182 GENERAL DISEASES 



in the same vehicles, contact with strange dogs — all of which are simply 

 facilities for the conveyance and transmission of the specific poison of 

 the disease. In kennels of honnds the most common time for outbreaks 

 of distemper to appear is when the young entries arrive, *. e., when the 

 j-oung hounds which have been farmed out at various places, return home. 

 Any of these may have been in contact with a dog suffering from distem- 

 per, and if one be infected all in contact with it suffer. The possibilities 

 of the introduction of disease are in exact proportion to the number of 

 places from which the animals are collected. Dog shows are a fruitful cause 

 of the spread of distemper. No matter how well managed they may be, the 

 mere fact of collecting from various places a vast number of dogs, renders 

 a large show almost certainly a focus from which the disease is dissemi- 

 nated widely. In some cases a large show has been the means of infecting 

 nearly every puppy sent to it. The malady is not at once made evident, 

 but shows itself a few days after the return of the animals. This cannot 

 altogether be prevented. Dogs just convalescent and free from any ap- 

 parent disease are sent to shows, and are capable of communicating 

 distemper to others. Even healthy dogs having an immunity from the 

 disorder, because of a previous attack, may carry the disease in their 

 coats if they have been in recent contact with a diseased dog, and so 

 spread the malady without ever being suspected. Some of these risks 

 might be obviated by requiring all exhibiters to state that for one month 

 previously their kennels have been free from contagious disease, and that 

 their dogs have not been in contact with diseased dogs for a week anterior 

 to the show. Railway boxes, hampers and portable kennels are sources 

 of possible contagion which might be lessened were disinfection and 

 washing more methodically carried out. Distemper can be easily trans- 

 mitted from a diseased to a healthy dog by a nasal discharge. It is often 

 spread by means of the food which a diseased dog has left. Its conta- 

 giousness probably no one disputes, but most men believe that there are 

 cases which rise independently of any contagion. The basis of such a 

 theory is the fact that in some cases the exact method of communication 

 is not traceable. Until a case can be found under circumstances which 

 render the conveyance of the specific poison an impossibility, this theory 

 has absolutely no facts to support it. The method of communication of 

 disease is often difficult to trace ; we can satisfactorily account for ninety 

 cases out of a hundred by contagion, and it can hardly be called begging 

 the question to say that the odd ten, presenting the same sign, running 

 the same course, and being equally contagious, are due to the same cause 

 that actuated the ninety." 



In accepting the theory of the existence of a specific poison, and that 

 distemper can only be communicated by contagion, the alleged causative 



