The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-02 00:00:00

REVIEWS Ole THE WORK.

"'Curtis on l'rlanttoocl:2-This is a truly valuable Work, and
waould be in the hands of young and old —" Sunday Times,"
Rd March, 18513.
"The author bas conferred a great boon by publishing this
it ttle work, in which Is described the source of those diseases
whim produce decline in youth or more frequently premature
cle Daily Telegraph," sTarc:: 27. 18513.
r'4slldon : Published by J. Allen, 20, Warwick Lane, Pater-
noster-row; Mann. lg. Cornhlll.
41.8 Qt Consultation-10 to 8 and fl to anadayb, itl 0.11 `,4

(From the Times.)
Nothing can more forcibly illustrate the immense diffi-
culty there is on some special occalions in getting up the
required lull bucket of truth from its accustomed deep well
than this lamentable outbreak among the large flocks of
Wiltshire, Occasionally the force in lifting is impeded by
the repulsiveness of direct self-interest; at others by even
the more overbearing influence of prejudice. Apart from
the malady among the lower animals, humanity in the im-
mediate vicinity of the great flocks is severely afflicted with
tetanus, and the locked jaw has been in no small degree
accelerated by the correspondence and editorial comments
in the Times. An active inquirer on the spot is at once
ticketed as a " Government inquirer." Such an one ap-
peared—and not for the first time—on the affected ground
in Wiltshire this week, and, though strengthened in his
researches by introductory letters from three of the acting
magistrates of the county, found himself fettered, as it were,
in almost every step he took in his laudable course—not in
every step, however, for there were laudable and highly
honourable exceptions, though few. and remarkably far be-
tween. And here let us pause to do justice to Mr. Parry, of
Allington, the main sufferer, as a flockmaster, up to the
present moment. A more liberal-minded and thoroughly
outspoken gentleman does not exist ; he may immediately
and prospectively be a great loser by the exposure of the
calamity which has to so great an extent befallen his cele-
brated flock, but he is too high-minded to make a complaint
on that head ; it is his freely-expressed opinion that the
bond of secrecy was so broken at once and so early, in order
that the required remedy—if there were any in existence
better than the one he had so promptly and so judiciously
adopted—should be promptly announced. It was well that
the limes, contemporaneously with a local journal published
at no great distance from the spot where the taint first ma-
nifested itself, spoke out in terms free from ambiguity, lead-
ing to demonstrations by intelligent correspondents, whose
words have pierced every nook and corner of Wilts, Hants,
Dorset, Somerset, Sussex, where the chief flockmasters of
the kingdom reside ; it was well in many respects, private as
well as public, in a cautionary as well as remedial sense.
The knowledge of a disorder is more than half its cure. The
correspondence in the Times is likely, at any rate, to point
out the exact nature of the malady, while secrecy would
only have led to mystification, and that outrageous degree
of quackery to which our rural population are to so lament-
able an extent exposed and defrauded.
Well, as we have already intimated, the Times, although
not in any direct manner, having suggested the idea of a
Government inspection, the idea was at once established
that a Government inspector had been sent down to Wilt-
shire ; so that in the present week there has been a kind of
stumbliilgblock to personal inquiries by strangers. In the
long circuitous course of 58 mites the writer came across
but four flockmasters who were disposed to be thoroughly
communicative on the subject, the remainder complaining
that " the press had spoilt the markets." The shepherds
were scarcely so much tonguetied, excepting in three in-
stances, as though they were guided by superior orders.
From this class of persons—none of them of a very high
order in an intellectual sense—we gathered in one instance
that three sheep had " sickened," been killed, and buried,
and nothing heard for the last three weeks of anything like
a malady. Another had lost eight sheep, but it was all
owing to "watery turnips," adding, " all owing to want of
sunshine when the second leaves were topping." A third
would have it that the comet was at fault, for " in the year,"
as he said, " I got married there was a comet, and the sheep
rotted off by dozens ; it is years agone. My father had the
principal management then ; he had lived as a boy with
Squire Miles, and I know that we killed and buried them as
fast as they got bad—directly, Sir, and sent none to market
that year. It was a terrible time. We used a power o'
brimstone, I know; but it set 'un mad, and so there was
nothing for it but to kill 'un. Our neighbour there—
you see the house up along—lost 80 odd sheep ; but
we have been quiet since, till now." He asked, in a
singularly inquisitive vein—" Do e'e think, Sir, the
new sort o' guano has to do with it ?" "Do you," I
said, " hold to that opinion ?" He replied, " Well, I
am not sure of that ; but I must say, for luck in rearing, I
dearly like a small hard turnip before a lumpy soft one."
Five miles from this an aged shepherd candidly admitted
that he believed " we should hear something bad in a week
or so;'' adding knowingly, " I dare say you will hear of
something down below," pointing to a homestead on the
hill, upon the slope on the upper side of the valley. And
we did hear something. The letter we presented, directed
to a flockmaster by Major —, was at once opened by a
middle-aged lady, who said that her husband had gone to
for advice, but she could not see what the Major had
to do with their flock ; ho had better look after his own, if
what she had heard on Sunday were true. If the magi-
strates were going to interfere, they might as well turn their
attention to the flock, where the smallpox, since Satur-
day, had killed 40 owes. The next course was to the spot
indicated; but there " mum" was the order of the day, and
facts were as difficult to get at as nuggets of gold on Salis-
bury Plain.
In sorrow it must be admitted that the scourge has ex-
tended to several more flocks, and especially to those in the
district of Devizes—expanding now over an area of several
miles, and in detached spots. The _Devizes Gazette records
an alarming circumstance, in these terms :
"It has come to our knowledge that 200 lambs were sold
by a farmer in the neighbourhood (Mr. Neate, of Allcan-
nings) at Marlborough Fair last Friday, which were ascer-
tained on the following day to have had the smallpox
among them for a fortnight previously, some of them, when
examined, having pustules fully formed on parts of their
body where the disease is most easily discernible. That Mr.
Neate was aware of the fact when he sent the lambs to
Marlborough we cannot for a moment suppose. Indeed,
had he been so, he would not only have rendered himself
liable to a heavy penalty for exposing them for sale in any
market, fair, or open or public place, but for even driving
them along the turnpike road. But he does not appear
to have been aware that his flock had been impregnated
with the disease until the day after the fair, when on
examining the sheep and lambs which were upon his farm
many of them were found to have the pox fully developed
over their bodies. He then did the only thing he could do
to retrieve the mischief he had caused. He set off imme-
diately to Lambourne, whither the lambs had been driven
by their purchaser, Mr. Louseley, and had them back to
Allcannings, returning Mr. Louseley the money he had
paid for them. So far all would have been well ; but it
amww chasednidt was ascertained
news
es
aboutwcaestr ttaht
h7ienciafeotaditorhtt,hhae
and
d hadt
shhheaes
had remained
pp
r2r
eoomob
whichaalbia
nlme lambs
with
or
got the
had been
ee
thembue
smallpox,ee ne
y ahaddriven
ll nipgaand
offd.
eto4 4HdBsiiesasweyaesse
whole
lossis
reckoned
.whi,chmonfacext,aunnliitnnilacettishohienmaadporrriithodvvesalegrd.:t:MteyregNtheoatetruw.th
Mr.the aNl:nate-2
who
apppeaarrtsof his flock inocu-
latedProfessorrk upon his hands in this 's way as
to
has,haasvewb ey
raheuacrh, w 0
well attend to; for I\lr. Neate 's flock, we are sorry toe scan
is not the only other flock in which the disease has elioawitY,
itself since our last."
favourable reports of
Mr.T There
Parry'sa e ,
flock.w e are happyof
the
se
free4oo fr havefrom
al passed
furthert h through o
duagnhg
etrh. thatand
w aree r e inoculated,considered
at 65 per cent. Mr. Harding, of Elchilhampton has, up to
the present time, lost none of his ewes ; and the 20 which
has been attacked, and were inoculated, are getting gra-
dually better.