THE DISTEMrER. 621 



instances where dogs have had the distemper after vaccina- 

 tion, it has been very mild. 



The manner in which this operation is performed on a 

 dog, is to make a puncture or scratch inside of the fore-leg, 

 within the shoulder pit : the abrasion is then rubbed with a 

 tmall quill with the virus. A better method, however, is to 

 puncture with a lancet, charged with the virus, the inside of 

 the ear. The virus acts with more certainty on the sensible 

 skin devoid of hair, and the animal cannot remove it by licking 

 with the tongue. 



Although the distemper is a disease which, for the most 

 part, attacks puppies from four to twelve months old, yet it 

 is said there are instances where old dogs have been aiFected 

 by it, which had not the disease when young. Without en- 

 tering into a more lengthened detail of this disorder, I shall 

 only notice the prevailing symptoms, and mode of treatment. 



Symptoms.' — There are some symptoms in the distemper 

 which predominate, although the general ones are not inva- 

 riably the same. In the first stages of the disease, the dog 

 has a hard, dry cough, a want of nervous energy, depression 

 of spirits, a swelling of the glands of the throat, and almost 

 total loss of appetite ; after which he is seized with a run- 

 ning at the nose and eyes, when emaciation and great weak- 

 ness ensue, more especially in the hinder extremities. These 

 symptoms are universally followed by convulsive twitchings 

 of the head, and sometimes in other parts of the body, indi- 

 cating considerable irritation in the brain and spinal marrow. 

 The bowels are violently afiected, either by being costive or 

 extremely loose ; and in either case the dog sufi'ers great 

 pain. When these acute symptoms continue, they are soon 

 followed by ^^ertigo, or giddiness, which produces dimness of 

 ^.he sight ; m which case the dog runs round, foams at the 

 mouth, and makes a piteous moaning or howling. In truth, 

 inflammation and effusion take place in the brain, producing 



