2 
Oil Lameness in Sheep and Lambs. 
power to support the body, being about to slough, while in some 
cases they had fallen off, leaving the very sensitive and denuded 
parts of the foot exposed to friction from surrounding bodies, 
causing excessive pain and suffering to the animal. From this 
disease our flocks also suffered, and their value soon diminished, 
two or three months being often required to restore them to their 
former condition. The feet of these animals were the parts prin- 
cipally affected, inflammation often pervading the entire organism 
of the foot, followed by all its too common results — sup])uration, 
ulceration, and gangrene — appearances which, to a careless ob- 
server, would be characteristic of a very severe case of foot-rot. 
The circumstance of disease affecting the different structures of 
the foot and leg, and producing different actions of the limb, has 
induced the observation amongst us that there are different kinds 
of lameness, meaning that disease, in the different structures of a 
limb, is attended with a motion peculiar to that diseased condi- 
tion ; for example, when the hip, stifle, and hock-joints are 
affected, there is a dragging of the toe along the ground ; whereas, 
where the parts below the hock and behind the leg (the fetlock 
and foot) are the seats of disease, the toe is fairly lifted and 
carried forward, and lameness is not seen until the weight of the 
body is thrown upon the affected side. In other cases we see the 
leg carried outwaid, forming a circle, and in others inwards, in 
the same rotary manner. Disease of a limb, like disease of any 
other organ, may be distinguished by the terms idiopathic and 
symptomatic ; the former being applied to that which takes its 
origin in the parts affected, excited by causes operating peculiarly 
upon itself, as foot-rot, being produced by a wedge of earth forcing 
itself between the crust and sole, and injuring the quick ; the 
latter to that which owes its existence to constitutional causes, as 
the joint-disease in lambs, that originates through the body being 
exposed to cold and moisture. Lameness in sheep and lambs 
arises from many other causes besides those already mentioned ; 
dirt occasionally finds its way down the interdigital canal, excites 
inflammation and much lameness — black-leg, set-fast, rheumatism, 
sprains, bruises, and broken leg, all of which are attended with 
lameness. 
It is not usual for essays on diseases to contain an anatomical 
description of the diseased parts of which they treat ; but in one 
of the present description, which is principally intended to be 
read by amateurs, and where disease of the foot forms so promi- 
nent a feature, I have considered it better to give an anatomical 
description of that organ, from a knowledge of which the reader 
will readily comprehend the more important part, the nature and 
treatment of the foot in a diseased condition. 
