34 CANINE DISTEMPER 
B. canicidus, pure cultures of which produced the usual 
typical symptoms of distemper. Its habitats were the 
nasal discharge, spleen, and blood. 
Carré (1905), by his numerous experiments, satisfied 
himself (and a considerable following) that the conta- 
gium of distemper was a powerfully pathogenic filterable 
virus, which could be found in the early watery nasal 
discharges and in the serous effusions of the pericar- 
dium, peritoneum, and pleura of dogs which had rapidly 
died of the complaint. He found that 2 or 3 drops of 
either of these fluids would induce typical distemper 
symptoms and frequently death; that filtrates contained 
no discoverable or cultivable organism, and that animals 
infected experimentally would pass on the contagion to 
healthy animals, and would—if they survived—be 
immune to further attacks. 
Bose (1905) concurred in this view, and expressed his 
opinion that the virus was composed of very minute 
protozoa, and that, in consequence, distemper should be 
classed as a protozoal disease. 
Hewer (1906) found a short, small, non-motile, Gram- 
negative bacillus giving a fine white growth on agar, 
slightly clouding broth with granular sediment and 
stringy masses, and not liquefying gelatin. 
Kregenow (1909) raised a dissenting voice; he con- 
sidered the watery discharges were not infective, and 
that the primary cause of the malady was not an ultra- 
visible virus. 
Ferry (rg10), after long experiment and _ research, 
isolated the B. bronchisepticus, which, after subsequent 
investigation, he satisfied himself was the specific cause 
of distemper. He states: . 
“A bacillus was found which grew slowly and with 
difficulty when first isolated from the body, so that 
extreme care was necessary when looking for the 
