38 
ON THE FOOT-llOT IN SHEEP. 
after sheep have been placed there for only a short period, and 
look at their feet:—will there not be an increased growth of hoof ?— 
will not the skin around the coronet and the highly sensitive mem¬ 
branous tissue between the claws be blanched?—will not the vas¬ 
cularity of the parts be weakened from its circulation being en¬ 
feebled? Now this is all produced by wet. In a few days, 
perhaps, we have a change of temperature; evaporation is pro¬ 
duced from the surface of the land, and from animal bodies as well, 
and the ground becomes drier. A re-action takes place; the cir¬ 
culation is quickened; the hoof swells, or rather is pushed from 
the parts beneath; the skin between the claws inflames; the heels 
bulge; the coronet enlarges; abscesses form; matter penetrates be¬ 
tween the horn and the substance beneath, and disunites the sen¬ 
sitive from the horny laminae; and, in the worst forms of the 
disease, the hoof falls off. The joints, tendons, and ligaments, are 
soon implicated. Sometimes, from the overshooting of the toe of 
the hoof, it turns back or upwards, and breaks the horny sole from 
the crust: gravel then gets in; inflammation is set up; a sepa¬ 
ration of the foot from its horny covering is produced; and from 
every part of the foot thus denuded fungus quickly sprouts. The 
true foot-rot does not, as is generally thought, so often begin from 
below, as from above. 
Hundreds of sheep on sharp sandy farms wear away their hoofs 
and soles, and expose the sensible parts. A little heat and tenderness 
ensue, and matter forms which is soon replaced by fungus. This 
might be got rid of in a short time. It is only a spurious kind of 
rot, and is again produced by the injudicious paring of the horny 
parts by the farmers and shepherds. 
If a little gravel happens to have insinuated itself between the 
junction of the crust and sole, the knife cuts away without any cere¬ 
mony too much of the crust, exposing the laminae, and the sole is so 
thinned as to aflbrd no protection in walking. The animal limps at 
every step from the want of the horny crust: whereas, by only 
properly paring the foot, all might have been prevented. 
It is, now-a-day, too much the fashion for the farmer or shep¬ 
herd to have his sheep-foot knife always in his pocket, and every 
poor animal that happens to halt is caught, and, but too often, un¬ 
mercifully pared. I have myself been an eye-witness to this. I 
have reasoned on its impropriety. The knife has been spared, and 
lameness has diminished. These two last causes are mechanical 
productions of the disease; yet, on the other hand, if the foot is 
improperly managed, and a fair vent not given for the escape of 
the matter, it rises upward and breaks out at the coronet, and 
makes the cure more tedious. 
Sometimes one foot, either the fore or hinder, is affected; at 
