"Distemper is not transmissible to man, but is to cats, wolves, foxes, jackals, hyenas and monkeys; and as is the case in many highly contagious diseases, one attack successfully overcome with but few exceptions renders immunity from a second attack of the malady. One of the theories advanced as an explanation of this fact is that in contagious diseases the specific poison combines with some chemical constituent of the system which is essential to the production of the disease, and that after this constituent has been destroyed - as it will be through combining with the germ - and the animal has recovered it is impossible for the germ to produce system c disturbances again because the constituent necessary for its combination is absent from the system.

"There are innumerable channels through which a dog may be infected with distemper. The germ is of remarkable vitality, and is conveyed through the air or on a person's clothes, or a dog which has already had the disease can convey the germ in its coat from a sick dog to a well one. The use of kennels, feeding dishes, or shipping crates that have been previously used by an affected animal are common modes of inoculation. Dog shows are a fertile source of the spread of the disease, and no matter how carefully the portable benching has been cleaned and disinfected it is always more or less a conveyance for the germs that produce the disease. "The popular fallacy of a meat diet being productive of distemper is entirely at variance with all scientific knowledge, as all carnivorous animals are markedly free from specific germ diseases.

"The morbid poison of distemper attacks dogs in different ways, but breeders and practitioners as a rule recognize as typical only those cases in which the virus affects the mucous membranes of the eyes and nasal passage and produces a catarrhal discharge. In some cases the intestinal tract is the particular field upon which the virus exerts itself; or the liver ma - be affected, or the bronchial tubes. But the action of the virus that is least understood, and the symptoms most commonly ascribed to some other cause, is when it is concentrated upon the brain and nervous system, the animal dying from collapse without any premonitory symptoms or developing epileptic spasms and convulsions, and other symptoms that the breeder ascribes to worms; and the puppy is dosed accord ngly. I have hid such cases in my own experience as a breeder, a d my attention has been frequently called to this condition of things by others whose puppies have died in from a few hours to a week with all the svmptoms of worm-fits, careful dissection, however, failing to reveal the presence of these pests or any other exciting cause; and distemper, from an absence of all catarrhal and febril symptoms, would be the last thing thought of.

"An attack of distemper of the ordinary catarrhal form is usually preceded by listlessness and loss of appetite; the animal avoids the light and courts solitude; all the symptoms of a common cold will then manifest themselves rapidly, as sneezing, a dry husky cough and a watery discharge from the eyes and nose; the animal shivers, seeks warmth and is feverish, the pulse ranging from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty beats per minute; the nose is hot and dry, the lining of the eye reddened, and the small veins that radiate through the white portion are injected with blood; the tongue is coated, the secretion of saliva is dim n-ished, thirst is excessive, food is rejected and prostration is well marked and so rapid that at the end of a week the dog can hardly stand; the bowels are irregular; in the early stages of the disease there is a tendency to constipation, but the matter in the intestines- through failure to digest sets up an irritation, and the discharges are more frequent and looser than in health, and the feces are dark colored and fetid. The discharges from the eyes and nose become purulent, the nostrils are covered, with a glassy, yellowish fluid, the cough increases in frequency, the bronchial tubes fill with mucus, which is coughed up, giving temporary relief; the animal vomits frothy yellow matter and is unable to retain food upon the stomach; the eyelids become glued together, resulting in blinding the patient; breathing is obstructed by matter in the nostrils; the breath becomes fetid and has a smell that is peculiar to the disease; the lips are covered with ulcers, and the animal either becomes weaker and weaker and finally succumbs, or at the end of twelve or fourteen days the symptoms mentioned above abate in intensity and the animal slowly retains its strength. Complications, however, frequently develop early in the disease, and result in the death of the animal.

"One of the complications of distemper is pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, brought on. by exposure to cold or by a weakened heart action. The animal will not lie down, but assumes a sitting position with the forelegs braced and separated, the head hangs heavily, breathing is labored, lapid and heavy, and upon application of the ear to the chest, a dry cracking sound will be heard similar to that made when walking upon dry snow with a clean boot.

"Epileptic fits are another complication, These as a rule come on suddenly. There is a slight quivering of the muscles of the face, and an anxious look around, a few staggering steps, and the animal falls upon its side and loses consciousness; the face becomes distorted, the limbs work violently, and there is a continued champing of the jaws as well as a frothy mucus coming from the mouth; the head, limbs and body jerk violently, the convulsions gradually become less and less, though sometimes the animal comes out of them suddenly and appears dazed and scared, and will attempt to hide in some out of the way place.

"Vomiting and purging are prominent complications, and sometimes there is true dysentery in which the feces are streaked with blood.