270 CO^'TAGIOUS DISEASES. 



described as five different diseases, namely — (1.) The catarrhal : 

 (2.) The respiratory or bronchial : (3.) The bilious : (4.) The 

 intestinal : and (5.) The nervous. These are merely varieties of 

 one and the same disease, and exemplify in a most remarkable 

 manner the method in which the same virus or poison may act 

 upon more parts or organs than one, as is the case with various 

 medicinal and other agents. 



The spasmodic condition of the body — the chorea — and the 

 paralysis also illustrate how a morbid poison, after exhausting 

 its powers upon one or more organs, may, after a space of time, 

 affect other organs of the same body. 



Distemper, like all contagious and infectious diseases, has an 

 uncertain but short period of latency, It, as a rule, affects the 

 system only once ; hence it is most prevalent in young dogs, and 

 sometimes prevails as an epizootic. 



Attempts have been made to discover the specific microbe of 

 canine distemper. Some writers assert that it is a thin, short, 

 bacillus found in the blood and discharges — (Semmer and 

 Laosson) — small-sized corpuscles arranged in pairs, or four by 

 four, like sarcina (Eabe) micrococci (Krajewiski). Mathis 

 asserts that he has found a specific diplococcus in the discharges, 

 and has obtained pure cultures, inoculations with which giving 

 positive results, most of the young dogs died, having previously 

 manifested the systems of the disease ; those that lived obtained 

 immunity. 



Some writers have compared distemper to the typhoid fever 

 of man, I have carefully dissected numerous fatal cases of 

 distemper, and looked particularly for the specific lesion of 

 typhoid, namely, congestion and tumefaction of Peyer's glands, 

 but have failed to detect any growth in the gland cells of the 

 intestines. In the intestinal form of the disease a generally 

 congested condition, with even ulceration of the mucous mem- 

 brane, may be witnessed, but these ulcerations are very different 

 to those observed in typhoid fever. Again, intestinal lesions 

 are the specific distinctions of typhoid, whereas in distemper 

 inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bowels is only 

 seen in that form in which the virus seems to exert its influence 

 on that part of the animal body, and it is only in a minority of 

 instances that this effect is witnessed. 



I can compare distemper to no human disease except measles, 



