The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-09 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN.

_____........________.
The following testimonials were presented on the last
homeward voyage of the Great Eastern :
" We, the undersig,ned, passengers on board the steam-
ship Great Eastern, on her July voyage from New York
to Liverpool, subscribe the sums attached to our several
names to be presented to Captain Walter Paton, with the
request that he will purchase therewith some souvenir,
suitably inscribed, of us his then passengers. We trust
that Captain Paton will not regard this testimonial for its
intrinsic worth, but as a mark of our appreciation of his
ability and urbanity as the commander of what, in our opi-
nion, is the finest and safest specimen of naval architecture
afloat. We sincerely wish Captain Paton continued suc-
cess, and specially recommend the Great Eastern to all
those who wish to enjoy true comfort at sea.
" Steamship Great Eastern, at sea,
Lat. 50 12, long. 28 40, August 2, 1862."
Here follow the names of the subscribers, with the amount
given by each. The total sum subscribed is £39 2s.
" We, the undersigned (steerage passengers), proceeding
(
to Liverpool, England, by the Great Eastern steamship,
avail ourselves of the pleasure in testifying to the kindness,
courtesy, and attention received by us from the captain and
officers of the above-named ship, in her passage from New
York to Liverpool, and likewise our feeling of satisfaction
with the manner in which the stewards in this department
have performed their duty, and our appreciation of the
arrangements in the steerage with regard to sleeping
accommodation and the good quality of the food supplied to
us by the ship's company.
"August 5, 1862."
The following is the cargo of the Great Eastern, amount-
ing to 6,50
New 0 tons—w
York hich she has bro7ulghbtaogsn hoferwphreeasteutot
ip from to this port :-11,5
ditto
order,
consigned 7,149 ditto
to consigned
Rathbone to Marrow
and Co., 12,363
Bers, 2,t0
Richardson, Spence, and Co., 2,198r0th ditto to Mr. 414 ditto
Lowe and
Sons ; total bags, 35,839. Besides the wheat in bags h brings 16,160 bushels to order, and 10,064 consigned toe
Rathbone Brothers; total bushels, 26,224. In additicn to
the above the Great Eastern has on board 149 boxes of
cheese consigned to J. E. Corderoy and Co., 148 to Mr-
Haughton and Sons, 100 to E. Ecombe, 160 to E. Davies,
408 to E. Robinson, and 2,225 to order. She also brings
962 firkins and packages of butter, 2,884 barrels of flour
consigned to Rathbone Brothers, and 7,797 to order; 58
bales of cotton consigned to B. Labert and Co. ; besides
which she has 96 boxes salted shoulders, 242 boxes bacon
and jowls, 40 hogsheads S 5 tierces and 83 barrels tal/ow, 6
firkins of lard, and 251 boxes of bacon, 228 of which, are to
order.--. Liverpool Mercury.

MALIGNAN7 DISEASE AMONO SHEEP.

It is impossible by words to describe fully the excitement
which has for the last few days prevailed in Wiltshire and
the upper parts of Hampshire, in the agricultural classes,
in consequence of the breaking out of a malignant disease
in one of the largest breeding flocks in the West of England,
—in a flock, too, that has, for the last 50 years,been regarded
as one of the most healthy flocks upon the Beckingham
Downs. For a few days there was some secrecy in the
matter; but so completely impregnated is the whole
fleck that for the sake of flockmasters generally it is desi-
rable that a notice of the attack, and the means which are
being taken to subdue it, should be generally circulated.
The facts in brief are these :—lt is now about a month ago
that Mr. Joseph Parry, of Allington, was riding alongside
one of his folds, containing about 303 two-year-old ewes,
when he observed one of the ewes lying by the hurle:A.
The animal looked in a pitiable condition, soon breathed its
last, and was put out of the way, and for the time nothing
more was thought of the occurrence, But, in a day or two
after, other sheep in the same flock showed symptoms of
illness, exhibiting great internal suffering, loss of appetite,
heaviness and indisposition to move, and general prostra-
tion. The two-year-old ewes had, up to this time, bean
kept with their lambs, but, thinling it better to separate
them,the latter were now removed and put with other lambs
upon the farm, the former being turned among the general
breeding flock,making altogether 1,000 ewes and 700 lambs.
The nature of the attack upon the two-year-old ewes sur-
passed all comprehension. That it was eminently conta-
gious was certain. In the course of a fortnight the same
symptoms began to show themselves among the older ewes
and among the lambs, and for days in succession as many
as 20 or 30 of the ewes died in the most loathsome state of
disease, their bodies covered with pustules and a viscous
matter running from the nose and from the eyes, rendering
the sheep completely blind, and emitting the most foul
stench that can be conceived.
All local remedies were entirely unavailing. The malady
was a mystery, and it became necessary that the best pos-
sible advice should be had, and that, too, without delay
Mr. Joseph Parry went to London last Monday week to
consult professor Simonds, the well-known lecturer at the
Royal Veterinary College. After hearing Mr. Parry's ex-
planation of the symptoms, Professor Simonds came imme-
diately to the conclusion that the disease from which the
sheep were suffering was smallpox ; but as smallpox has
never been known to make its appearance except through
infection—as, wherever it has appeared, its origin and pro-
pagation have always been traceable—its introduction into
Mr. Parry's flock was perfectly unaccountable. Every sug-
gestion which the Professor could offer was at once met by
Mr. Parry. There had been no change on the female side
of the flock for at least half a century. New male blood
was only introduced once in two years ; and it was now two
years since Mr. Parry had purchased or hired rams from
another flock. Neither could it have been imported by the
shearers, as all the flocks which the same shearers had shorn
this year, before and after Mr. Parry's, were known, and in
neither was there the slightest symptom of disease. In fact,
there was no traceable means of accounting for the visita-
tion. A " chill" could not possibly produce it, as a com-
mon cause of illness would not produce a special disease of
this description. Its spontaneous appearance, therefore, is
a thing unheard of. Moreover, it is a disease unknown
among English flocks; the only occasion of its appearance
here having been in 1847, when some merino sheep that
had just been imported were sold with the smallpox upon
them at Smithfield market. This was the first known ap-
pearance of the disease among sheep
in England ; and al-
though it was then unfortunately communicated to two
flocks belonging to Mr. Statham, a farmer at Datchett, near
Windsor, and Mr. Weale, of Pinner, and for a time found
its way into Norfolk and Hampshire, it was ultimately era-
dicated, and from that time to the present there has been no
known instance of smallpox in sheep in this country.
To account for it in the present case, therefore, seemed
impossible, inasmuch as Mr. Parry's had always been a
notoriously healthy flock—well tended, carefully fed, and
Still, from the
with all the advantages of fine down
last fully confirmed his
and his visit to Allington on Friday
symptoms, Professor Simonds had no daolubt about the fact,
of the disease. Some in
suffering in almost every stage previous persuasion. On examining the sheep he found them
swelled eyelids; in others, when
gait, with slight fever, and
which the pox had first shown itself exhibited a staggering
red spots (easily dis-
cernibleit had become more fully developed,
ts
e the inner surface of the
body, over the while legs) were found thickly
upon the bare
studdedparts
complaint had still further advanced,
pus-
tules in
(in form the heads of ordinary smallpox) and
those where thelickoem
* A more loathsome
malignant ulcers, emitting a thin stinking matter, were the
distinguishing features of the malady.
sight than the
sheep exhibit in this advanced stage can
hardly be imagined.
The contagious nature of the disease
is truly astonishing. An instance is related (when it was
introduced into England by the Spaniards in 1847) of its
having broken out in a flock penned some distance
in the same field, while feeding off rape, clearly ff, but
showing
that the infection, was carried in the air from one flock to
another. Great danger has in the same way arisen on the
continent (where the disease is well known), from tho
driving of a healthy flock 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 shep-
herd from one fold to another, But while it is so highly
infectious to sheep, it is by no means as to other animals or
to human beings. Cases are recorded in which children of
all ages have been inoculated over and over again without
any specific disease resulting; and the like experiment upon
the cow, and even upon the
availing
. goat, have been equally un-

Upon examining the flock on Saturday and Monday and
again on Tuesday, Professor Simonds found that a great
number of the sheep had already passed through the most
trying part of the malady, while some (as many as 170)
were declared by him to be perfectly convalescent. This
being the case, it is impossible to say how long the disease
has actually impregnated the flock ; but to reduce its conti-
nuance to a certainty, and as the most effectual means of
preserving those that have not already been attacked, Pro-
fessor Simonds suggested that the whole of the sheep should
at onee b and, having placed the case entirely
in the
hands indsocouflathted
the Professor, Mr. Party assented to thin
proposition, and the whole flock of 1,700 sheep and lambs
(exclusive of those which have died and those which have
recovered) are accordingly at this moment either in an in-
cipient or a malignant state of smallpox.
Adding misfortune to misfortune, the old shepherd who
had tended the flock for the last 30 years dropped down
dead among his sheep last Thursday
evening. Proud of his
flock, which had always borne a high character, and re-
flected 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 diseased heart, tended to
bring about his melancholy end. He was endeavouring to
catch one of the sheep on Thursday evening, when he fell
with the animal under him, and almost instantly expired.

RIFLE CONTEST.—A competition for prizes pre-
sented by officers and gentlemen connected with the British
Museum, open to all members of volunteer corps in that
establishment, was shot for at Willesden on the 4th inst.
The conditions ware :—Distances, 150, 200, 300, and 400
yards, five shots each; hits and points to count; no prize
to be taken in money, and winners of former prizes to allow
the first shot at each range_ The first
prize, £7, was won
by Private D. 1
..,amore, 37th Middlesex, who made 49
-
points ; the second, £6, by Corporal Gatfield, 37th Mid
dlesex, who made 41 points; the third, Pp by Sergeant
Saunders, 37th Middlesex, who made 39
110,
points ; and the
fourth, £3, by Sergeant Hayes, 37th Middlesex, who made
6 points,