240 DISTEMPER. 



good dose of Epsom salts, in order to carry away any thing that may offend, 

 and then to ply the animal with mingled absorbents and astringents. A 

 scruple of powdered chalk, ten grains of catechu, and five of ginger, with 

 a quarter of a grain of opium, made into a ball with palm oil, may be 

 given to a middle-sized dog twice or thrice every day. To this may 

 be added injections of gruel, with the compound chalk mixture and 

 opium. 



When the twitchings which I have described begin to appear, a seton 

 is necessary, whatever may be the degree to which the animal is reduced. 

 Some stimulating embrocation, such as tincture of cantharides, may be 

 rubbed along the whole course of the spine ; and the medicine which has 

 oftenest, but not always, succeeded is castor-oil, syrup of buckthorn, and 

 syrup of white poppies, given morning and night, and a tonic ball at noon. 

 If the dog will not now feed, he should be forced with strong soup. As 

 soon, however, as the spasms spread over him, accompanied by a moaning 

 that increases to a cry, humanity demands that we put an end to that which 

 we cannot cure. Until this happens I would not despair ; for many dogs 

 have been saved that have lain several days perfectly helpless. 



As to the chorea which I have mentioned as an occasional sequel of 

 distemper, if the dog is in tolerable condition, and especially if he is 

 gaining flesh, and the spring or summer is approaching, there is a chance 

 of his doing well. A seton is the first thing ; the bowels should be pre- 

 served from constipation ; and the nitrate of silver, in doses of one-eighth 

 of a grain, made into a pill with linseed meal, and increased to a quarter 

 of a grain, should be given morning and night. 



We should never make too sure of the recovery of a distempered dog, 

 nor commit ourselves by too early a prognosis. It is a treacherous disease ; 

 the medicines should be continued until every symptom has fairly disap- 

 peared ; and for a month at least. 



It may be interesting to add the following account of the distemper in 

 dogs by Dr. Jenner. Several of our modern writers have copied very 

 closely from him. 



" That disease among dogs which has familiarly been called the ' dis- 

 temper,' has not hitherto, I believe, been much noticed by medical men. 

 My situation in the country favouring my wishes to make some observa- 

 tions on this singular malady, I availed myself of it, during several suc- 

 cessive years, among a large number of foxhounds belonging to the Earl 

 of Berkeley ; and, from observing how frequently it has been confounded 

 with hydrophobia, I am induced to lay the result of my inquiries before 

 the Medical and Chirurgical Society. It may be difficult, perhaps, 

 precisely to ascertain the period of its first appearance in Britain. In 

 this and the neighbouring counties, I have not been able to trace it 

 back beyond the middle of the last century ; but it has since spread uni- 

 versally. I knew a gentleman who, about forty-five years ago, destroyed 

 the greater part of his hounds, from supposing them mad, when the 

 distemper first broke out among them ; so little was it then known by 

 those most conversant with dogs. On the continent I find it has been 

 known for a much longer period ; it is as contagious among dogs as the 

 small pox, measles, or scarlet fever among the human species ; and the 

 contagious miasmata, like those arising from the diseases just mentioned, 

 retain their infectious properties a long time after separation from the 

 distempered animal. Young hounds, for example, brought in a state of 



