THE FOOT-ROT. 219 



Although there would not appear to be any great wear and tear of the 

 foot in this soft land, )'et the horn becomes so exceedingly unsound 

 and spongy, that small particles of sand or gravel make their way 

 through the softened mass, and penetrate to the quick. It not unfre- 

 quently happens that injuries of this sort are produced unconnected 

 with and independent of the foot-rot, and they may be cured much 

 easier, but by very similar means. The hardness or the sponginess 

 of the horn depends altogether on the dryness or moisture of the soil 

 in which the animal has fed. Large, heavy sheep, having compara- 

 tively thinner hoofs than lighter ones, are more subject to the disease. 



True foot-rot more frequently begins from above than below. The 

 horn is rendered softer, weaker, and more luxuriant by exposure to 

 wet : the foot, from being kept wet and cold, is exposed to re-action 

 with any change of weatlier, and inflammation is thus excited within 

 the foot, which often ends in suppuration, and this occasions those 

 troublesome ulcers that are sometimes witnessed. 



The first symptom of the disease is the lameness of the sheep. 

 On the foot being examined, this morbid growth is almost invariably 

 found. The foot is hot, and the animal shrinks if it is firmly pressed. 

 It is particularly hot and painful in the cleft between the two hoofs; 

 and there is generally some enlargement about the coronet. There is 

 always an increased secretion, usually fetid, and often there is a wound 

 about the coronet discharging a thin, stinking fluid: sometimes there 

 is a separation of the horn from the parts beneath, and that too fre- 

 quently preceding the dropping otf of the hoof. In comparatively a 

 few cases the hoofs seem to be worn to the quick at or near the toe. 

 The lameness rapidly increases, and often to such a degree indeed, 

 that the sheep is unable to stand, but moves about the field on its 

 knees. The soft portions of the foot, and sometimes the very bones 

 of it, slough away, and drop off. 



All this is necessarily attended by a great deal of pain, and the 

 animal shows how much it preys upon him by his moaning, and re- 

 fusing to eat, and ceasing to ruminate, and most rapidly wasting. 

 Irritating fever comes on, and after the poor creature has crept about 

 the field on his knees for a few weeks, he dies from irritation and 

 starvation. 



Of one thing the farmer may be assured — that the foot-rot is ex- 

 ceedingl}'- infectious. If it once gets into a flock, it spreads through 

 the whole. Some valuable writers have denied this; but there is 

 scarcely a farmer who has not had woful experience of the truth of it. 

 Even on the dryest soil the greater part of the flock have become lame 

 in a very few weeks after a diseased sheep has come among them. 

 There are, however, some instances in which a sheep with the foot- 

 rot has grazed among others during several months, and no disease 

 has ensued ; and some curious experiments would make it appear 

 that under particular circumstances it is difUcult to produce foot-rot by 

 inoculation. But these are exceptions to the general rule ; and he who 

 trusts to the non-contagiousness of foot-rot will suffer as assuredly as 



