Lamenesses of Sheep and Lambs. 
383 
joct of the present Report, afford excellent illustration of the truth 
of the preceding remarks. They are mostly induced by domes- 
tication and artificial treatment. They result from the selection 
of faulty breeding-stock, or from carelessness and mismanagement. 
In a word, they are chiefly to be ascribed to causes which might 
be removed : hence it is of much importance that farmers should 
familiarise themselves with such disorders, and understand espe- 
cially their nature and causes ; for without such information they 
will be but ill prepared effectually to diminish their prevalence or 
mitigate their severity. 
Before proceeding with the immediate subject of the Report, I 
have thought it advisable to subjoin in the first place a short 
description of the anatomy and physiology of the limbs of the 
sheep. 
In the fore-limb there is a scapula or shoulder-blade, a 
humerus or arm-bone ; a radius and ulna, or bones of the fore- 
arm ; a carpus, improperly called the knee, consisting of six 
small bones, a metacarpal or shank bone, and two digits with 
three bones each. Behind, there is a femur, or thigh-bone, a 
tibia and fibula, or leg-bones, a tarsus, or hock, consisting of five 
small bones, a metatarsal bone, and articulating with its lower 
extremity two digits with three bones each. The bones above the 
knee and hock are thickly invested with muscle, but this part of 
the limb is seldom the seat of injury and consequently requires 
no detailed notice. The parts below the knee and hock are sub- 
ject however to various lesions, and hence demand a more 
lengthened consideration. The shank bones before and behind 
are so similar that the same description will serve for both. The 
shank or canon bone, articulating above with the bones of the 
carpus or tarsus, and below with the two digits, is a dense cylin- 
drical column with a medullary cavity in the centre, peculiarly 
hard and ivory-like, rounded in front and at the sides and some- 
what flattened behind. The front is covered by the tendons 
which straighten the foot and second phalange ; the sides are in- 
vested by skin and cellular tissue, while the posterior surface is 
thickly enveloped by the tendons which flex the digits, and some 
other structures to be presentl}* noticed. The lower end of this 
bone presents two articular surfaces for the play of the upper end 
of the first bone or phalange of each digit, and from this point 
downwards all the bones in each leg are double. The first 
phalange or large pastern bone is of the same general form as the 
shank bone, and about a fourth of its length. It articulates below 
with the second phalange, small pastern, or coronet bone, which 
resembles the first, but is only about half its size. It is half en- 
veloped in the horny case of the hoof, and rests upon the posterior 
part of the last phalange, or coffin-bone, and upon another small 
2 c 2 
