370 FEVERS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



shivering, attended by quick pulse, hurried respiration, loss of ap- 

 petite, and impaired secretions : but, beyond these three, are no 

 signs which can be called positively invariable ; though the run- 

 ning at the eyes and nose, and the short husky cough, especially 

 after exercise, are very nearly always present. The accidental 

 symptoms depend upon the particular complication which may 

 exist ; for one of the most remarkable features in distemper is, 

 that, coupled with the above invariable symptoms, there may be 

 congestion, or inflammation of the head, chest, bowels, or skin. 

 So that in one case the disease may appear to be entirely con- 

 fined to the head, in another to the chest, and in a third to 

 the bowels ; yet all are strictly from the same cause, and re- 

 quire the same general plan of treatment, modified according to 

 the seat of the complication. 



The ordinary course of an attack of distemper is as follows : 

 that is, when contracted by contagion, or clearly epidemic. (On 

 the other hand, when it is developed in consequence of neglect, 

 it comes on at the end of some other attack of disease, which 

 may have existed for an indefinite time.) Almost always the 

 first thing noticed is a general dulness or lassitude, together 

 with loss of appetite. In a day or two there is generally a 

 peculiar husky cough, which sounds as if the dog were trying 

 to get a piece of straw out of his throat, and always comes 

 on at exercise after a gallop. "With this there is also a tendency 

 to sneeze, but not so marked as the " husk " or " tissuck " which 

 may occur in common " cold " or influenza, but is then usu- 



