ON THE DISTEMPER OF DOGS. 75 
recurring, although exposed to causes which lamed the other 
foot. 
Case II.—A chesnut horse, with very high heels and rather 
contracted feet, was lame in both fore feet, which lameness had 
been gradually increasing for some time past. This horse had 
acquired, in a very marked degree, that peculiar short gait cha¬ 
racteristic of groggy horses, and which, perhaps, cannot be better 
expressed than by a remark of the coachman who drove him, w ho, 
on being asked how the horse went, replied, u Why, he went like 
an old soldier with a pair of wooden legs” He had been blis¬ 
tered, and turned out to grass for some time, without any 
amendment. 
In the latter end of July last, the pastern nerves of both legs 
were excised, and the horse went better immediately after the 
operation, but did not step out with the wished-for freedom: he 
had been too long in the habit of suspending his weight by the 
extensors , to call his jlexor tendons into sudden action ; how¬ 
ever, he went to work in about three weeks, and still continues 
there, working occasionally at post on the road. The amend¬ 
ment, which did appear very great at first, has gradually in¬ 
creased, and the horse now steps out with a freedom very different 
from his former shuffling gait. 
ON THE DISTEMPER OF DOGS. 
# 
By W. Youatt. 
[Read at the Veterinary Medical Society, Jan. 14, 1830.] 
Tir_ Distemper of dogs is a singular name by which to distin¬ 
guish the malady that comes under our consideration to-night. 
When it was first observed on the continent, the rapidity with 
which it spread, the strange protean appearances which it as¬ 
sumed, and its too frequent fatal termination, surprised and 
puzzled the veterinarians. They could not tell what to make of 
it; and they called it “ La Maladie des Chiens,” the disease or 
distemper of dogs. 
It is, comparatively, a new disease. English writers, sixty or 
seventy years ago, make no mention of it. It was imported from 
France, although some French authors affirm that it is of British 
origin ; and, having once gained footing among us, it has esta¬ 
blished itself in our countiy to the vexation and loss of the sports¬ 
man, and the annoyance and disgrace of the veterinary surgeon. 
However keepers, or even men of education, may boast of their 
