; Spooner's views on contagiousness; differential diagnosis from Foot and Mouth Disease; pathology; Brown on the lesions of non-specific foot-rot. Dick on the same subject. quot; Scald ;quot; symptoms ; causes ; treatment. Randall on foot trimming and dressing. Various foot dressings recommended by different authors. Prophylaxis. The preventive foot-bath.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;256__275 6

	-^



	CONTENTS.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;SIX

	CHAPTER XLPOISONS AND POISONINO. PAGE Introductory remarks. Süppbessed cutaneous action; Pathology of this couJition according to Feinbcrg. Cutaneouä Asphyxia from exposure to the sun. ilBRCUiilAi. poisonins. Hertwig on the effects of calomel; Corrosive sublimate. Aesenicai poison-INO. Cahbolic ACID. Supposed poisoning by top-dressing wheat with soot. VEGETABLE POISONING : Hellebohe. Tobacco. Poisoning by pastures. Limiieus's analysis of pasture plants. Yew leaves; Ranunculus; Savin; Erica; Hyoscyamus ; Water-hemlock; Rhododendron; Digitalis; Coiiitim ; Aconite; Rye-grass ; Nux vomica; effects of mildewed and mouldy forage. Eboot of bye, its influence and production ot abortion; researches by Kluge, Stoddart, Walker, and Law, on the effects of ergot. Conferva poisoning in Australia. Effects of acorn mast; kalmia, Morrell on the effects of this plant. Lupine poisoning; Shultz and Dammaun on the subject. ANIMAL POISONS : serpent-bite ; Scorpion-bite. Tsetse fly ; Canthurides ; Ueixe POISONINS. Schutt on the effects of flax poison; Martin on buckwheat; Runciman on the water-betony; Shand and Pappe on poisonous plants. MINERAL POISON; sewage contamination of grazing land; efiVcts of overdose of nitre; apparent non-action of tartar emetic on the sheep; Hcrpath on the ellects of smelting works on neighbouring pastures .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 328345

	APPENDIX. List of medicines for the sheep, showing their actions and dosesnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 346350	4



XXII	LIST OP ILLOSTKATIONS.

FIG. 57-60. Arnold's castratiou instruments : 57, forceps ; 58, clamps; 59,

firing iron; 60, knife 61.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;A process of emasculating rams (Peuch and Toussaint) 62.nbsp; nbsp; Uterus, oviducts, and ovaria of sheep (Owen) 63.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Celosomian lamb (Vouatt) .... 64.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Cyclopean ram (Hering) .... 65.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Genital organs of an hermaphrodite goat (Leuckart) 66.nbsp; nbsp; Twin gestation ; pregnant uterus of a goat (Colin)		200 202 204 208 203 209 210 230
67.nbsp; nbsp; Arteries of base of brain of sheep (Cliauveau) 6S-81. Details of anatomy, life history, amp;c., of Coemints cerebralis, from various sources : 68, emhryo, and 09 and 70, hooks of two forms of taniia contrasted (Van üeueden) ; 71, bookless conmrus, and 72, cuenurus heads (Leuckart) ; 73-76, phases of development (Van Bcncden); 77-80, brains of sheep containing ecenurus in various situations (Cohbold); 81, sturdy instruments ......nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 23o, 236 82-85. Kavages of foot-rot (Brown) : 82, early stage; 83, early stage in an induced case ; 84, advanced stage ; 85, section to illus

träte extension of cracknbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.... 86.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Fungoid horn from advanced foot-rot ( x 200) (Brown) . 87.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Foot changes resulting from eczema epizoolica (Williams) 88.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Ear-marking pincersnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.... 89.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Arrangement of glands and wool (Ercolani) 90.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Section of skin of sheep (Gault) 91.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Oil glands from foot of sheep (Ercolani) .		260 265 265 279 280 280 281 281
92.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Portion of stem of wool of sheep (Reissner) (The last four illustrations from Gamgee's ' Our Domestic Animals in Health and Disease.') 93.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Dermatodectes ovis (Gerlach) 94 and 95. Ectozoa of sheep ; the tick and louse (Oamgee) 96.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Young G-lcgged acarus ( x 100) (Brown) 97.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Mature male acarus ( x 100) (Brown) 98.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Mature female acarus ( x 100) (Brown) 99.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Skin debris of a case of scab ( x 40) (Brown)		260 265 265 279 280 280 281 281
		294 295 295 296 297 298


1

I

LIST OF OPERATIONS AND OTHER PRACTICAL MANIPULATIONS.

NO. 1.nbsp; nbsp; Method of seizing, throwing, and detiiining slieep 2.nbsp; nbsp; To hold a sheep for examination 3.nbsp; nbsp; To catch sheep, and 4. to lift sheep 5.nbsp; nbsp; To take the pulse .... 6.nbsp; nbsp; Administration of drinks and enemas 7.nbsp; nbsp; Bleeding, from angular, saphena, jugular, and cephalic' 8.nbsp; nbsp; Ovination v. clavilisation 9.nbsp; nbsp; Anthrax vaccination (Pasteurian) . 10.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Intra-venous blood-injection for black log . 11.nbsp; nbsp; Operation for prophylaxis of lung plague . 12.nbsp; nbsp; Auscultation and percussion 13.nbsp; nbsp; Horn trephining for quot; grub in the head quot; . 14.nbsp; nbsp; Intra-tracheal method of treatment for boose 15.nbsp; nbsp; To determine the age of the sheep by the teeth 16.nbsp; nbsp; Use of the probang .... 17.nbsp; nbsp; Paracentesis abdominis in hoven 18.nbsp; nbsp; Ruminotomy or paunching . 19.nbsp; nbsp; Clatting or tagging .... 20.nbsp; nbsp; Operation for impervious anus 21.nbsp; nbsp; Tapping the belly .... 22.nbsp; nbsp; Amputation of the appendix vermiformis penis 23.nbsp; nbsp; Setting of fractures 24.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Amputations: of limbs; of ears; of tail (docking) 25.nbsp; nbsp; Operations on horns 26.nbsp; nbsp; Castrationthe usual method 27.nbsp; nbsp; Firing or hot iron method . 28.nbsp; nbsp; The covered operation, drawing, scraping . 29.nbsp; nbsp; Methods resorted to for adult sheeptying, trapping, 1 cutting ..... 30.nbsp; nbsp; Bistournage ..... 31.nbsp; nbsp; Castration by the ecraseur . 32.nbsp; nbsp; Lambing ..... 33.nbsp; nbsp; quot; Substitution quot; of lambs 34.nbsp; nbsp; Operation for prolapsus uteri 35.nbsp; nbsp; Boiling method for torsio ccrvicis uteri	PAGE 4 5 G 7 12 1315 41 54 59 72 83 89 101 107 115 117 119 30, 206 131 173 178 100
	101 19-	193
	4, 195 198 190 201 201 202 203 206 209 212 213



XXIV		TABLES, ETC.

	NO. 36.nbsp; nbsp; Operation for impervious teatsnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; .... 37.nbsp; nbsp; Ovariotomy or spaying ..... 38.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Hogg's wiring Operation for sturdy and Youatt's modification of 39.nbsp; nbsp; Trepbining for gid ...... 40.nbsp; nbsp; Opening up the interungulate cannl 41.nbsp; nbsp; Kandull's metliod of foot trimming 42.nbsp; nbsp; Foot-batli for sheep .... 43.nbsp; nbsp; Ear markingnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; .... 44.nbsp; nbsp; Tearingnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; ..... 45.nbsp; nbsp; Shearing ..... 46.nbsp; nbsp; Washing ..... 47.nbsp; nbsp; Detection of acari in scab . 48.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Dipping ..... 49.nbsp; nbsp; Spotting or pouring 50.nbsp; nbsp; Salving or smearing 51.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Dressing for the fly . 52.nbsp; nbsp; Dressing for sore head		P4ßE 22G . 227 ; 242 , 244 , 258 , 271 . 274 279 . 283 , 283 . 287 , 307 . 310 . 318 . 320 . 325 327
I

TABLES, amp;o.

1.nbsp; nbsp; Chemical composition of blood of sheep and goat . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.18 2.nbsp; nbsp; Measures necessary for repression of contagious disease in sheepnbsp; nbsp;. 43 3.nbsp; nbsp; Dentition table, after Kreuzer, Simonds, and Gurlt .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;.107 4.nbsp; nbsp; Table of the names given to sheep according to age, sex, amp;c.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 108 5.nbsp; nbsp; Composition of urinary calculi (Fiirstenburg) . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; . 17fi 6.nbsp; nbsp; Specifications of quot; dipsquot; used in Victoria and Sontb Australianbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 311 7.nbsp; nbsp; Eecipes for sheep dips by various authorities . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 315 8.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;Recipes for salves to be used in smearing .... 321 9.nbsp; nbsp; Recipes for quot; fly oilsquot; from various authorities . .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;. 325 10.nbsp; nbsp; List of medicines used in sheep practice (after various authors)nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;, 34G



	mm



	*#9632;am*


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*m-.*



	MM	#9632;H



	DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

	CHAPTER I.INTRODUCTION. We must remind our readers that among the hoofed animals which chew the cud is one family known as the Ovidüß. This, zoologists tell us, comprises certain feral forms which inhabit mountains and are remarkable for hardihood^ fleetness, agility, and sure-footedness. These, we are reasonably given to believe, are descended from ancestors common also to certain familiar domesticated forms known in most parts of the world as sheep and goats. We are further informed that the wild OvidfB are remarkably clever in gaining a living from short highland and upland grasses together with the leaves and shoots of shrubs and thorny plants, that they are gregarious in consequence of the males being polygamous and jealously assertive of their rights to such a number of females as is suited to tlie requirements of each and as he is able to preserve from the advances of more formidable rivals. The flesh of these ruminants is found to be extremely palatable to mankind and to admit of improvement in quantity and quality under the influence of artificial selection; their hair has proved capable of development into copious fleeces of wool, remarkably adapted for manufacture into clothing of various kinds ; and it has been ascertained that the sheep is able to 1	f\|!


	w^

	-raquo; INTRODUCTION.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;9 tiva is never red (in the absence of inflammation) be tlie animal ever so sound. I'/m condition of the fonyuc is a specially valuable guide; Youatt reminds us tlmt it is red in serous inflammations and as a premonitory sign of red water, red at tlie edges previous to an attack of dysentery, yellow-brown in diseases of the liver, purple or black in blood- and respiratory diseases, pale and soft in atonic maladies and anajmia. Its foulness, ulcerated condition, and otlier states in special diseases will be noted in due course. The state of the feeces, and composition, consistency, colour, and quantity of the urine are valuable indications ; to make a sheep pass urine for examination it is the custom to close his nostrils with the fingers for a minute or two. Deformity or swelling of any part of the body, lameness, unthriftiness, loss of appetite and cud, cough, constant or intermittent recumbency, grinding the teetb, and moaning or groaning are symptoms which become familiar in tbe course of ovine practice. A loss of the ivool is a phenomenon not uncommon after severe disease, especially in connection with parturition; however, it may follow simple peculiarities of diet, thus ew⁷es fed on mangolds sometimes become almost naked. A blue colour, dry and warm condition, petecbiated state, and eruptive manifestations on the skin are valuable indications as to the pathological condition present in many disorders. Among familiar causes of sheep diseases we may mention condition and nature of food; excess of turnips, rye grass, astringent and laxative herbs, old coarse natural grass, and rough aftermath may each and every of them be factors in production of disease. Salt, which is generally useful, may be a cause of plethora ; cakes and corn may be given in excess, or the fodder may be too watery and deficient in some essential element, such as nitrogenous principles or phosphates. Even the well-known rule that where Fcstuca ovina, the sheep's fescue, is found the sheep will thrive is occasionally found to be erroneous. From such facts we learn that what is good under some circumstances of time, place, and condition may be bad

	i


	T

	n 14nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

	'

	1	performing arterio-plilebotomy, Surgiculljj phlebotomy is resorted to, and we may condense from several authors tlie methods following : (1) The angular, facial, or cheelc vein is opened by means of the lancet. The operator holds his instrumentj opened^ between his lips or teeth, stands astride the sheep, and presses its body between his knees, having the left a little in front of the right. The left hand is then passed under the head of the animal thus held, so that he can neither struggle much nor escape, and pressure is made by the fingers of the left hand beneath and within the right jaw near its posterior angle, in order to raise the vein. With the right hand the swelling of the vein on the cheek, about equally distant from the eye and angle of the mouth, is felt, the lancet seized, and then the vessel is opened from below upwards, half a finger's breadth below the zygomatic tubercle. Sometimes a ligature is put round the neck to make the vessel rise. Simple removal of pressure will generally stop the bleeding, but it may be judged prudent to pin up the opening. (2) To bleed from the saphena : lay the animal broadside on the table, or on some straw, tie three legs, leaving the one to be operated on free, and let the assistant draw it out and hold it firmly. Remove any hair from the part to be operated on, compress by pressure or ligature above seat of operation, and penetrate with the lancet. This is resorted to in disease of the posterior part of the body. A bandage over the part for a few hours afterwards may be necessary to compress and protect the wound. This operation is generally performed on the external saphena, which is much larger, in proportion, than in the horse. (3) Bleeding from the jugular is performed by an assistant seizing the sheep, standing astride it, compressing its body between the knees, and holding the head steady and elevated by grasping the ears or horns. The neck is compressed by a ligature, the wool cut away at the seat of operation, and the vein opened by means of a lancet or a fleam. The wound is usually closed by pinning. Removal of a few ounces of blood generally suffices ; one pound should rarely, if ever, be exceeded. In fat animals

	i.



	i;! If! u IGnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; DISEASES OF TUE SHEEP. i some prevalent and severe disorders. There are many misconceptions and crude generalisations concerning sheep diseases. Randall is, as our work illustrates, wrong in

	:#9632;:
	:#9632;:	saying that sheep diseases are few, and whether or not they are low in type has been discussed elsewhere. He puts the fatalities among grown sheep in a well-managed flock at 2 per cent. The paucity in number of specific diseases of sheep, as compared with the horse and ox, will be observed by the reader with satisfaction, but, it must be noted, recent experience has rather tended to increase the nuniber as knowledge progresses and we attain more skill in differential diagnosis. This paucity of sheep diseases has been attributed to the covering of wool protecting against contagion, but that is a weak argument, the true cause would seem rather to be inherent in the constitution of the sheep which resists some serious diseases of other species, such as pleuro-pnoumonia zymo-tica, glanders, and relapsing fever. Experience has shown that diffusion of special sheep races has tended to increase the number of known sheep diseases. Bellinger of Munich, in 1878, investigated an epizooty among large game and cattle, and found it a new disease, communicable by inoculation with fresh blood to sheep, goats, and other animals : sometimes it seemed a form of contagrious pleuro-pneumonia, in other cases it was rather contagious erysipelas. Further, contagious foot rot and eczema epizoo-tica are said to be associated with the spread of merinos. Consequently, we may have in the future an increased number of specific ovine diseases to contend against, and the outbreaks among sheep in the colonies and freshly-explored countries need to be observed with care and suspicion for indications of specificity. The Australians report a quot; Coast disease,quot; for example, and the exact nature of this ought to be determined. A final point, which we may comment on, is that a large proportion of the race of sheep undergoes slaughter before the diseases of senility, or even adultism, set in. Thus few really chronic diseases attract our attention in ovine pathology, few of those serious changes of the skeletal.



	THE BLOOD.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;29 and pain exhibited wLen pressure is put on the loins ; the patient is dull, carries the head low, the ears droop, the pulse is quick, the eyes red, t'teces dry, and the animal stands quot; all of a heap.quot; The wool is unhealtliy and dry to the feel (quot;clappedquot;). Next the skin lesions begin to appear; they are best marked where the skin is most delicate, inside the thighs and arms, over the face, on the chest and belly, and under the tail; also they may occur on the udder, prepuce, labia, and anus. Around the eyes, nostrils, and mouth, and inside the limbs are where they are first looked for, namely, on the most thin and tender parts of the skin, whether ihose parts be covered by hair or wool; they are not, however, absent from under the general mass of the wool, as is especially evident later on in those	it n



	Fig. 5.Sheep-pox; the pocks few hut becoming confluent (Gamsee). cases in which the wool begins to be shed and the skin to slough in patches. It is observed that at different parts of the body the eruption may be found in different stages, the invasion being gradual; also that on any one part all the pocks are not invariably in the same stage of development. What are called quot; flat variolas,quot; slow in development and lying between the more marked ones, are seen in weak animals and under adverse climatic conditions (Fleming). The skin where involved by the eruption is congested and dropsical. Simonds noted in many cases a preliminary diffused redness (roseola), which is important as an indication of the necessity for prompt isolation. Whether this be present or not, there will soon be seen

	#9632;#9632;



56	DISEASES OF TUE SflKKT,

i If!

Fig. 6.The vaccination.



Fig. 7.Withdrawal of tlio lyinpli from tube.


		Fig. 8.A vaccine tube.

FlO. 9.Withdrawal uf lymph.		Fig. 10.The syringe.

Illustrations of Pasteur's anthrax vaccination (adapted from those of the circular with his vaccine).



76			DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

I	;	(b) As specific hluod affections Erysipelas, due to special cocci. AphtLa maligna, duo to micro-organisms. These diseases may be readily found in the text by reference to the index or table of contents].

i

I



M

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h

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	CIECÜLATOKY AND LYMPHATIC.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 77

	CHAPTER III.CIRCULA.TORY AND LYMPHATIC. THE CIRCULATOEY SYSTEM.The circulation of the blood in the sheep is seldom disordered, and although conditions of disease have been found after death their symptoms, causes, and other clinical features during life have not been observed. The fact that a largo proportion of sheep are destroyed when young, and before the heart and blood-vessels show signs of wear and tear, accounts for infrequency of circulatory disorders, and again, the sheep is not, like the horse, subject to circulatory emergencies nor is he prone to rheumatism. Vierordt showed that the round of the circulation in the goat is accomplished in about thirty-eight seconds. The heart presents some slight features of anatomy worthy of comment, especially the large size of the moderator muscular pillars in the right ventricle, more considerable in proportion than in the ox; also the presence of an os cordis generally extending farther round the root of the aorta than this horny basis in the ox; the average weight of the heart is 5\|7 ounces. In the ' Memoires de l'Acad. de Dijon,' vol. i, p. 107, is recorded a case of Traumatic pericarditis in a sheep due to the passage of a needle from the rumen into the heart, in a similar manner to the same accident as commonly seen in milch cattle, and in the ' Annales des Sc. Nat.' for September, 182G, is recorded how the spikes of the feather grass, a species of stipa, collecting in the rumen may there excite inflammation, and may penetrate thence into the pericardium, and so prove fatal, as was exemplified by considerable flocks in Hungary. Fatty degeneration



	EESPIEATOKY SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;81

	CHAPTER IV.THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM. The nostrils of the sheep are small and circular, but flexible and capable of being much reduced in size to keep out dust and insects ; the nasal peak is single as in the horse. The opening of the organ of Jacobson on the floor of the nasal chamber is large. The large ethmoid cell forms, as in the ox, a well-developed so-called quot; middle turbinated quot; bone. The maxillary sinus is not large, and in hornless sheep the frontal is small but in the horned considerably developed, extending over the cranium and into the horn-cores, but not so far as in the ox. The sheep can breathe ordinarily through the mouth as well as the nasal chambers, the latter are posteriorly not separated from one another. The pharynx, larynx, and trachea have the same shape as in the ox, but are even less developed, and, therefore, much less highly developed than the corresponding parts in the horse. With the simplicity of the lai-ynx is associated the want of inflections and modifications of the voice of the sheep. The rutting ram and the ewe fondling her young give short grunts, and the bleating of a sheep separated from the flock is a familiar sound, but it is insisted on that the sheep is altogether a silent animal. The chest is rendered fairly capacious by the horizontal manner in which the ribs stand out, the width and flatness of the sternum, and the diaphragm being attached to the internal surfaces of the ribs far back as in the horse, and not as in the ox. The anterior bone of the sternum is a well-marked manubrium; there are thirteen pairs of ribs. Youatt refers to the first bone of the sternum and its 6



I

90		DISEASES OP THE SHEETquot;.

#9632;r lir	for the most mature larvse generally take up their position in this situation. In the ordinary course of things migration from the sinuses between April and the end of July causes recurrence of the active symptoms of discomfort exhibited by the sheep. This migration is instinctive. On expulsion from the nostrils the larval oestrus if insufficiently developed dies ; if mature by active movements it works its way into the soil (or, according to Bracy Clark, remains adherent to a blade of grass), and becomes a pupa or chrysalis in about forty-eight hours. This pupa is more uniformly brown than the grub ; after a period varying from five to eight weeks a small portion of the head end becomes detached, and the oestrus fly, or imago, escapes and seeks its mate. Warm weather is favorable to these changes, and in cold weather many individual oestri are lost. This species may take up its abode in the goat or the deer ; it has been known from the most ancient times, and has been esteemed as a remedy against epilepsy. A knowledge of the life-history of the parasite will suggest means for lessening its prevalence, which, though evident, are seldom practicable. Destruction of the flies and the larva?, also application of non-poisonous fly dressings or fish oil (Spooner) about tLe muzzle might be resorted to with benefit in invaded localities and during seasons of extreme prevalence. AValker recommends to feed the sheep on salt from two-inch augur holes bored in a log, the surface of which is smeared with tar, so that the sheep got a dressing every time they partake of the salt. Inflammation of the Larynx, in which the trachea is to a varying degree involved, is not rare during the changeable weather of the British spring and autumn. It is denoted by some fever but not very marked, by panting, protrusion of the muzzle, open mouth, and frequent, painful, urgent, sharp, dry cough ; catarrh or bronchitis may be present as complications. Youatt twice performed tracheotomy on sheep in emergency of oedema of the larynx with satisfactory results. As a rule, nursing, stimulating applications to the throat, and saline febrifuges are sufficient to cure such cases.
ft
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P^! !#9632;



!

92		DISEASES OP THE SHEEP.

ij I i #9632; L #9632;	prevails in low and moist pastures, and most in the spring and autumn when the seasons are changeahle, and he hereby gives us a cue to the real nature of the diseased state to which he refers. It must be premised that of late years our ideas on the subject of tubercle have undergone a very considerable change, in that we now accept it as the characteristic morbid product developed by the BacilJ/us tuberculosis of Koch. We no longer believe that in the absence of this organism simjde irritation and ordinary inflammation of the lungs can develop phthisis. We also know that many inflammations of the lung produce such morbid appearances as would in days gone by have been considered phthisis; for example, true pneumonia affecting the air-cells causes little white masses in the lungs more or less caseous or softened. Again, calcareous deposits like vomicffl in the lungs are sometimes due to flukes, and (it will be observed) many of Youatt's consumptive cases were associated with liver-rot. Again, parasitic bronchitis is a disease which has only attracted attention as a scourge of lambs in late years, but it most certainly is not a new disease, and we must conclude that the majority of Youatt's cases of quot; phthisis quot; were of this nature. Simple pneumonia has been noted to take on a gangrenous character very rapidly, and hence has been termed quot; rot of the lights quot; by butchers and shepherds. It is very frequently acute congestion, probably with some pulmonary apoplexy, due to overdriving, chills after the animal has been overheated by hard driving, want of sufficient protection after washing in cold weather with east winds prevalent, or after removing the fleece in unsuitable weather. The disease is a familiar one in bleak, cold, and (particularly) damp situations. It is highly probable that in many flocks poisoning by applications for the scab, also blood-poisoning from impervious coating of the skin, perhaps also pulmonary anthrax, have been mistaken for simple pneumonia. An attack of true pneumonia commences with frequent and troublesome cough, unwillingness to move, heaving of the flank and other signs of
fy
i
lii

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m

118		DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

ri Ik li 1	Plenalvfa, or (listension of the rumen with food, is much more frequent and results from sudden transference from poor to rich pasture and other influences which cause rapid eating, as when animals are put on and left on turnips. Hawes, of Taunton ('Veterinarian,' 1840), records the effects of eating new wheat. He was called in to attend a flock which, the day before, had strayed into a field of standing wheat and fed on it freely. Twenty-eight died that day and as many more were almost dead; the sick had been given Epsom salts and castor-oil. In all fifty-eight died in five days, the rest were hied, purged with 01. Liui, and recovered, but many threw their lambs afterwards. Post-mortem examination showed the abomasum and bowels highly inflamed, the spleen like a mass of coagulated blood, with its structure destroyed, and the rumen distended with wheat, barley, and straw. Axe, in 1880 (' Veterinarian,' p. 198), described a disorder of ewes, wide spread, fatal in character, and rapid in its course, affecting the best bred and best fed breeding stock, perhaps due to the high feeding resorted to by farmers with a view to prevention of rot. He associated the outbreak with feeding on mangold tops in a frosted or otherwise damaged state. The attacks occurred suddenly and proved fatal in at most three or four hours ; sometimes premonitory general signs of disorder were noticed, unsteady movements, local emphyse-matous swellings, hovcn, fever, and cold, moist, sodden, leaden-coloured skin; paralysis, convulsions, and loss of consciousness immediately preceded death. Post-mortem examinations showed the blood firmly coagulated, congestions and extravasations, and the liver, kidneys, and intestines more or less cedematous and softened. It will be observed that these outbreaks in many respects resemble anthrax, but in the former the cause was clear, and in the latter the balance of evidence was in favour of its being¹due to the mangold tops ; we must remember the resemblance between these food-generated disorders and anthrax, and be careful in diagnosis. Ordinary plenalvia is denoted by symptoms somewhat similar to those of hoven, the dis-



	I 126nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OF TUE SHEEP. 1877). The intestines of the lambs throughout almost their whole extent were filled with tteniiE, fifteen feet long, and which would fill a twelve-ounce measure glass. The animals were two or three days out of sorts, they then became affected with convulsions, would turn round in a circle, and drop dead. Cross, of Shrewsbury, in 1877, dealt with scouring in lambs, where the semi-liquid fseces contained innumerable segments with double sexual organs and unarmed tapeworm heads.* Cobbold ('Veterinarian,' 1876, p. 675) mentions being consulted concerning loss from worms of 1200 sheep out of 8000 on a farm two hundred miles to the north-west of Sydney. Tasnias of several fathoms in length were found in the intestines together with certain nematodes. This reminds us of the fact recorded by Gamgee that in Australia, especially on overstocked land, trenise occur in lambs and give rise to an enzootic which proves fatal to many. The tapeworm segments may often be seen on the washed soil after a heavy fall of rain. The parasites cause pain and emaciation, and predispose the animals to other disorders. They cause loss not only by fatalities, but by reduction in value and amount of fat, flesh, and wool. Dr. Charles Curtice {' Veterinary Record,' vol. i, p. 59) observed young and adult tapeworms in immense numbers in 87 per cent, of western sheep and lambs examined in Colorado in 1887. The sheep were diseased in direct relation to the prevalence of the parasites, which he thought new and similar in species to that found in the Brazilian deer, but which probably is our old friend T. expansa. It prevailed from Oregon and Wyoming on the south and Nebraska and Kansas on the west, was present from May to January in the duodenum and gall-ducts. It was thought to take from six to ten months to mature. Of the nematodes of the alimentary canal of the sheep Gamgee mentions Strongylns cernuus, Ascaris ovis (found once in Yienna), Dochmius hypostomtis, * Eivolta (' La Clinica Veterinaria,' Jan., 1879) describes a new ta;nia of the sheep, T. ovilla; this is distinguishable from T. expansa and T. denticu-lata by the form and position of its uterus; thus, there are three mature tenia; of the sheep.

	kll I



	11

		174nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

	CHAPTER VI.THE URINARY APPARATUS. The clu'inicu] composition oi' the urine of the sheep Inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;varies considerably according to the food of the animal, the tendency being towards excess of phospliates in higldy-i'ud animals und for the fluid to become acid in reaction, also for sabulous deposits or calculi to occur in the organs or passages of the urinary system. There are no special features of an anatomical or physiological character in con-yjnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;noction with the urinary organs of sheep, except that it may be noted the kidneys are unlobulated and the glans penis is furnished with a peculiarcorkscrew-like, pointed, vermiform appendage, which is supposed to have an important influence in guiding the glans during the act of copulation. Litt, of Shrewsbury, however, was quot; assured by a distin-#9632;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;guished sheep breeder that the commonly received opinion on this subject (that removal of the glans interferes with procreative power) is an erroneous one, and that he has had many lambs got by ranis which had undergone the mutilation in question.quot; The urine of the goat, with sp. gr. 10081009, is, according to von Bibra, composed of water 98007, solids UKto, urea 3^-78, hippuric acid T25, uric acid nil,* mucus O'Gü, alcoholic extract 4quot;54, watery extract 1-00, soluble salts 8-50, and insoluble salts 0-80. However, as we have frequently seen, remarks based on observations of the goat by no moans constantly apply to the sheep, so careful analyses of sheep's urine are a desideratum. The following analysis given by Spooner is useful, but not sufficient. The amount passed is smaller, and contains less nitrogen than that of the cow. The composition is water 96 per cent. ; urea, colouring matter, and some albumen, 2*8 per cent.; salts of soda, potash, lime, and magnesia, with traces of iron, silica, aluminum, and manganese, l^-2 per cent. In males it is necessary to open the



	THE SKELETON AND MUSCÜLAE SYSTEM.	181

	CHAPTER VII.THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM. The bony framework of the sheep is light in build, composed of firm osseous elements with well-developed processes but on the whole very smooth and free from minor prominences and depressions. The spinal formula is C. 7, D. 13, L. 6 or 7, S. 4, Coc. 1024. The ceryicals are



	Fig. 49.Skeleton of the sheep (after CnAüTEAtr).

	like those of the ox but less heavy in their bodies, the anterior dorsals have not very long spines, the transverse processes of the lumbars are of considerable length, and the caudals vary in number and development according to the

	i



THE SKELETON AND MÜSCÜLAE SYSTEM.		183

loses its rougliness and coarseness as seen in some of the old country breeds, the limbs diminish in size in relation to the carcass, but a general inci*ease in bulk of the animal occurs. A peculiar bandy- and short-legged breed of sheep has been developed by natural selection in



Fro. 50.Skull of ram (after CnAUVEAü). 1.nbsp; nbsp;Occipital.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;6. Lachrymal. 2.nbsp; nbsp;Parietal.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 7. Malar. 3.nbsp; nbsp;Horn core.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;8 Nasal. 4.nbsp; nbsp;Eoot of liorn.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 9. Superior maxillary.
	10 amp; 10'. Premiixilhiry. 11. Premaxillary foramen.
5. Supra-orbital foramen. 5'. Supra-orbital groove.	10 amp; 10'. Premiixilhiry. 11. Premaxillary foramen.

America, as less liable to escape from bounds and stray than ordinary sheep. The skeleton of the sheep is subject to certain diseases of bony tissue, in our knowledge of which there seems to be a considerable amount of confusion. There is a disease termed Joint III or Joint Evil, well known to shepherds,



	THE SKELETON AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 187 pyremic multiple abscesses are fonnd in the various organs and structures of the body. Blood from diseased lambs introduced into the veins of a dog gives rise to the formation of multiple hepatic abscesses.quot; Eobertson insists that the cause of joint ill, whatever it may be, is ante-parturient, and that the associated omphalo-phlebitis is sometimes present before birth and therefore not due to entry of septic matter into the torn umbilical cord. He considers the disease as quot; simply the outcome or development of a condition of foetal malnutrition.quot; And elsewhere we bear that the disease as it occurs in Norfolk and Kent (where it is termed rickets or swayback) is a congenital atony of the haunch muscles depending on relaxation of the hip-joint due to bad feeding of the ewes during utero-gestation. Tornwaldt (^f Vetei'inary Journal,' 1879, i, p. 59) finds salicylic acid excellent for arthritis in lambs; he gives 1 part in 200 of Spiritus Vini and 100 of water, a spoonful (?) every two hours. Rickets in sheep seems to have been a favourite subject of study and dissertation with the late Prof. Robertson. His ideas are difficult to follow, but be seems to have been working towards a differentiation of three conditions which have hitherto been classed as rickets, i. e. the true form of the disease, fragilitas ossium, and osteoporosis. We will summarise his views, in so far as we can interpret them, of these affections. The true disease is one which may easily be confounded with acute nephritis and louping ill, indeed its relations with these two disorders require careful investigation. Whereas in other young animals the limb-bones are mainly affected in rickets, lambs suffer mainly in the axial portion of the skeleton. It occurs as an enzootic, some of the lambs never from time of birth being able to rise, others losing motor power of the limbs a few weeks after birth, and others suffering only at a later period. The symptoms are those of motorial disturbance and perfect paraplegia. At first the patient, if he has walked after bii'th, falls when excited, loses voluntary control of the hind limbs, and there is a want of co-ordination in movements between the fore limbs and the hind. The



	THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; 197

	CHAPTER VIII.THE GENERATIVE SYSTEM. Section I.Male Genital Apparatus. The testes of the ram arc large and well developed, the penis is small but long, and lias a pointed glans, which bears the peculiar vermiform appendage. This is a prolongation of the corpus spongiosum. Young rams (shearlings) are considered competent to deal with forty to fifty ewes, older ones are given seventy or eighty, and a case is on record of success with a ram given nine score ewes during the season. Giving too many ewes to a ram results in many of them going empty, in defects of nutrition of the lambs, and in other ill consequences. The time of putting the ram to the ewe varies in accordance with season and when the lambs are required; it is generally in October or November. Care is essential to determine which ewes have been tupped or covered by the ram. The method of raddling is sometimes adopted, i. e. smearing the lower part of the body of the ram overnight with red material, that he may leave a stain on those ewes mounted by him. To make sure of effectual impregnation sometimes a young ram is turned in the pasture with the ewes, and an older one, and generally the latter is removed after three weeks and another ram put in for a time. Ewes which quot; hold quot; cease to follow the ram. With improvement in breeding both male and female sheep attain the age of puberty earlier, but it is a mistake to take advantage of this too much, and fifteen to eighteen months old is considered to be the time when they are sufficiently matured, though some farmers deem it advisable to wait



	I-

	228	DISEASES OF THE SHEEP.

	CHAPTER IX.THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. The nervous system of the sheep is not highly deve-lopeilj either anatomically or physiologically, as compared with that of the horse or dog, hut compares very well with that of the ox, the encephalou being 7 Äiyth part of the weight of the animal, whereas that of the ox is only ^g-th part of its weight ; the brain mass is also longer and broader, but the cerebrum overlaps the cerebellum less. The convolutions ui' the brain are fairly marked and numerous. There are not wanting traits and instances of sheep and goats showing fairly good memories, skill in defence, shrewdness in defending the young, and maternal affection, as well as courage, comradeship, and even low powers of reasoning. In pet lambs and sheep well cared for and receiving individual attention, the faculties get some chance of development and of manifestation, but in the dull round of ordinary sheep-life, comprised of feeding, folding, breeding, shearing, washing, smearing, dipping, journeying, and suffering from disease together with others of the flock, it is no wonder if each individual settle down to the dreariest uniformity, and seems foolish and stupid when moved out of his routine. The skull is peculiarly arched downwards, as may best be seen in longitudinal section ; and whereby the axis of the posterior part meets that of the anterior part at an oblique angle open below, this anatomical feature to an extent influences the surgery of the skull. It is associated with the outgrowths of the horn cores in some animals, and the size of the frontal sinuses for defensive purposes. The frontals become so prominent that a strong ridge connecting the horns is present, and the parietals and occipital seem small and well behind and rather below this ridge. The skull bones are

	L _



Fia. 68.	THE NBEVODS SYSTEM. Fio. 69.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Fig. 70.		235
Fia. 68.			Fig. 71.



Fia. 72.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Fig. 73.		Fig. 74.	Fig. 75.

		(2^3copy;

Fig. 76.		Pig. 77-

.'#9632;*.

Fig. 68.Phase of development of coenurus (Van Beneden).' E. V. E..' Fig. 69.T. coenurtis hooks.' Edinburgh Veterinary Review,' vol. i. Fig. 70. T. serraia.' E. V. R.,' vol. i. Fig. 71.A young coenurus before acquiring books (Lettckaet).' E.V. R.' Fig. 72.Four beads of coenurus (after Leuckart).' E. V. R.' Fig. 73.Phases of development of coenurus (after Van Beneden.) ' E. V. R.' Fig. 74.Free scolex of ccenurus.' E. V. R.' Fig. 75.Proscolex of coenurus with some inverted and some protruded sco-lices (after Van Bbnedbn).'E. V. R.,' vol. i. Fig. 76.Ditto, same source. Fig. 77-Brain of sheep with coenurus in posterior part of right hemisphere (Cobbold).