886 
THE VETERINARIAN, DECEMBER 1, 1879. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat.— Cicebo. 
IS FOOT-ROT CONTAGIOUS ? 
The question of the contagious character of foot-rot among 
sheep has been discussed from time to time ever since the 
detection of the disease in our flocks set scientific and practical 
men thinking on the subject. Recently we called attention 
to the existence of the disease in various parts of the country 
as a natural result of the wet season, which has had such a 
disastrous influence on animals and plants. And we ob¬ 
serve that at a late meeting of the Tunbridge Wells Farmers’ 
Club the contagiousness of foot-rot was the subject for dis¬ 
cussion. 
On the general question of the nature of the “infective 
process,” we may remark that of late years our knowledge 
has advanced, and it is possible to demonstrate that diseases 
which were, and some of which now are, commonly held to 
be non-infectious, extend from centres to other parts of the 
tissues by a process which is closely in effect allied to inocu¬ 
lation. That foot-rot of sheep is one of the maladies 
which spreads by infection from a diseased spot in the 
foot-tissues to the healthy parts of the organ may be ad¬ 
mitted without difficulty; and that the infective matter will 
produce a similar disease in the healthy foot structures of 
another animal is a proposition which at any rate may 
be accepted as a basis for experiment. 
One of our colleagues succeeded some years ago in pro¬ 
ducing foot-rot in the most pronounced form by rubbing 
the matter from a diseased foot in the skin between the 
digits of healthy sheep, and at the same time keeping 
the animals in moist litter. On dry ground it was found 
impossible to cause the disease to become developed 
beyond the first stage. The characteristic eruption and 
discharge could be produced, but the diseased surface 
rapidly healed up when the feet were kept dry and clean. 
This fact in the history of foot-rot is pretty well known 
