AUSCULTATIONAUSTRALIA. 



243 



slight cough alarms the fears of his friends, though 

 he himself thinks it nothing but a trifling cold. 

 On examination, a slight dulness is observed at 

 the apex of one lung, so slight as scarcely to be 

 appreciated except by comparison with the op- 

 posite side. The respiratory sound is at first 

 remarkably feeble at that part, or a little later there 

 is bronchial respiration and bronchophony. These 

 are sure indications, that the way is already pre- 

 pared for consumption. Still there is hope, if a 

 proper regimen can immediately be begun and per- 

 severed in ; for direct remedies can here do but 

 little. Too often, either the patient is not alarmed 

 early enough, or, in despite of every precaution 

 or effort, the disease advances. Bronchial respira- 

 tion is followed by a mucocrepitous, and then by 

 ravernous rale, bronchophony by pectoriloquy, and 

 so on till life is destroyed, each step of the de- 

 structive process being clearly revealed by the 

 sounds elicited in successive examinations. 



But what avails it thus to trace the melancholy 

 progress of a disease which we have no power 

 to arrest? There is some consolation in knowing 

 the just amount of what we have to fear, however 

 great that amount may be. And, if we have no 

 remedies that are able to reach this formidable 

 disease, who shall say, that we shall never have 

 them? The first steps towards acquiring them 

 must be taken in obtaining a full knowledge of 

 the disease. We can now do something towards 

 prolonging life, and diminishing suffering. We 

 can at least abstain from doing harm by vain at- 

 tempts to effect what is impossible. Above all, 

 by an early discovery of the disease, we may teach 

 our patient to flee from the danger before it over- 

 takes him. In very many cases, a careful exam- 

 ination of the chest will detect unequivocal evi- 

 dence of approaching consumption, long before 

 the symptoms excite any considerable apprehen- 

 sion. At this early period much may be done to 

 avert the danger. And if the attention of phy- 

 sicians and patients were more directed to this 

 period, much more might doubtless be done to 

 diminish the fatality of consumption than ever has 

 been. 



If it be asked, on which we are the most to de- 

 pend for the elucidation of disease, the investiga- 

 tion of symptoms, or an examination by physical 

 signs, we answer, that there is no opposition what- 

 ever between them. The use of direct explora- 

 tion does not preclude a careful inquiry into the 

 symptoms of the case. On the contrary, it prompts 

 to a more full investigation. In practical life, it 

 certainly is true, that those physicians who most 

 constantly make use of the benefits of exploration, 

 are not only equally, but generally much more, 

 thorough in their inquiries into all the circum- 

 stances of a patient's health, than those who ne- 

 glect or ridicule it. This may be partly because 

 those, who are the most zealous in their researches, 

 are the most willing to take the trouble requisite 

 to acquire a new method of investigation, when it. 

 promises adequate advantages. But this is not the 

 whole of it. There is something so grateful in 

 comparing the results of different modes of exam- 

 ination, that, were it a mere matter of speculative 

 philosophy, the mind would necessarily be stimu- 

 lated by the comparison. 



There are still some physicians, who laugh at 

 the whole matter of direct exploration as either 

 idle foolery, or empiricism. But they are those 

 who have never taken the pains to learn how to 



practise it ; were there no more advantage in it 

 than they know how to obtain from it, their ridi- 

 cule might be better founded. Whether their ig- 

 norance be the effect of indolence or incompetence, 

 it becomes us not to say. But, while they laugh, 

 others will learn ; and the time is not far distant, 

 when the physician, who is unable to practise per- 

 cussion and auscultation, will be held to be unfit 

 for his profession. 



AUSTRALASIA, (a. to the articles Austral- 

 asia, Holland, New, New South Wales, and Swan 

 River.) Australasia, from Austral, southern, is sup- 

 posed to comprehend the islands of New Holland, 

 Van Dieman's Land, Papua or New Guinea, New 

 Britain, Nesv Ireland, Solomon's Islands, New 

 Hebrides, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Kergue- 

 len's Islands, and the islands of St Paul and Am- 

 sterdam, besides numerous reefs and islets of coral 

 scattered over the Australasian sea. Australia 

 implies New Holland alone, or, at the utmost, New 

 Holland and Van Dieman's Land. The term, in- 

 deed, as applied to New Holland alone, has come 

 of late years so much into use as to supplant al- 

 most altogether the old name of New Holland ; 

 and to this modern and limited sense of the term 

 the present article will be confined. Whatever 

 additional information may require to be given re- 

 garding the other islands of Australasia, 'will be 

 found under their respective heads. 



AUSTRALIA, OR NEW HOLLAND, the largest 

 island in the world, being about equal in sur- 

 face to three-fourths of the European continent, 

 extends between the parallels of 39 and 10 30> 

 south latitude, and the meridians of 112 and 153 

 40' east longitude, with a length from E . to W. 

 of 3000 miles, a breadth from N. to S. of 2000 

 miles, a superficial area of more than 3,000,000 

 square miles, and a coast line of 8000 miles. We 

 find considerable descrepancies in the statements of 

 different authors regarding its measurements : we 

 have given here in round numbers what we con- 

 sider to be nearest the truth. It is washed by the 

 Indian ocean on the west, and by the Pacific on 

 the east ; to the south lies the island of Van Die- 

 man ; and on the north it is separated from New 

 Guinea and the Moluccas by the straits of Torres 

 and of Timor. Timor, the nearest of the Asiatic 

 islands, is about 280 miles distant from Cape Tal- 

 bot. Much of this vast island remains to be ex- 

 plored ; but the prevailing feature of its surface, 

 so far as yet observed, is barren and wooded plains, 

 traversed by long ridges of precipitous but not very 

 lofty mountains ; and rivers, which often spread 

 into marshes, and do not preserve any course which 

 may be called long when compared with the size of 

 the country. A great part of the land, through 

 the mixture of broad mountain masses and of heavy 

 inundated plains, is rendered unfit for cultivation, 

 and even for travelling. These obstructions, how- 

 ever, do not prevent the occurrence, on a great scale, 

 of fine meadow tracts, where the richest herbage 

 grows spontaneously, and where industry may raise 

 the most plentiful crops. The mountainsof Australia 

 form a ridge nearly round it. rocky, and in many 

 parts almost inaccessible. The Blue Mountains, 

 in particular, which rise behind the colony of New 

 South Wales, tower up almost like a wall ; their 

 cliffs being so steep, and separated by such dread- 

 ful abysses, as to have been long considered impas- 

 sible. Yet they do not exceed in height the moun- 

 tains of Scotland, their highest summits not being 

 much more than 3000 feet. It was not till 1813 

 0.2 



