Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 127 



So far as his experience went, he was not aware that any 

 disease introduced into Australia had shown more virulent 

 properties here than it had in other parts of the world. 

 He did not think the fowl cholera would acquire new 

 properties here — would become extraordinarily virulent, or 

 would be the cause of effects unknown elsewhere. It was 

 now recognised that fowl cholera was making great havoc 

 amongst domestic fowls and birds in France and Germany, 

 and probably in other countries of Europe, and that in all 

 likelihood it would spread to a considerable extent here, 

 though it might happen, on account of our large areas, that it 

 would not spread so readily as it did in the more crowded 

 parts of Europe, where fowls were met with at every few 

 paces all over the country. He did not know of any 

 evidence showing that the disease would spread to human 

 beings. It had been said that there had been ample 

 opportunities for such a power if it existed to have been 

 developed in the old countries, and it was not at all likely 

 that such a property would be developed by the mere 

 introduction of the disease into Australia. 



Mr. C. R. Blackett thought that Dr. Wigg's paper was 

 timely. It would be better to bear the ills they had, than 

 fly to others they knew not of It should be known that 

 M. Pasteur had saved millions to France. He had 

 benefitted the wine culture by investigating the disease in 

 vines, and had discovered the cause of disease in silk worms. 

 Though he had gained the respect and even the confidence 

 of scientific men, still they were not to accept without 

 question all that he proposed. Dr. Jamieson had alluded 

 to the fact that various diseases in certain animals were 

 modifications of the same thing, but the investigations of 

 the ablest microscopists seemed to indicate that they were 

 quite distinct. He agreed with Dr. Wigg and Dr. Jamieson 

 that the Government were bound to take steps to prevent 

 the introduction into the colon}'^ of the form of disease 

 pro])osed to be introduced by M. Pasteur, except under the 

 most stringent conditions. It might be advisable to 

 quarantine M. Pasteur's emissaries at Flinders Island. If 

 the fowl cholera would kill the rabbit, and could be 

 propagated amongst rabbits, and if its origin was with the 

 winged tribes generally, would it not go back to them ? 

 That appeared to be the logical conclusion. He thought 

 M. Pasteur had not thoroughly recognised the enormous 

 distances in this country, nor that Australia was sparsely 



