148 THE DISTEMPER. 



quently brought so low as to be past recovery. But it can- 

 not be too strong-ly insisted on, that even in the very first 

 stao-es of the complaint, and when even artificial purgatives 

 seem to be indicated by the symptoms, this voluntary 

 purging should always be considered as a morbid one, and 

 promptly checked, if not entirely stopped. At all other pe- 

 riods of the complaint, it should be entirely and immediately 

 stopped. At whatever period likewise it occurs, during the 

 progress of the complaint, when other remedies are admi- 

 nistring, it is proper that they should be suspended, and 

 astringents only used, until the diarrhoea has entirely ceased, 

 when the former remedies may be again had recourse to. — See 

 Looseness. 



When the distemper appears with symptoms of great affec- 

 tion of the chest, as described among its varieties, bleed by 

 the neck, blister the chest, and treat (as long as peripneu- 

 monic symptoms prevail) as directed under inflamed lungs ; 

 taking care to carry the depleting system on further than is 

 absolutely necessary. 



Sometimes, though not very frequently, the distemper com- 

 mences its attack by a convulsive fit ; in which instance 

 also it is proper to begin the treatment by an emetic, and to 

 follow it up by a purgative *. And at whatever period of the 

 complaint this symptomatic epilepsy makes its appearance, 

 immediately that the dog comes out of the first fit, give 

 a very strong emetic, as the most effective means of all others 

 to prevent a second attack. Should, however, other fits 

 succeed after the eihetic, the following medicine should be 

 actively persevered in : — 



^ther 1 dram 



Tincture of opium (iaMdanwm) halfadram 



Camphor 10 graius 



Spirit of hartshorn 1 dram. 



* I have observed that one, or even two, violent fits appearing thus 

 early in the complaint, are not always followed by others, nor by any 

 greater severity of symptoms than usual. Is such a fit at all similar to 

 what sometimes precedes eruptive human complaints ? 



