DISTEMPER. 235 



possessed a character of peculiar malignity, arid he gave it a name expres- 

 sive of its nature and situation nasal catarrh. It exhibited the ordinary 

 symptoms of coryza ; it was a catarrhal affection in its early stage ; but 

 it afterwards degenerated into a species of palsy. The causes were un- 

 known. By some, they were attributed to the natural voracity of the 

 clog ; by others, to his occasional lasciviousness ; by others, to his frequent 

 feeding on carrion, or the refuse of fat and soups. 



There is no doubt that nasal catarrh is, to a very considerable de- 

 gree, contagious on the continent. It often spreads over a wide extent of 

 country, and includes numerous animals of various descriptions. It is 

 complicated with various diseases; and particularly, at an early stage, 

 with ophthalmia. It may be interesting to the reader to trace the pro- 

 gress of the disease among our continental neighbours. It commences 

 with a certain depression of spirits ; a diminution of appetite ; a heaviness 

 of the head ; a heat of the mouth ; an attempt to get something from the 

 throat ; an insatiable thirst ; an elevated temperature of the body ; a dry 

 and painful suffocating cough ; and all these circumstances continue from 

 twenty to thirty days, until at length the dog droops and dies. 



The duration of distemper is uncertain. It sometimes runs its course 

 in five or six days ; or it may linger on two or three months. In some 

 cases the emaciation is rapid and extreme : danger is then to be ap- 

 prehended. When the muscles of the loins are much attenuated, or 

 almost wasted, there is little hope ; and, although other symptoms may 

 remit, and the dog may be apparently recovering, yet, if he continues to 

 lose flesh, we may be perfectly assured that he will not live. On the 

 other hand, let the discharge from the nose be copious, and the purging 

 violent, and every other symptom threatening, yet if the animal gains a 

 little flesh, we may confidently predict his recovery. 



When the dog is much reduced in strength and flesh, a spasmodic affec- 

 tion or twitching of the muscles will sometimes be observed. It is usually 

 confined at first to one limb ; but the most decisive treatment is required, 

 or these spasms will spread until the animal is altogether unable to stand ; 

 and while he lies every limb will be in motion, travelling, as it were, at 

 the rate of twenty miles an hour, until the animal is worn out, and dies 

 of absolute exhaustion. When these spasms become universal and vio- 

 lent, they are accompanied by constant and dreadful moans and cries. 



In the pointer and the hound, and particularly when there is little dis- 

 charge from the eyes or nose, an intense yellowness often suddenly appears 

 all over the dog. He falls away more in twenty-four hours than it would 

 be thought possible ; his bowels are obstinately constipated ; he will neither 

 eat nor move ; and in two or three days he is dead. 



In the pointer, hound, and greyhound, there sometimes appears on the 

 whole of the chest and belly a pustular eruption, which peels off in large 

 scales. The result is usually unfavourable. A more general eruption, 

 however, either wearing the usual form of mange, or accompanied by 

 minute pustules, may be regarded as a favourable symptom. The disease 

 is leaving the vital parts, and expending its last energy on the integument. 



The post-mortem appearances are exceedingly unsatisfactory : they do 

 not correspond with the original character of the disease, but with its 

 strangely varying symptoms. If the dog has died in fits, we have inflam- 

 mation of the brain or its membranes, and particularly at the base of the 

 brain, with considerable effusion of a serous or bloody fluid. If thepre- 



