242 DISTEMPER. 



tinged yellow, though I did not observe any thing obstructing the biliary 

 ducts. In other instances I have also observed the eyes looking yellow. 



" The above is a description of the disease in its several forms ; but 

 in this, as in the diseases of the human body, there is every gradation in 

 its violence. 



" There is also another affinity to some human diseases, viz., that the 

 animal which has once gone through it very rarely meets with a second 

 attack. Fortunately this distemper is not communicable to man. Neither 

 the effluvia from the diseased dog nor the bite have proved in any 

 instance infectious ; but, as it has often been confounded with canine 

 madness, as I have before observed, it is to be wished that it were more 

 generally understood ; for those who are bitten by a dog in this state are 

 sometimes thrown into such perturbation that hydrophobic symptoms 

 have actually arisen from the workings of the imagination. Mr. John 

 Hunter used to speak of a case somewhat of this description in his 

 lectures. 



" A gentleman who received a severe bite from a dog, soon after 

 fancied the animal was mad. He felt a horror at the sight of liquids, and 

 was actually convulsed on attempting to swallow them. So uncontrol- 

 lable were his prepossessions, that Mr. Hunter conceived he would have 

 died had not the dog which inflicted the wound been found and brought 

 into his room in perfect health. This soon restored his mind to a state of 

 tranquillity. The sight of water no longer afflicted him, and he quickly 

 recovered." 



Palsy, more or less complete, is sometimes the termination of the dis- 

 temper in dogs. 



It is usually accompanied by chorea, and it is then, in the majority of 

 cases, hopeless. Setons should be inserted in the poll, being then, as nearly 

 as possible, at the commencement of the spinal cord. They should be well 

 stimulated and worn a considerable time. If they fail, a plaster composed 

 of common pitch, with a very small quantity of yellow wax and some 

 powdered cantharides, spread on sheep's-skin, should be placed over the 

 whole of the lumbar and sacral regions, extending half-way down the thigh 

 on either side. The bowels should be kept open by mild aperients, in order 

 that every source of irritation may be removed from the intestinal canal. 

 Some mild and general tonic will likewise be useful, such as gentian and 

 ginger. 



Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, 21st March, 1809. 



