[ 227 ] 



XXXV. Observations upo?i the Disease, in Sheep, called in 

 England Foot-rot. By M. Charles Pictet, of Ge- 

 neva *. 



1 think I shall render a service to the proprietors of sheep 

 by calling their attention to a malady which, to my know- 

 ledge, has not been described by the veterinarists of any 

 country, and which, to the present moment, appears to 

 have been unknown in France f. The following is the oc- 

 casion upon which I observed it : 



In the month of May 180-4, I received from Piedmont a 

 flock of -200 sheep of various mongrel breeds of the second 

 and third generations. The animals came to hand in good 

 condition, but some of them were lame. The flock was 

 placed, with a hundred other mongrels, on a flat mountain, 

 the pasturage of which is healthy and of good quality. We 

 did not pay very great attention to the lame sheep, because 

 in general, upon a journey, they cripple often from fatigue 

 alone, and their lameness goes off after resting a while. I 

 never yet received a lot of Spanish sheep among which there 

 was not a few lame ones at their arrival ; but this defect was 

 never of long continuance. 



In the present case, however, trie lame animals became 

 worse and worse, and every day others of them began to 

 grow lame, while none of the others grew any better. Not 

 suspecting any contagion, we attributed this affection to the 

 rocky nature of the pasturage; to the frequent journeys 

 Which the sheep took from a rivulet to go and feed ; and 

 also to the circumstance that the sheep-cot was not fre- 

 quently enough renewed. We took precautions against all 

 these various causes, and yet the malady continued among 

 the sheep. At the end of six weeks every one among them was 

 lame ; and some of them were affected in all their lour legs. 

 They crawled upon their knees while feeding, and the worst 

 of them fell off very much in their appearance. It now 



• From bib. Brit, vol. x, p. "7 1. 



f Tbfi.Pietin, or 1'icir.c, «r the Fourth (, which Ciriicr and others have 

 mentioned, it a (light malady, not conlag'fi is, and wholly different from that 

 which I am aboi.t to describe. 



P a became 



