Dec. 2, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
825 
Y OU know mallards —wisest and wariest of all 
ducks- Solomons of the air. You can’t knock 
down mallards with a paddle nor can you get them 
with a gun that plasters its shots all over the face 
of creation. 
A mallard shot is generally a long shot, and long 
shots require a hard-shooting, close-shooting gun. 
That’s why the long-headed man who goes to a 
mallard country takes a Lefever. When he swings 
it on a towering pair of mallards he does not ques¬ 
tion the result. He know it— 
TWO CLEAN KILLS 
The reason a Lefever kills clean and sure and 
far is Lefever Taper Boring. 
But if you buy a Lefever for the taper boring 
alone, you will get more than your money’s worth. 
For instance, you will never be handicapped with 
looseness at the hinge joint. The exclusive Lefever 
screw compensates for a year’s wear by a trifling 
turn that you make yourself with a screwdriver. 
LEFEVER 
SHOT GUNS 
Sixteen other exclusive Lefever features and Lefe¬ 
ver simplicity and strength make the $28 gun the 
peer of any $50 gun on the market. Upwards to 
§ 1 , 000 . Send for free catalog and get Lefever wise. 
Lefbvhr Arms Co., 33 Maltbie St., Syracuse,N.Y. 
clare that this is the first time they ever heard 
of an unwounded deer attacking a human being. 
Thomas Lawrence participated in an unusual 
hunting adventure in the Fence River district. 
A large buck was the party of the second part. 
Lawrence had fired at the buck at close range. 
The buck tumbled over, and Lawrence supposed 
it was dead. However, as he was in the act of 
cutting the animal’s throat, the buck recovered 
and jumped up. Lawrence, who is some heavy¬ 
weight, grabbed the buck by the horns and at¬ 
tempted to throw it. In the wrestle that fol¬ 
lowed, the horns of the animal became inserted 
in the leg of Lawrence’s trousers and the hun¬ 
ter was thrown to the ground. Mr. Buck 
started for the tall timber, dragging Lawrence 
through the brush a hundred yards or more 
before the trousers tore away from the horns 
and the buck escaped. The incident was wit¬ 
nessed by several companions, but Lawrence 
and the buck were so intermingled that they 
were unable to render bim any assistance. 
Lawrence came borne in a borrowed pair of 
trousers. 
COMING FISH STORIES. 
Enterprising citizens of Brenham are con¬ 
structing a mammoth fish pond, and we assume 
that it will not be long before stories of rabbit¬ 
swallowing bass will be forthcoming again.— 
Houston Post. 
Fixtures. 
DOG SHOWS. 
Dec. 1-2.—Toy Spaniel Club of America, New York 
City. Mrs. H. S. Morris, Sec’y. 
Dec. 12-13.—French Bulldog Club of New England, Bos¬ 
ton, Mass.. Walter Burgess, Sec’y. 
Dec. 16.—Associated Specialty Clubs, Chicago, Ill. A. 
W. Cates, Supt. 
1912. 
Jan. 3-6.—Fort Orange Kennel Association, Albany, N. Y. 
T. S. Beilin, Sec’y. 
Jan. 26-27.—Lynn (Mass.) Kennel Club. W. Rolfe, Sec’y. 
Feb. 6-9.—Fanciers’ Association of Indiana, Indianapo¬ 
lis, Ind. C. R. Milhous, Sec’y. 
Feb. 12-15.—Westminster Kennel Club, New York City. 
William Rauch, Chairman. 
Feb. 20-23.—New England Kennel Club, Boston, Mass. 
R. C. Storey, Sec’y. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Dec. 4.—Georgia Field Trial Association, Waynesboro, 
Ga. Entries to Derby and All-Age stakes close 
Oct. 15. Tracy Mackenzie, Sec’y, Waynesboro, Ga. 
Dec. 5.—Virginia-Carolina Field Trial Association, New¬ 
ton, N. C. R. T. Stedman, Sec’y. 
Dec. 11.—Southern Field Trial Club, Letohatchie, Ala. 
J. H. Wallace, Jr., Sec’y. 
Dec. 18.—Kentucky Field Trial Club, Letohatchie, Ala. 
All-Age entries close Oct. 15. S. W. Linebaugh, 
Sec’y, Russellville, Ky. 
1912. 
First week in January.—Eastern Field Trial Club, Cotton 
Plant, Miss. S. C. Bradley, Sec’y. 
Jan. 7.—United States Field Trial Club. W. B. Staf¬ 
ford, Sec’y. 
Jan. 14.—National Field Trial Championship Associa¬ 
tion. W. B. Stafford, Sec’y. 
Dog Distemper and Its Treatment. 
BY TODD RUSSELL. 
Since the breeding of dogs has reached a 
plane where it is at least worthy of being called 
an art, the scourge of every owner has been 
distemper. This disease as shown by recently 
collected statistics is responsible for the death 
of sixty per cent of all the dogs that do' not 
die of old age, and, among sporting dogs thirty 
per cent, of all pointers and setters bred suc¬ 
cumb to it either directly or indirectly through 
its following complications of bronchitis, pneu¬ 
monia, inflammation of the lungs or brain or 
affections of many other important organs, 
chorea and other diseases, including even tuber¬ 
culosis. No dog is immunte from its attack 
and the prognosis in each case is nearly always 
in indirect ratio to the value and breeding of 
the victim as all kennel men well know. 
This is not due to any established perversity 
of fate, but simply to the fact that the dogs of 
the highest breeding (and consequently, under 
our present rules of mating, of the greatest in- 
breeding) are lacking in the necessary vitality 
to combat a disease of a wasting character which 
calls for first of all great bodily resistance for 
successful recovery. 
The uncared for mongrel dog of the country¬ 
side has better fortune than his aristocratic 
brother of less mixed blood in almost every in¬ 
stance, and in this is a lesson for breeders by 
which they might profit if they would. It is 
not the intention to discuss breeding problems 
here, however, but to consider simply the ques¬ 
tion of dealing to the best advantage with dis¬ 
temper as it now exists. 
“Distemper,” says Ashmont, “is an acute in¬ 
fectious disease characterized by catarrhal in- 
flamations of the mucous membranes which line 
the mouth, throat, air passages, stomach and in¬ 
testinal canal; an eruptive fever of variable dura¬ 
tion; great prostration; rapid waste; marked 
derangement and depression of the nervous 
system; with a strong tendency to recovery in 
the absence of complications of which there is 
a great liability.” 
There is no doubt in the minds of pathologists 
who are familiar with the character of the dis¬ 
ease, the method of its development and its in¬ 
fectious quality that there must exist a distinct 
germ of distemper which is capable of isolation 
and identification precisely in the way and man¬ 
ner that the germ of human diphtheria has been 
identified, bin until this is done the present 
methods of treatment must be given considera¬ 
tion by the dog owner in a more intelligent way 
than in the past if he hopes to reduce the mor¬ 
tality in his kennel. 
The symptoms in the more advanced stages 
are so well known that any lengthy description 
is almost superfluous, but the first development 
of the disease is more often overlooked and 
difficult to diagnose, though it is here that 
medicinal treatment offers the best results. 
A listlessness on the part of the animal and a 
disinclination to much active effort, with a 
capricious appetite and sometimes a hacking 
cough usually indicates the onset of the trouble. 
A dog showing these symptoms should be im¬ 
mediately removed from his mates, confined in 
a warm room, without drafts, and the rectal 
temperature taken with the clinical thermometer. 
A normal temperature is ioi degrees, and any¬ 
thing even slightly above this should be re¬ 
garded with suspicion, while a temperature of 
103 degrees in conjunction with the other symp¬ 
toms is pretty fair indication of the disease. 
At this stage in the proceedings, the diag¬ 
nosis having been made and the animal being 
worth the effort, a precise line of treatment 
should be laid out and strictly adhered to. The 
only successful method of dealing with this 
trouble is by good nursing, good feeding and a 
treatment of the symptoms as they arise. Patent 
and secret medicines should be avoided, as their 
virtue at any one time simply depends upon 
whether the nature of the case is suitable for 
them to have effect or not, and as the disease 
passes through various stages while they re¬ 
main the same drug they cannot always be 
suitable and may never be. The object of 
treatment is t0‘ sustain the constitution of the 
animal, to strengthen it in every way and to 
let nature herself do the chemical work of rid¬ 
ding the system of disease. 
The action of a germ disease is well under¬ 
stood and is, in its simplest form of statement 
as follows: the disease germ having entered the 
system proceeds to multiply therein with more 
or less rapidity and to unite with the body cells 
and eventually destroy them in accordance with 
their structure and with certain well defined 
laws. But because of the resisting powers of 
nature the cells, when attacked, commence to 
throw off parts of themselves which tend to 
unite with the antagonistic germs and render 
them harmless. It is a well defined warfare be¬ 
tween the body cells and the foreign poisonous 
matters. If the disease breeds faster than the 
anti-bodies formed by the cells the patient will 
probably die. If the anti-bodies outnumber the 
poison bodies, they will absorb them and the 
patient will recover. It follows quite naturally 
that if a large number of these anti-bodies could 
be introduced into the system at a time when 
the toxins were only commencing their work, 
that the superior force would eliminate the 
poison, and that the patient would recover at 
once. This is precisely what happens in a 
human being who recovers when treated with 
diphtheria anti-toxin. 
But there is yet no anti-toxin for distemper, 
and so our treatment must be simply one that 
will stimulate the system into manufacturing 
its own anti-toxin to the best advantage and 
with the idea of the prevention of complications. 
The rational course of treatment is therefore 
to at once open the bowels with a cathartic, and 
in this disease two grains of calomel for a 
medium-sized dog followed in two hours by two 
tablespoonsful of olive oil offers the best treat¬ 
ment. 
To reduce the fever give anti-pyrin in ten- 
grain doses every hour until the fever falls to 
