442 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
diate neighborhood, and adjoining one of the houses, are covered with 
isease, but, notwithstanding their close proximity, no indication of 
the disease has at present been detected in either of the three houses. 
7. On the Interior of Australia; by A. Perermann, (Proc. Brit. 
Assoc., 1853; Athen., p. 1168.)—At a time when the exploration of the 
unknown interior of Australia was earnestly thought of, the probable 
character of that extensive region became a subject of particular inter- 
est, and of legitimate inquiry. Scarcely one-third part of Australia could 
said to have been even partially explored, and by far the larger por- 
tion was therefore entirely unknown. This unknown interior of Aus- 
tralia had frequently been a matter of speculation, at first founded‘on very 
few facts. But, as our knowledge increased, and actual facts became 
more numerous, the theories had been modified. One of these hypothesis 
was, that the interior, toa certain extent, consisted of a shoal sea. It was 
in 1814, only forty years since, when the exploration of inner Australia 
might be said to have been systematically commenced, that Mr. Oxley, 
the first surveyor-general of New South Wales, a man of acknowledged 
ability and merit, surrounded about one-eighth part of the longitudinal ex- 
tent of Australia. By tracing down the rivers Lachlan and Macquarie, 
he was checked in his progress westward by marshes of great extent, 
beyond which he could not see any land. He was, therefore, led to 
infer that the interior was occupied by a shoal sea, of which the 
er 
to the Royal Geographical Society, announced that he had arrived at 
different conclusions, namely, that the interior would be found generally 
to be of a very low level, consisting of sand, alternating with many 
basins of dried salt lakes, or such as were covered only by shallow salt 
water or mud, as was the case with Lake Torrens. He also said that 
it was more than probable there might be many detached and even 
high ranges, similar to the Gawler Range, and that, interspersed among 
these ranges, intervals of a better or even of a rich and fertile country, 
might be met with. In 1850, Mr. J.B. Jukes, in his valuable work on 
‘* The Physical Condition of Australia,” stated his opinion to be that the 
ogy of Australia, and the absence of large rivers, besides other features. 
Tt was well known that the Australian colonies were subject in sum- 
: oS 
‘mer to occasional blasts of what is called the hot-wind, from its ex- 
