230 Observations upon the Foot-rot in Sheep. 



and during a whole year many of the animals continued 

 lame. If we calculate the loss of the animals which died 

 of the disease, the loss of the lambs, and the great ex- 

 penses attending so tedious a cure, we may be convinced 

 that the scab itself, terrible as it is, is a less troublesome 

 malady than the foot-roi when it is contagious and general 

 in a Bock. 



Before pointing out the method of preventing and curing 

 this evil, I shall mention a fact which will show how far it 

 is contagious, and of how much consequence it is to in- 

 crease our precautions in order to get rid of it. The rams 

 who were upon the mountain at the same lime with the dis- 

 eased flock, took the foot-rot. They were separated from the 

 rest of the diseased animals ; and at the end of four months, 

 after having passed through all the usual operations, they 

 appeared to be cured. They still had tender feet, however, 

 and walked with pain ; but as the hoof was well recovered, 

 and there was no appearance of ulceration upon it, they 

 were driven to the neighbourhood of a Spanish flock. They 

 were placed under a pent-house, separated from the sheep- 

 cot by a wall. Some of these rams continued to eat out of 

 the rack upon their knees, which we attributed to the sole 

 of the foot not being yet consolidated ; but at the end of 

 fifteen days we perceived that an oozing out of purulent 

 matter had again commenced at the juncture of the horn of 

 the hoof. They were then transported into an infirmary, 

 to be submitted once more to the same treatment. The 

 straw upon which they had lain was not taken away ; and 

 the Spanish flock having afterwards been sent into this pent- 

 house, the foot-rot began to show itself among them in 

 about fifteen days. The vigorous measures and precautions 

 I followed, and the treatment I am about to recommend, 

 hindered the disease from proceeding any further in this 

 flock than the second degree ; otherwise I do not believe 

 that a single beast would have escaped. 



Precautions and Treatment. 



At all times, upon receiving a strange flock, it is advis- 

 able to keep them separated until it is well ascertained that 



. . they 



