The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-08-19 00:00:00

Neither could it have been imported by the shearers, as
nil the flocks which the same shearers had shorn this
year, both before and after Mr. Parry's, were known,
And in neither was them o the slightest symptom of
disease. In short, there was no traceable means of
accounting for the vieitation. A "chill" could not
pos.ibly ',mince it, as a common cause of Meese would
not produce a special diem* of this descliptlon. Its
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spoetaneotts appearance, therefore, is a thing unheard
of. Moreover it is • direaso unknown among English
flocks; the only occasion of its appearanee here haring
been in 1847, when some merino sheep that had just
been imported acre acid with the smallpox upon them
it Smithfield market. This was the first known
appearance of the disease among sheep in England; and
although it ass then unfortunately connunnisated to
two flocks le:logging to Mr. Statham, a farmer at
Usk-heft, near Windsor, and Mr. Wcale. of Pinner,
and for a Mate found its way into Norfolk and Magni-
shire, it was ultimately eradieated, and from that time
to the present there has been no known instance of
smallpox in sheep of this country. To account for it in
(he present ease, therefore, seemed impossible, inasmuch
• es Mr. Parry's had always been a notoriously healthy
flock—well-tended. carefully fed, and with all the
advantages of flee down air. Still, from the symptoms,
Professor Simonds had no doubt about the fact, and his
visit to Allington fully confirmed his previous persua-
sion. On agamining the sheep, he found them suffering
In almost every stage of the disease. Some in which
the pox had first shown itself exhibited • staggering
gait, with slight fever, and swelled eyelids ; in other%
when it had become more fully developed, red spots
Icasffy discernible upon the bare parts on the inner
sot-fate of the legs) were found thickly studded over the
body, while in those where the complaint had 'till
'further advanced, pustules (in forte like the heads of
onlinari smallpox) and malignant ulcers, emitting a
thin slinkily, wetter, were the diatiognishing features
of the malady. A more loathsome sight than the sheep
exhibit in this advanced stage can hardly be imagined.
The contagious nature of the disease is truly astonish-
ing. An instance is related (when it was introduced
Into England by the Spaniaris in 1847) of its having
la-cdron out in a flock penned some distance off, but in
the same field, while feeding off rape, dearly showing
that the infection was tarried in the air from one flock
to the other. Considerable danger hes io the same way
eris,u on the continent (where the disease is well
known,) front the driving of • healthy Hock on the same
road or On the same down which had previously been
travelled over by diseased sheep, or by the immediate
transit of a sheep dog or a shepherd from one fold to
another. But while it is so highly infections to sheep,
it is by no means so to other animals or to human
beings. Caws Sr. recorded in which children of all ages
have bean imoculakd over and over again without any
apecllsieea.e resulting; and the like experiment upon
the oow, and even upon the goat, have been equally
unstraoli4. Upon examining the flock, Professor
Simonds found that a great number of the sheep had
ahead,' 'passed through the most trying parts of the
malady, while some (as many as 170) were declared by
Lint to be perfectly convalescent. This being the ease,
it is impossible to say how lengths disease has actually
impregnated the flock; but to reduce its continuance to
a certainty, and as the most effectual means of pre-
nerving those that have not already been attacked,
Professor Simonds suggested that the whole of the sheep
should at once be inoculated; and. having placed the
case entirely in the hands of the Professor, Mr. Parry
assented to this preposition, and the whole flock of
1,700 sheep and lambs (exclusive of these which have
died and those which have recovered) are accordingly
at this moment either in an incipient or a malignant
state of smallpox. Adding misfortune to misfortune,
the old shepherd who bad tended the flock for the lust
SO years dropped down dead among his sheep. Proud
of his flock, which bad always borne a high character,
and reflected credit upon his management, the poor
man seemed to feel the visitation most acutely; and
there is no doubt that the anxiety under which he had
been labouring for the previous month, acting upon a
deceased heart, tended to bring about his melancholy
end. He was endeavouring to catch one of the sheep
when he fell with the animal under him, and almost
instamtly -expired.