DISTEMPER. 333 



will gradually thicken and stick about, or plug up the 

 nostril, till at length it becomes thick and purulent. 

 These are the general characteristics of distemper in 

 every dog, except the greyhound ; in which it is often- 

 characterized by emaciation alone ; then, however, it 

 is rapid and exhausting. 



Appetite is at the confirmation of the disease gene- 

 rally lost; fresh symptoms make their appearance. 

 The dog begins to purge, and this symptom ra- 

 pidly becomes worse. At first an absence of bile is 

 plainly indicated by the discharges, which, however, 

 soon consist only of the sheltering mucus of the in- 

 testines, soiled with more or less of blood. Fits come 

 on, ushered in by a peculiar champing of the lower 

 jaw; and which, if only a second appears, too fre- 

 quently bid defiance to all medical aid. Sometimes 

 the eyes become inflamed. A film spreads over them ; 

 a small ulcer appears in the centre of the transparent 

 cornea : it deepens and spreads ; the contents of the 

 fore part of the eye are evacuated ; and the sight then 

 is too frequently lost. 



There is scarcely a sportsman or a whipper-in who 

 has not some infallible cure for distemper; but it 

 must be sufficiently plain that the treatment of a dis- 

 ease so violent in its symptoms is not to be eradi- 

 cated by pretended spells. However, because the 

 appetite during distemper is too frequently depraved, 

 and the stomach is often loaded with the most unna- 

 tural substances, our treatment should commence with 

 a mild emetic. So soon as the system has recovered 

 its quietude, beat into a mass the following ingre- 

 dients, and administer the medicine as directed. 



