276 
ON THE CANINE DISTEMPER OF BENGAL. 
To the Editor of the Lidia Journal of Medical and Physical 
Science. 
[We are indebted to the Editor of the Lancet for the power 
of inserting this interesting Essay.] 
Sir, — A great deal has been said upon the diseases to which 
men who come into the tropics from a cold and distant latitude 
are subject. It has appeared on the clearest evidence that dis- 
eases in Europe, known by certain names and a certain train of 
symptoms, differ exceedingly from diseases which bear the same 
name in the tropics, and faintly shew the same symptoms : so 
great is the difference that at times it is hard for a young practi- 
tioner to identify them. The imported dog is no less subject to 
differ in ailments from the dog on his native soil. Every sports- 
man knows that European dogs lose their acute scent on coming 
into the tropics ; but few care about the more secret and malig- 
nant effects of the Bengali climate. It is, therefore, my inten- 
tion to devote a few pages to the canine distemper of this 
country. The canine distemper of Bengal assumes some cha- 
racteristic type, like the disease in Europe ; but season in this 
country has more power over the canine race than in Europe: 
for instance, the distemper here is more frequently of the lank 
kind, raging about the months of April and May, a period at 
which sheep also become affected with a species of emaciation, 
attended with diarrhoea, and the malady seldom fails to destroy. 
Goats brought down from the high countries into Bengal are 
also very liable to die of a disease very similar to what sheep are 
subject; the symptoms are lankness, diarrhoea, great discharge 
of mucus from the nasal membranes, and, in the last stage, 
maggots in the nose. Imported dogs are very rarely affected 
with that kind of distemper which attacks the pariahs of Bengal. 
The latter suffer from the mange, and at the same time there is 
present a dry cough with equivocal symptoms of distemper. But in 
English dogs this scourge of the canine race seems to assail with 
acute power and unmanageable disease. Sometimes ulceration 
of the pituitary membranes occur, with profuse discharges from 
the nose and eyes. Sometimes with these appearances are 
united much cerebral congestion. The lungs are affected ; the 
bronchial passages are blocked up by an accumulation of thick 
mucus. When the nose is hot and dry, it indicates inflammatory 
tendency in some of the viscera. To remove obstinate costiveness 
croton oil is the best purgative, and may be given to the extent 
