SPECIFIC CATARRHAL DISEASE, OR DISTEMPER. 107 

 be often averted ; but, having once occurred, and the first fit being 

 followed up by another within two or three days, it is very seldom 

 indeed that any hope is left. The precursory s}naiptoms are such 

 as betoken a highly increased though morbid energy in the sen- 

 sorium. From an emaciated, weak, and spiritless state, the dog 

 becomes cheerful and alert ; his dim and watery, or purulent, eyes 

 become clear, and sparkle with animation ; and if attentively viewed, 

 the pupil towards its bottom presents an internal reddening of a 

 fiery aspect; the nasal discharge, likewise, frequently either lessens, 

 or is wholly suspended, and a momentary check to the accom- 

 panying diarrhoea occurs sometimes also. How far these latter 

 circumstances are in any way concerned in producing the epilepsy 

 may be with some a matter of doubt ; but the sudden cessation of 

 these morbid discharges can be readily accounted for by the in- 

 crease of the nervous power, which gives, for a time, new life to 

 the diseased parts : and this view appears ftiost correct, for as the 

 symptomatic tokens of morbid energy precede the stoppage of the 

 discharge, or are at least coeval with it, it would be placing effect 

 before cause to conclude otherwise. It is worthy of remark, that 

 the more active symptoms of the epileptic attack are often pre- 

 ceded by a series of spasmodic irritations : thus it is very common 

 that for a day, and sometimes for two or three days previously, 

 there may be observed a convulsive twitching of the eyelids, or of 

 the lips or face, which increases to a quivering of the lower jaw, 

 such as we often witness in dogs eagerly watching the food pre- 

 paring for them, or when expecting any wished for object, as the 

 going out of the sportsman who has been harnessing for the field 

 in September. Here again the symptoms just noticed are iden- 

 tified with excitement of the nervous energy. These spasmodic 

 irritations, however trifling at first, it may be observed, soon in- 

 crease to a direct convulsive champing of the whole mouth, as 

 though something unpleasant in it was attempted to be got rid of: 

 during this action, the poor animal stands distressed, though some- 

 what unconscious. The sensorial excitability is now arrived at 

 such a height as to be readily acted on by trifling accidental cir- 



