2 CANINE DISTEMPER 
gradually fallen into disuse in favour of the universally 
popular term—Canine Distemper. 
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the 
word “distemper” was indiscriminately used to signify 
almost any epidemic of man or epizootic of beast, though 
the meaning of the term.has gradually narrowed down 
to indicate exclusively the specific disease now under 
consideration. Among the various writers, both English 
and foreign, there appears to exist a considerable 
conflict of opinion as to whether distemper originated 
first in this country or was imported into Great Britain 
from the Continent. According to one author, a serious 
epizootic raged in France about 1740, and we learn from 
others that this was followed, about ten years later, by 
an outbreak in Germany, and in 1760 by one in England ; 
it then appeared to sweep northwards into Russia, 
Siberia, Norway, Sweden, and Greenland, assuming in 
the last-named country a most virulent form upon its 
first appearance in 1859. 
In the works of some of the ancient observers and 
authors, we may find vague allusions to outbreaks of 
epizoétic diseases among dogs in various parts of the 
world as far back as the year a.D. 1028; but whether in 
the absence of any detailed description of the symptoms 
we could safely ascribe the outbreaks as due to distemper 
is very doubtful. On consulting Fleming’s “ History of 
Animal Plagues,” the following interesting facts are 
elicited : 
A.D. 
“1028. In the present year an invasion of cicade and 
caterpillars in Bohemia following a very plentiful 
harvest. Innumerable swarms of butterflies ap- 
peared, so that everything green in garden and 
field or in woods was devoured. Dense and foul- 
smelling vapours had preceded this visitation, rising, 
as they did, about Easter. After these insects had 
