396 DISEASES OF THE FEET. 



sandy soils, tins wearing away of the crust is put an end to ; 

 it grows too long, and proves a great encumbrance. In this 

 state it is exposed to many injuries, among others from the long 

 grass of the pastures, and itself necessarily injures the soft parts 

 beneath ; and hence lameness, inflammation, suppuration, to the 

 extent of casting the hoof, are the consequences. The circum- 

 stance of the disease occurring epidemically arises from the 

 whole flock being placed in precisely similar circumstances." 



The late Mr. Eead of Crediton, in an essay on this subject, after 

 very carefully weighing for and against contagiousness, says : — - 

 " For the last three or four years I have made every inquiry 

 of men accustomed to sheep. Some say, on my asking their 

 opinion, that it is as infectious as the plague ; for if they put a 

 lot of sound ones with some that were lame, they all became so. 

 But I have said — ' Perhaps the sheep with whom yours were 

 put were in a soil favourable to the production of foot-rot, and 

 yours were taken from a healthy soil.' Such was generally the 

 case, and such is the proof which farmers and others pretend to 

 give of its infectious nature. Little do they imagine what is 

 the operating cause on a soil disposed to it. That which gives 

 it to one will give it to a hundred if there is a predisposition to 

 take it on." 



" My opinion is," concludes Mr. Read, " that you may put 

 lame sheep with sound ones on a healthy farm, and they will 

 soon get well, and the others will not become infected." 



Mr. George Fleming brings forward some very strong facts in 

 support of its contagious nature, and under the head of " Con- 

 tagium," says as follows: — " The contagium is present in the 

 exudation from the diseased foot, and may be termed ' fixed.* 

 It is transmissible either directly through contact of the diseased 

 with healthy sheejD, or indirectly through litter, pastures, roads, 

 railway waggons, or cattle ships. It is also transmissible by 

 ' inoculation ' of the morbid fluid at the coronets of healthy 

 sheep. Indeed, though numerous observations had previously 

 demonstrated that the extension of the malady was due to the 

 presence of a virulent element, it was not until inoculation was 

 resorted to that this was received as a fact. Pictet was the first 

 (in 1805) to publish observations in this direction. He received 

 two hundred half-bred merino sheep from Piedmont, some of 

 which were lame from the disease. These were placed with a 



