The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-08-17
FOOt.rOt and Its Treatment.

Before the treatment is given there
ought to be a description made with
some care of the disease itself, to pre-
vent faulty diagnosis. In the first
place, it is not seated in the bifleX ca
nal. This canal is duct leading from
all oil gland which sccretes viscid
whitish unguent for the fabrication of
the inside Of the hoofs, and which hi s
its mouth directly above the cleft in
the pout of the foot. Some ignorant
men believe that this secretion, when
eXuding from an unhealthy foot some
what sluggishly in ductile, vernacu-
lar string is "the worm of the foot
root" or the "seed of the foot-rot."
They will press il, cut with the thumb
and declare roundly, "there is the very
foot-rot ITSELF" l have seen state
mcnt somewhere that foot-rot is caus-
ed by the obstruction of this canal and
its consequent failure to supply the lu-
brlcant necessary to prevent Calling in
the cleft. This view is partly sustain
ed by the circumstance that the disease
is most prevalent in those sheep walks
where an excessive amount of moisture
has tendency to chill the feet and
There are sometimes boils occurring
between the hoofs or about the heel,
which upon being lanced discharge a
quantity of pus; but it is hardly neces-
sary to remark that these are not the
dreaded plague.
Foot-rot begins in the bridge OIL
junction of the cleft, and its primary
stage consists in a transformation OF
the skin from its normal smoothness
dryness and pink color to whitish
parboiled and somewhat wrinkly con-
dition, accompanied by the fetor com
mon to this malady and the scald-foot
A thin, serious effnsion sets in, which
as the disease advances i'm malignancy
assumes something more of mucO-puru
lent charac er. This cOrrosion of the
tissue, accompanied with fever, pro
ceeds downward until it reaches thu
line of junction of the skin and thu
horny walls of the inside of the hoofs
when it dives under the latter and at
tacks the body OF the foot. Soon i
completely invests the foot within tn,
covering of the hoOf, which ii causes t
cleave from the foot and hang only b,
the skin at the corOnet, so that it Cal
easily be wrenched off by the hand
The foot becomes a mass of hideou
alteration and is totally consumed,
indeed the sheep has not already per
ished niserably from the migration O
the virus from the hoof to the briske
and its consequent invasion of the Ell
tire body, with its army of destroyin
magots.
1t is not worth while to cumber thi
article with even mention of the mt
merOus remedies for foot-rot. Blu
vitrol is assigned to the first place b
the almost unanimous testimony of til
best flockmasters. OF the dozens {
them among my acquaintance. goot
poor and indifferent, know of no OH
who uses anything else.
The point of supreme importance i
the administration OF any remedy fC
fout.rot is to bring the remedial agel
in contact with corrosive poison wher,
ever it is at work, to make it hunt OF
every minutest germ in its lurkin
place in the complicated structure
the foot. For this reason the vitriC
will do its work better better in wate
"a saturated solution) than it Will
any less diflusible natrix, such
white lead, or tar, or anything simila
And f + the same reason also hot waite
as hot as sound flesh can bear it, is be
ter Than cold. Another point of Il
highest Importance ia to make the vi
rlol stay where it is put till it does i
work. Hence the hoOfs should be
clean as possible from dung and di
before the application is made, and
kept out of water for day or two a
terward. The knife must be apple
thoroughly not so as TO cause
troublesome eflusion of blood-to |,
bare the disease in all its hiding place
cutting away the hoof and the gris,
integuments wherever any virus m,
possibly Turk beneath. To this end Il
measure which will fetch the sheer