TREATMENT OF DISTEMPER. 427 



If the skin is attacked, which is a favourable sign, there 

 is a breaking out of pustules on the inside of the thighs and 

 belly, which fill with matter often tinged with dark blood, and 

 sometimes with blood itself of a dark purple colour. 



To distinguish distemper from similar affections is not always 

 easy to an inexperienced observer, but the practised eye at 

 once detects the difference. The chief diseases which are likely 

 to be confounded with it are, the true canine madness, com- 

 mon " cold," or influenza, inflammation of the lungs, and 

 diarrhoea. The first of these runs a more rapid course, and is 

 ushered in by peculiar changes in the temper, which will be 

 described under the head of Hydrophobia. " Cold " and in- 

 fluenza cause no great prostration of strength ; and the former 

 comes on after exposure to the weather, while the latter is sure 

 to be prevalent at the time. Inflammation of the lungs must 

 be studied to be known, and simple diarrhoea has no fever 

 attending upon it. 



The treatment of distemper is twofold ; firstly, being directed 

 to the safe conduct through the lowering effects of the com- 

 plaint; and secondly, to ward off the fatal results which are 

 likely to be occasioned by the local complications in the brain, 

 lungs, or bowels. It must be remembered that the disease is 

 an effort of nature to get rid of a poison ; and, therefore, the 

 powers of the system must be aided throughout, or they will 

 be incompetent to their task. One great means of carrying off 

 this poison is to be looked for in the bowels and kidneys ; and, 

 as far as possible, these organs must be restored to their natural 

 state, taking care that, in trying to effect these desirable ob- 

 jects, they are not injured by the remedies used. Thus it is 

 well known that aperients, and especially calomel, have the 

 property of restoring the suspended action of the liver; but 



