AILMENTS AND ILLNESSES 57 



Distemper. As a matter of actual fact, there is no 

 such disease as distemper. There are two diseases, or 

 two groups of diseases, both more or less contagious, 

 which, for want of skilled diagnosis, are indifferently 

 so named, but their popular designation is so firmly 

 rooted that " distemper " will be with us to the. end of 

 the chapter, and so long as the disease is properly 

 treated it matters little whether we call it bronchial 

 catarrh, gastro-enteritis, typhoid, or distemper. Per- 



TYPICAL JAPANESE SPANIEL. 



haps, in a manual not intended for the learned, it will 

 be most useful, as it is certainly most simple, and, I 

 think, practical, to speak of " two forms of distemper," 

 since the chest and lung diseases of the dog all call for 

 one sort of home treatment, and the more ordinary 

 diseases of the intestinal tract can with safety be lumped 

 together as needing another fairly uniform style of 

 treatment. Further than this the non - medical dog 

 owner is not wise to venture, since it is quite as necessary 



