TYPHITS FEVER, OR DISTEMPER. 313 



cubation ; 2nd, that in which nature rouses her powers to expel it 

 called the period of reaction ; 3rd, the period of prostration, dur- 

 ing which the powers of nature are exhausted, or nearly so, by the 

 efforts which have been made; and 4tb, the period of convales- 

 cence. On the average, each of these will occupy a week or ten 

 days, varying with the mildness or severity of the attack. 



When the head is attacked, there may or may not be a running 

 from the nose and eyes; but more usually there is some evidence 

 of congestion in these organs, the eyes being weak and glued up 

 with the mucus, and the nose running more or less. A fit is, how- 

 ever, the clearest evidence of brain affection, and, to a common 

 observer, the only reliable one. Sometimes there is stupor with- 

 out a fit, gradually increasing until the dog becomes insensible, and 

 dies. At other times, a raving delirium comes on, easily mistaken 

 for hydrophobia, but distinguished from it by the presence of the 

 premonitory symptoms, peculiar to distemper. This is the most 

 fatal complication of all, and, if the dog recovers, he is often a vie- 

 tim to palsy or chorea for the rest of his life. 



If the lungs are attacked, there is very rapid breathing, with 

 cough, and generally a considerable running from the eye's and 

 nose, accompanied with expectoration of thick frothy mucus. If 

 inflammation of the lungs is established, the danger is as great as 

 when the head is the seat of the malady. 



The bowels may be known to be seized when there is a violent 

 purging of black offensive matter, often tinged with blood, and 

 sometimes mixed with patches or shreds of a white leathery sub- 

 stance, which is coagulable lymph. The discharge of blood is, in 

 some cases, excessive, and quickly carries off the dog. 



If the skin is attacked, which is a favorable sign, there is a 

 breaking out of pustules on the inside of the thighs and belly, 

 which fill with matter, often tinged with dark blood, and some- 

 times with blood itself of a dark purple color. 



It is not an easy matter for an inexperienced observer to dis- 

 tinguish distemper from similar affections, but the practised eye 

 readily detects the difference. The chief diseases which are likely 

 to be confounded with distemper are, the true canine madness 

 14 ' 



