190 



DISEASES OF KHEEP. 



culture. His excellent remarks on the popular ideas 

 of the infectious nature of foot-rot, I have not space to 

 quote, but shall lay before the reader his views as to 

 the situations and circumstances which give origin to 

 the disease.* 



(153.) Causes of Foot-rot. *' WUat do we gain," says 

 Mr Dick, " by enticing the sheep from his native and 

 natural haunts to the richer pasturage of our meadows 

 or lawns ? There the animal enjoys a more luxuriant 

 repast ; it fattens to a larger size, and will, in this 

 respect, repay the increased allowance which has been 

 made to it. But instead of moving about in small 

 troops, with the alacrity of the wild kinds, the sheep 

 are seen in flocks of thousands, moving slowly over their 

 pastures, and gorging themselves to an extent which cuts 

 short the thread of life, by the advancement of various 

 diseases. Instead of wandering from the summit of one 

 peak to another, in quest of a scanty subsistence, or 

 instead of being compelled to descend from the summits 

 of the mountain in the morning, and ascend again in 

 the evening, they are compelled, in many cases, to re- 

 main within a few yards of a particular spot for weeks 

 together, and there engorge themselves to satiety. 



" But what, it may be asked, has this to do with the 

 foot-rot ? More, I am inclined to think, than is gene- 

 rally imagined. The hoofs of the sheep being intended 

 to receive a degree of friction from hard surfaces, are 

 not acted upon when the animal is placed under such 



* To enable the reader more easily to understand Mr Dick's views 

 of this disease, 1 have added a drawing of the foot of the sheep, which 

 it may be well to consult before entering on the fubject. 



Fig. 4. Plate. 1. Section of a toe:— c. c. Crust of the hoof; j. Solej 

 g. g. Gland which secretes the hoof. 



