2 SYSTEM OF KENXJEL AND 



This disease ajipears to fall lightly, if at all, upon 

 other numerous species of puppy dogs abounding 

 in towns and country villages. They may get it 

 and get rid of it for anything their owners care, so 

 long as they are not troubled in the matter ; and 

 it is quite certain that hundreds and thousands 

 pass through their uninteresting lives without 

 having it at all. Distemper, Proteus-like, assumes 

 a variety of forms, and in its different stages 

 requires different treatment. Some huntsmen 

 plume themselves upon possessing an infallible 

 remedy for all cases. Others think high-feeding 

 the most important, and beyond this give them- 

 selves little trouble, except, perhaps, administering 

 a dose of salt and water as an emetic, when the 

 cough begins. The most mild form of distemper 

 very much resembles influenza in human beings, by 

 a copious discharge from the nostrils and eyes, 

 when the head appears the most affected part of 

 the system ; and in this case, after the use of 

 evacuants, generous diet becomes necessary. 



This disease is confined principally to the brain, 

 back, and loins, so that we have known hounds to 

 lie paralyzed upon their benches for days and 

 weeks without the power of motion, and yet, with 

 great care, they ha^-e weathered the storm and re- 

 covered. One extraordinary instance of this we well 

 remember, when a young hound, being prostrated, 

 regained the use of his limbs ; but, strange to relate, 

 one side of his head collapsed, the skin and flesh 

 upon it withering away, and even the bone appeared 

 to shrink below the level of the other side. Not- 



