100 SPECIFIC CATARRHAL DISEASE, OR DISTEMPER. 



Notwitlistanding the fixed and permanent character the disease has 

 now assumed, it still occasionally rages in an epidemical form also, 

 and is most prevalent in the spring, summer, and autumn. It is 

 very common for it to attack young hounds on their return from 

 their walks in the spring. In fact, any considerable change ope- 

 rates on the excitability of the young dog, and distemper ensues. 

 In the summer and autumnal attacks diarrhoea is a marked symp- 

 tom, and a fatal one. The mucous membrane thereby becomes 

 inflamed, and hurries off the dog. It is likewise endemial, and at- 

 tacks the dogs of a particular district, leaving others comparatively 

 free. When it shews itself as an epidemic, its versatility of cha- 

 racter in different seasons is often remarkable. I have seen it ac- 



cer qu'en inoculant la vaccine on empeche le d6veloppement de I'afFection, s'ap- 

 puyant a cet egard sur ce qu'elle affecte plus particuliferement le jeunes chiens, 

 sur ce que les chiens kg€s en ont 6t6 atteints dans leur jeunesse, sur ce qu'elle 

 ou se manifeste qu'une seule fois das les mfeme individus, et sur se que ceux 

 qui ne I'ont pas en peuvent la contracter parcequ'elle est contagieuse ; mais il 

 ne faut pas en conclure qu'elle soit particuliere aux jeunes chiens. On I'a 

 aussi compar6e au croup des enfans, sans indiquer les rapports qui peuvent ou 

 non exister entre ces deux 6tats maladifs. Arquinet a reconnu la maladie des 

 chiens k Pizenas au moins de Juillet 1787, et il ce plaignalt alors des grand ra- 

 vages qu'elle faissait aux environs depuis une vingtaine d'annees Chabert, I'a vue 

 trfes repandvxe aux environs de Paris dans les annees 1799 et 1800. Assez 

 generalement commune h Lyon et aux environs, elle y a reyne pendant les 

 fet^s 1818 et 1819 sur un grand nombre de sujets, et Ton s'est assure, k cette 

 fepoque, que la chaleur de I'atmosphfere lui avait communique un caractfere de 

 malignite rare. On la traite frequemment aux ecoles veterinaires." — Diet. 

 Vet. H. D'Arhoval, art. Maladie. 



In a former edition of this work, I expressed a doubt whether the other 

 species of the canine genus were liable to this disease. The above author, 

 however, asserts, but without stating his authority, that it has been seen in the 

 cat, the wolf, and the fox : the cat certainly is occasionally subject to a viru- 

 lent coryza ; but I am not aware that the affection bears the other specific 

 characters of the complaint, as its obstinate and fatal diarrhoea, and liability to 

 be translated to the nervous system, and its contagious nature. Neither am 

 I at all aware that it has ever been seen in the fox: there is a vulpine mange, 

 without doubt; but whether a specific catarrh exists also, is not, I believe, known 

 among us. 



