276 DISEASES OF TRUE INFECTION 



have just stated, particularly mild which runs its course in one week to a 

 week and a half, and in severe cases is prolonged for a much longer period. 

 In such cases this prolongation is not due to the influence of the disease 

 directly, but rather to secondary complications. We may count among 

 these, certain nervous diseases which frequently remain or appear after 

 the disease has run its course. For instance, paralysis of some of the mus- 

 cles, of the hind-quarters, or of all the extremities, and rhythmic move- 

 ments resembling St. Vitus's dance in some of the muscular groups, 

 especially the muscles of the face or of the legs, and is indicated by a con- 

 stant twitching, clonic in character, sometimes severer at one time than 

 another, but more especially after excitement. Blindness, loss of sense 

 of smell, or bark may also result from alteration of the nerves; or the an- 

 imal becomes an idiot, has hallucinations (thirion), difficulty in respira- 

 tion, persistent anaemia, and a chronic catarrh. Amaurosis and deafness 

 may occur in some cases. 



Prognosis. — The prognosis of distemper, as a rule, should be regarded 

 as unfavorable even in those cases which are apparently mild, for in this 

 disease the symptoms may change in one day, from the mildest to the 

 most acute. Of course, the danger of the disease increases with the in- 

 tensity of the nervous symptoms, and especially if the symptoms are pro- 

 longed, and with them a persistent high temperature, and even in cases 

 where we have a subnormal temperature. Another series of cases which 

 must be regarded as unfavorable are those which are in their course com- 

 plicated by serious nervous symptoms or by symptoms of catarrhal pneu- 

 monia. Young dogs which are delicate (especially when not fed on meat) 

 anaemic, or rachitic, will succumb to the disease sooner and, as a rule, 

 present severer symptoms than those which have been fed with meat and 

 have had plenty of open-air exercise. A marked decrease of temperature, 

 without a similar improvement in the general condition, is always to be 

 looked upon as an extremely serious symptom. Death may occur in two 

 ways: through paralysis of the brain or oedema of the lungs, and occasion- 

 ally from septictemia or from general exhaustion. From the experience 

 of the writer, the death-rate is from 20 to 30 per cent. It depends to a 

 great extent whether there are a number of cases together or solitary cases 

 — in the former the percentage is much higher; but at the same time it is 

 impossible to give any positive statistics, because in cities the death-rate 

 is much higher, and in small towns and in the country, where distem- 

 per runs a comparatively mild course, the death-rate is much smaller. 

 The writer finds that in a large city the death-rate amounts to 60 to 70 per 

 cent. 



Pathological Anatomy. — The most prominent and constant anatom- 

 ical alterations found at post-mortem are those in the respiratory and 

 digestive organs. In the former there are all the phenomena of an acute 



