6 CANINE DISTEMPER 
quoted as follows: “Fortunately this distemper is not 
conveyed to man. Neither the effluvia from the diseased 
dog nor the bite have proved in any instance infectious ; 
but as it has often been confounded with canine madness, 
as I have before observed, it is to be wished that it were 
more generally understood; for those who are bitten by 
a dog in this state are sometimes thrown into such 
perturbation that hydrophobic symptoms have actually 
arisen from the workings of the imagination. A gentle- 
man who received a severe bite from a dog, soon after 
fancied the animal was mad. He felt a horror at the 
sight of liquids, and was actually convulsed on attempt- 
ing to swallow them. So uncontrollable were his pre- 
possessions, that it was conceived he would have died, 
had not the dog which inflicted the wound been found 
and brought into his room in perfect health. This soon 
restored his mind to a state of tranquillity. The sight of 
water no longer afflicted him, and he quickly recovered.” 
However, Dr. M‘Gowan records several cases in which 
laboratory workers have contracted symptoms of nasal 
catarrh after prolonged handling of animals affected with 
distemper. 
I quote below an extract from M‘Gowan’s paper upon 
a “ Laboratory Epidemic of Distemper,” which appeared 
in the Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, vol. xv. 
(1911): 
‘1, Laboratory workers (five in all)—December, 1909.—Symptoms 
were catarrh of nose. Cultures made from their noses ; organism not 
found: : 
“2. Laboratory worker—January, 1910.—Catarrh of nose. . Cultures 
made; organism not found. 
“3. Two laboratory workers—January, I9gi0.—Catarrh of nose. 
Cultures made ; organism not found. 
“4. Four laboratory workers—June, 1910.—Catarrh of nose. Cultures 
made ; organism not found. 
“5. Laboratory worker—June 16, 19t0.—Constantly handling rabbits 
and guinea-pigs (taking rectal temperatures). Since commencing to 
