120 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. , 



■where no positive connexion can be demonstrated. The 

 disorders of the dog in this work will be treated of after 

 no formal plan ; but the index must supply that want of 

 arrangement, the absence of pretence to which probably 

 will give offence to regular students. 



DISTEMPER. 



Of all the diseases to which the dog is subject, this 

 one is the most dreaded. Writers have agreed it is the 

 scourge of the canine race. Blaine and Youatt speak of 

 it as capricious and untractable ; the French regard it as 

 incurable. The owners of dogs, despairing of benefit 

 from regular means, have for a long time been content 

 to trust in charms and specifics. Folly and cruelty have 

 been embraced to accomplish that which kindness and 

 science appear unequal to perform ; and one general 

 feeling seems to be entertained with regard to the dis- 

 temper — most persons being agreed that the disorder is 

 not to be subdued by medicine, and that its fatality is 

 independent of the best efforts of man to check it. 



My experience does not corroborate these various but 

 harmonious accounts and opinions. In my conviction, 

 the disorder is feared only because it is not understood, 

 and is rendered worse by the injudicious attempts to 

 relieve it. I find it tractable, easily mastered, and when 

 submitted to me before the system is exhausted, I am 

 very seldom disappointed by the result of my treatment. 

 It has for some time been my custom to tell those who 



