that is
free suffers much less severely than the one that is confined. The animal
that never tastes flesh has a much lighter attack than the one which
subsists entirely upon meat. This last fact I have often proved. When the
distemper has made its appearance, the opportunity for changing the diet
has passed away. We have, then, only a choice of dangers. To remove the
flesh to which the animal is accustomed is to cause it to pine and to
weaken the strength, at a time when vigor is of every importance; whereas
to continue the meat is mostly certain death; in this position I generally
take away the flesh, for by so doing I give the patient a chance of
recovery; and however desperate that chance may be, nevertheless it is to
be much preferred to no chance at all.

The symptoms in the very early stage are not well marked or by any means
distinguished for their regularity. They may assume almost any form;
dulness and loss of appetite, purging, or vomiting, are very frequently
the first indications. The more than usual moisture of the eyes, and a
short cough, are often the earliest signs that attract attention. In the
bitch a desire for copulation, with a disinclination to accept the dog,
is to be regarded with suspicion; as is also a display of peevishness and
a wish to be undisturbed in full-grown animals. These things denote no
more than the derangement of the system; but if, conjoined with them, the
inner surface of the lower eyelid should appear to be more red than usual,
and the pulse should be increased in number without being materially
altered in character--ranging from one hundred and twenty to one hundred
and thirty in puppies, and in dogs from one hundred and ten to one hundred
and twenty-five--the probability of distemper making its appearance is the
greater, though even then by no means certain.

The period of the year, however, will also have to be taken into
consideration; and inquiry should always be made whether any animals in
the immediate neighborhood are known to have exhibited the disorder;
because the disease is then proved to be in the locality. At this stage
the practitioner is always more or less in the dark; and therefore he
contents himself with such measures as he concludes are adapted to the
symptoms, and waits for further instructions which nature will speedily
develope.

When the disease is established, the animal is sensitive to cold. It seeks
warmth, and is constantly shivering; when taken h