FOOT-EOT IN SHEEP. 397 



hundred other home sheep on a low hill, where the pasture was 

 dry and of good quality; but in a short time the latter com- 

 menced to have sore feet, and before long the whole three 

 hundred were affected. The rams, which joined them after- 

 wards, were also attacked. This occurrence having been made 

 public, attention was directed to the contagiousness of the 

 malady, and similar occurrences were soon made known, espe- 

 cially by Girard. Gohier, to decide the question, undertook a 

 series of experiments, after having published confirmative obser- 

 vations. He removed shreds of the loose horn from the claws 

 of diseased sheep, and fastened them between those which were 

 quite healthy; in this way he produced the malady. As the 

 question was a serious one for the agricultural interest of France, 

 the Agricultural Society of Paris offered premiums for the best 

 essay on the disease, and these were awarded (in 1823) to Favre 

 and Sorillon. The experiments successfully carried out by these 

 authorities were perfectly conclusive. Favre, for instance, in one 

 of his trials, simply deposited the matter between the toes of 

 tliirty-two sheep, and twenty-one became affected. Then followed 

 observations and experiments by Letzius, Giesker, Felix, Mathieu, 

 Delafond, Charlier, and others. Pieynal has made numerous 

 observations and direct experiments, which are entirely confirma- 

 tive of all that had been previously published ; so that there is 

 no doubt whatever as to the existence of a virulent element iu 

 the disease, and that to this it largely owes its extension. 



" Vitality of the Virus. — The virus of foot-rot appears to 

 preserve its activity for a considerable period, though nothing 

 definite has yet been arrived at in this respect. 



" Infection. — The virus does not appear to have any influence 

 on other animals than sheep; no case of transmission, either 

 naturally or by inoculation, having been recorded. Fine-wooled, 

 ]iigh-bred sheep, as already noticed, are most readily infected, 

 and lambs are also susceptible ; those with coarse wool are not 

 only less readily infected, but they are more easily cured. 



" The power of the infection is shown in Favre's experiments, 

 in which twenty-one out of thirty -two inoculated sheep become 

 affected. 



" Mode of Access. — Infection takes place through the skin 

 around the claws. There is no evidence to show that it can 

 be produced in any other manner. 



