"There is another method by which I have seen some men attempt to judge of the soundness of sheep. It is a well known fact, that when sheep are rotten the lungs swell to a greater size; they therefore lay the sheep down upon its broad side, and pressing the skin in at the flank, up below the ribs, _pretend_ to feel the lungs. But if there is anything to be learned by this I could never perceive it, and have seen some men, who pretended to know most by it, very often mistaken.
"These are the principal rules by which the Highland farmers draw their stocks; and they relate all to ewe stocks; for as to wedders, they are generally all sold off when they are three years old, and those that buy them for feeding mostly buy them by the condition they appear outwardly to be in at the time, and the character of the ground upon which they were bred."
(167.) _Jaundice._ I have never seen this disease in the sheep, and have heard almost nothing of it; indeed it is very rare, few having ever witnessed cases of it. It is consequently very imperfectly understood, every one who has written about it assigning for its occurrence a different cause. The principal symptoms to be depended on, according to those who have treated it, are a yellowness of the eyes, and an obstinate sluggishness of the animal, almost amounting to sleep. Copious bleeding and two ounce doses of Glauber salts have been recommended for the treatment, which must be gone about promptly, as the disease is said to be quickly fatal. Reasoning from what is known about jaundice in man, I would, were a case to occur to me in the sheep, give a good dose of calomel, say 15 grains, in conjunction with the salts, unless the disease had supervened on rot, when I would substitute ten grains of ipecacuanha for the mercury.
(168.) _Dropsy._ When it is the concluding symptom of a disease, it may be reckoned part of the complaint itself, and treated accordingly. Often, however, it is the first thing which attracts the attention of the shepherd, and when such is the case it will usually be traced to long exposure to cold and wet. In this event the best plan is to bleed largely, and give two or three smart doses of Epsom salts. When it occurs in young lambs, sweet spirit of nitre, given in the quantity of a tea-spoonful twice a-day, is found to be attended with the happiest effects. Tapping, or, as it is popularly termed, _stabbing_, or _sticking_, to permit the escape of the water, is the cure resorted to in South Africa, when it appears in old sheep, after exposure to rain; but this ought never to be resorted to unless under the guidance of a medical person. It would be much better at once to kill the sheep.