744 
Foot-rot in Sheep. 
where no sheep are ever bought, yet foot-rot is always existing 
upon them. It would be useless for our West of England men to 
breed their lambs unless the holders of root-growing farms of 
other parts of England bought them for consuming their green 
crops. 
5. Professor Brown, C.B. 
As long ago as 18G4 Professor Brown communicated to the 
Journal of the Bath and West of England Society a paper entitled 
" Foot-rot in Sheep ; with Observations upon the Allied Diseases 
in other Animals." The author wrote : :< By some it is con- 
sidered to be malignant, developing during its progress a 
peculiar poison or virus, which is capable of producing the same 
disease, by inoculation, in a healthy foot. Other observers deny 
the contagious property, and refer the spread of the disease to 
the general prevalence of the cause in the locality where it may 
exist." He remarked that, concerning the essential characters 
which distinguish foot-rot from other affections of the foot of the 
sheep, very little appears to have been ascertained. " Should 
farmers consider this admission a reflection upon veterinary 
science, they are requested to pardon the suggestion that 
veterinary science has had very little to do with the matter. The 
great authority always has been the shepherd, whose assertion of 
the presence of ' foot-rot ' 
or other disease in the flock 
is not likely to be ques- 
tioned." 
In different parts of 
the same foot, and among 
different animals, it is pos- 
sible to distinguish many 
stages of the disease, as it 
affects the horn of the hoof. 
In r white hoof a dark 
spot may be detected, in- 
dicating a hollow place. 
A very close examination 
may probably result in the 
1. SlirtTclled or decayed horn. 2. Dark spot, indicating dlSCOVery of a minute fis- 
a caTitv. 5. Minute fissure.— (Brown.) , i r , , . , , 
sure, £ inch to 1 inch long, 
crossing the hoof transversely. The illustration (fig. 2) repre- 
sents these three conditions in one hoof, instead of in three feet 
of the same animal, as they really occurred. 
J. Represents the broken, or, more correctly, the withered portion of the 
horn. 
