FOOT-ROT IN SHEEP. 897 



liundred other home sheep on a low hiU, where the pasture was 

 dry and of good quality; >ut 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 mada 

 public, attention was directed to the contagiourncss of the 

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

 ciaUy by Girard, Gohier, to decide the question, undertook a 

 aeries of experiments, after having pubHshed 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 besfc 

 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 

 thirty-two sheep, and twenty-one became affected. Then foUowed 

 observations and experiments by Letzius, Giesker, Felix, Mathieu 

 Delafond, CharUer, and others. Eeynal has made numerous' 

 observations and direct experiments, which are entirely confirma- 

 tive of aU that had been previously pubUshed ; so that there ia 

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

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



^ VitalUy of ilu Virus.— Va^ virus of foot-rot appears to 

 preserve its activity for a considerable period, though nothing- 

 definite has yet been arrived at in this respect. ** 

 " Inftction.—Tti^ 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, 

 high-bred sheep, as abeady 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 skia 

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

 be produced in any other manner. 



