THE DISTEMPER. 145 



or ulcerated excoriations ; and the whole animal mass, solids 

 as well as fluids, seem involved in one common putrid solu- 

 tion. 



Treatment of Distemper.-- Accordlug to the mode m which 



the disease attacks a do-, so must the treatment be conduct- 

 ed. It is to the numerous varieties in the complaint that we 

 are led to attribute that endless number of remedies continu- 

 ally prescribed for it ; every one of which, from being- occa- 

 sionally beneficial, becomes, in the mind of the person using 

 it, infallible. Distemper is, therefore, seldom spoken of 

 among- a number of sportsmen, but each of them is ac- 

 quainted with a certain cure, one that has never failed with 

 him. Whenever I could gain a knowledge of the composi- 

 tion, I have always given these nostrums, or private recipes, 

 a fair trial: but I never yet found that any one of them an- 

 swered the account given of it. In fact, the varieties in the 

 complaint are so numerous, that hardly any two cases can be 

 treated exactly alike ; consequently no one remedy can be 

 equally applicable to all : for, however efficacious it may prove 

 in a certain number of instances, in others it will produce but 

 equivocal benefit. 



Perhaps two out of every three cases of distemper com- 

 mence by dulness, inclination to sleep, wasting, shivering, 

 a husky cough, with a flow of moisture from the eyes and 

 nose. In these instances, the proper course is to commence 

 with an emeiic.—See Emetics.— Should there be any dispo- 

 sition to costiveness, provided the dog is strong and fat, give 

 also a mild purge ; but if he is weakly, or the least inclined 

 to looseness of bowels, abstain from the purge. After the 

 emetic, or purge, has ceased to operate some hours, give 

 one, two, or three grains of antimonial powder every morn- 

 ing, or every evening, or both, according as the symptoms 

 are more or less urgent*. But, in cases where the cough is 



* Where a prejudice in favour of Dr. James's Powder exists, that may 

 be givfen in similar doses ; but the antimonial powder, so called, is, to 

 all intents and purposes, the same preparation. 



