198 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



we are speaking was very frequently met with in the Marsh 

 and also on the Wolds of Lincolnshire ; but improved methods of 

 management, better drainage, and greater care for the sheep are, 

 happily, gradually removing such a distressing state of things. It 

 is, indeed, greatly to be hoped that farmers will see that their 

 sheep and lambs are properly seen to, especially in severe 

 weather. The onset of the disease we are speaking of is so 

 sudden that a whole flock of sheep may become affected in a day 

 or two, and, indeed, it is by no means an uncommon occur- 

 rence for a shepherd in the winter-time to find that as many 

 as 200 sheep out of a flock of about 400 or 500 have been 

 seized with lameness, even in the course of one single night. 

 The clay becoming fixed between the claws, freezes there; 

 and this, together with the effects of the ice present on the land 

 and the icy cold water and sludge, weakens the vascular struc- 

 tures of the parts to such an extent as to cause congestion, 

 inflammation, and so on. 



The effects of water on the hoofs are well illustrated by the 

 following fact : — When Napoleon's army was on the march near 

 Moscow, the weather was so wet that the horses had for some 

 time to travel through water, and so great was the effect of this 

 on their feet that the hoofs of many of the horses came off. 



It is often the case that a great many lambs are lost in 

 England. Much of the mortality is supposed to be due to 

 abortion in the ewes, and without doubt many deaths are due 

 to this cause. There have, however, been several other factors 

 at work, and a very important one is that numbers of ewes 

 suffering from the disease above-mentioned have — to use the 

 shepherd's expression — laid their lambs to death. It is a fact 

 that ewes, suffering from the above-mentioned enzootic disease 

 of the feet, do actually lie down on their lambs and so kill them. 

 On one farm a hundred lambs were lost in great part from 

 this cause, and in another case a farmer informed us that he 

 had lost lambs worth £200, partly owing to the above cause, 

 partly owing to skit. 



Many lambs also die from the attacks of rheumatic arthritis, 

 a disease which we shall consider in due course. 



Sheep affected with this disorder have not much elevation of 

 temperature. In fact, it is seldom above 104 deg., and very un- 

 usually does it rise above 103° or 102° F. It is important, also. 



