40 CANINE DISTEMPER 
greatest difficulty with which we have to contend, it is 
rather important to have some idea of them, and the 
conditions under which they are found. 
Many of the earlier observers apparently confined 
their attention to the purulent discharges which were 
thought to have been occasioned by the primary infec- 
tion, and they found chiefly staphylococci — especially 
albus, though sometimes aureus—these being constantly 
present in all purulent affections. Towards the end of 
an acute case this coccus may also be sometimes demon- 
strated in the blood, the animal probably dying from the 
terminal staphylococcic infection. Streptococci have occa- 
sionally been observed in conjunctival discharges, lungs, 
pleural effusions, and pustule contents, and have been 
blamed as the cause of pneumonic lesions of distemper. 
Diplococct have been found in sputum, nervous system, 
tissues, pustules, etc., and have been held accountable 
for production of abscesses and the cutaneous and 
nervous symptoms. Several daci//i have been isolated 
from nasal and other discharges, bronchi, lungs, spleen, 
liver, kidneys, blood, etc., which, if inoculated subcu- 
taneously, often produce an cedematous swelling or 
abscess at the site of inoculation, and even death; and in 
these cases the organism may be isolated in pure culture 
from the blood, though that is far from proving that 
they are the primary cause of the disease. In the last- 
named organs Ferry often found a large bacillus, which 
he believed to be a terminal invader; “for dogs dying 
when this organism is present always have a putrid, 
cadaverous odour several days before they die, and 
after death the surrounding atmosphere becomes almost 
unbearable.” 
Practitioners who have dealt much with fatal dis- 
temper will doubtless readily remember having encoun- 
tered this stench ; it could not be forgotten. A diphtheroid 
