a treatise on the diseases of the sheep, being a manual of ovine pathology

2
REVIEWS. 355 a great improvement upon any of the other methods of treating sidebone, and it is certain to come into general use. The operation is not a formidable one, and with the lucid description and figures given by its author there should be no difficulty in carrying it out in a proper manner. It is to be hoped that in future it will receive an extensive trial, and that those who practise it will publish the results obtained. A Treatise on the Diseases of the Sheep, being a Manual of Ovine Pathology. Especially adapted for the use of Veterinary Practitioners and Students. By John Henry Steel, F.R.C.V.S., F.Z.S., A.V.D. London: Long- mans, Green, & Co., 1890' I T has long been a standing reproach against veterinary surgeons that they have a very imperfect acquaintance with the diseases of sheep. The reproach is not altogether unfounded, but the responsibility for this want of knowledge rests quite as much upon the sheep owners as upon the veterinary profession. In some respects Professor Steel's text-book will tend to remove that reproach, but in some other respects it may possibly deepen it. The work contains the faults that are never absent from books written by authors who have not an intimate practical acquaintance with the subject matter. It is essentially a compilation or compendium of the scattered writings of other authors. Professor Steel, we should say, has been prompted to write a book on the diseases of the sheep not from the fulness of his own knowledge but because he felt the necessity of providing students with some sort of a text-book on that subject. Unfortunately, many of those who have written on sheep diseases, and whose opinions Professor Steel quotes, had themselves very little practical acquaintance with the subject, and perhaps the most serious defect of the work is that the author has taken the trouble to reproduce many opinions and theories which in the light of recent discoveries in physiology and pathology are obviously absurd. The author considers that the disease which in Scotland is termed braxy is simply anthrax. That is a profound mistake. No doubt many cases of anthrax in sheep both in England and Scotland are set down as braxy, but it is equally certain that 90 per cent. of the cases of so-called braxy are not anthrax. To disprove the statement that braxy is anthrax one has only to point out that such a thing as malignant pustule in man from dressing a braxy carcase is quite unknown. This is only one of many instances that might be cited of what we feel justified in terming pernicious teaching. The author, it is abundantly clear, has no practical experience to guide him in forming a conclusion regarding this obscure and deadly disease, and yet he does not hesitate to settle the matter by declaring that it is anthrax. For what he has written on this subject he might usefully substitute the single sentence- Braxy is 1I0t anthrax; what it is, is not known. The same want of knowledge is displayed in speaking of the disease known as black-leg in sheep. The author gratuitously asserts that it is identical with the disease of the same name in cattle, and he says that it is communicated in the same way as anthrax, and affects especially young and thriving animals.

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REVIEWS. 355

a great improvement upon any of the other methods of treating sidebone, and it is certain to come into general use. The operation is not a formidable one, and with the lucid description and figures given by its author there should be no difficulty in carrying it out in a proper manner. It is to be hoped that in future it will receive an extensive trial, and that those who practise it will publish the results obtained.

A Treatise on the Diseases of the Sheep, being a Manual of Ovine Pathology. Especially adapted for the use of Veterinary Practitioners and Students. By John Henry Steel, F.R.C.V.S., F.Z.S., A.V.D. London: Long­mans, Green, & Co., 1890'

I T has long been a standing reproach against veterinary surgeons that they have a very imperfect acquaintance with the diseases of sheep. The reproach is not altogether unfounded, but the responsibility for this want of knowledge rests quite as much upon the sheep owners as upon the veterinary profession. In some respects Professor Steel's text-book will tend to remove that reproach, but in some other respects it may possibly deepen it.

The work contains the faults that are never absent from books written by authors who have not an intimate practical acquaintance with the subject matter. It is essentially a compilation or compendium of the scattered writings of other authors. Professor Steel, we should say, has been prompted to write a book on the diseases of the sheep not from the fulness of his own knowledge but because he felt the necessity of providing students with some sort of a text-book on that subject. Unfortunately, many of those who have written on sheep diseases, and whose opinions Professor Steel quotes, had themselves very little practical acquaintance with the subject, and perhaps the most serious defect of the work is that the author has taken the trouble to reproduce many opinions and theories which in the light of recent discoveries in physiology and pathology are obviously absurd.

The author considers that the disease which in Scotland is termed braxy is simply anthrax. That is a profound mistake. No doubt many cases of anthrax in sheep both in England and Scotland are set down as braxy, but it is equally certain that 90 per cent. of the cases of so-called braxy are not anthrax. To disprove the statement that braxy is anthrax one has only to point out that such a thing as malignant pustule in man from dressing a braxy carcase is quite unknown. This is only one of many instances that might be cited of what we feel justified in terming pernicious teaching. The author, it is abundantly clear, has no practical experience to guide him in forming a conclusion regarding this obscure and deadly disease, and yet he does not hesitate to settle the matter by declaring that it is anthrax. For what he has written on this subject he might usefully substitute the single sentence-Braxy is 1I0t anthrax; what it is, is not known.

The same want of knowledge is displayed in speaking of the disease known as black-leg in sheep. The author gratuitously asserts that it is identical with the disease of the same name in cattle, and he says that it is communicated in the same way as anthrax, and affects especially young and thriving animals.

REVIEWS.

The intravenous injection of blood (!) from affected animals is recommended as a prophylactic. Now, it is true that on certain farms a small number of sheep die annually from a disease termed black-leg by the shepherds, but no reliable evidence that it is identical with black-quarter or symptomatic anthrax has yet been published. Surely that point requires to be absolutely settled before recommending intravenous inoculation as a prophylactic.

Again, the author's reference to the work of Arloing, Cornevin, and Thomas lays him open to the accusation of not having taken the trouble to keep himself informed regarding recent researches on the matter. Intravenous inoculation is nowhere practised as a preventative of black-quarter in either cattle or sheep.

The author is scarcely more happy in his description of such practical matters as castration and dipping; indeed, we fear that should any Scottish sheep farmer read the article on castration, he will be apt to consider it much more amusing than instructive.

On the principle that half a loaf is better than no bread, and that a faulty text-book on ovine pathology is better than no text-book at all, the book merits a cordial welcome, and its author deserves credit for having had the courage to undertake a task from which many veterinary surgeons, with perhaps a greater knowledge of the subject, would shrink. The implied statement in the preceding sentence, that we had prior to Professor Steel's work no treatise on the diseases of the sheep, is perhaps not literally correct, but it is at any rate true in the sense that all the previous works are so out of date as to be almost worthless to the modern student of veterinary science. The book is well illustrated, and the publishers' share of the work leaves nothing to be desired.

Epizooties (maladies des animaux transmissibles it l'homme). Par MM. Nocard and Leclainche. Paris: Lecrosnier et Babe, 1890'

THIS is the most successful attempt that has yet been made to present in short compass an account of those diseases of the domesticated animals that have a direct bearing upon the health of human beings. The maladies described are: Rabies, Glanders, Anthrax, Tuberculosis, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Trichinosis, Tapeworm Infection, Ringworm, and Mange. Each of these diseases is clearly and concisely described as regards its clinical characters, morbid anatomy, etiology, and prophylaxis.

At the present time, when the best means of combating rabies in this country is being warmly debated, the following passage will be read with anterest (p. 87): "This necessary destruction of all contaminated animals will be complete, that is to say efficaciou~, only in so far as it leads to the suppression of that population of wandering dogs, which propagate them­selves in France in the large towns, and constitute the permanent centre for the spread of rabies. The customary half-measures-the provisional orders, may retard the progress of an enzooty, but they will remain fatally in~ufficient.

In 1878, 508 cases of rabies in dogs were observed in Paris, 100 persons were bitten and 24 died. Among these there was a young man whose family was very well known in the artistic and literary world; the affair attracted great attention, the police authorities revived and put into force the forgotten regulations, and the cases of rabies, which in the three first quarters had been respectively 141, 175, and 133, fell during the fourth to 53. To obtain this result it had sufficed to sacrifice in July and August 4000 wandering dogs."

In discussing the prophylaxis of tuberculosis, the authors express the opinion that there is no real danger of the disease being transmitted to human beings