Glacial Epoch of Australia. 278 
growth, at the expense of the nutritive properties of the blood, 
and by perversion of those chemical changes necessary to the 
maintenance of the life of the wmfected animal. That 
the germinal matter exists in a state of extreme minuteness, 
the following experiment shows :—A cat being with young 
was inoculated with the poison, and dying in three hours, 
her four kittens were removed from the womb. They were 
all dead, and their blood contained the foreign cells, as did 
that of the mother. To pass from the cat to the kittens, the 
germinal matter must have penetrated the delicate mem- 
brane covering the tufts of the foetal vessels. If the poison 
of serpents can thus readily be traced through the body, and 
from parent to offspring, why should not the path of all infec- 
tions be tracked? Some months ago, it was stated that it was 
conjectured that a child had been bitten by a snake. No 
doubt need ever exist for the future; a drop of blood will 
always furnish the necessary evidence. I trust the subject 
will call forth other investigators in Victoria, for it will 
assuredly be taken up at home. It has been to me a matter 
of surprise that while this colony very properly appoints men 
-to survey her coasts, explore her skies, and the ground 
beneath her feet, no one systematically explores her diseases, 
a subject in which the rich and poor, the living and those 
about to live, are equally and deeply concerned, and in com- 
parison with which many other subjects that excite her 
people are trifles. I cannot conclude without thanking Dr. 
Gummow, of Swan-hill, for having sent me such a fine 
supply of snakes, nor without expressing my acknowledg- 
ments to Messrs. Lawrence and Ashworth for their ready 
assistance in my many experiments. 
ArT. XXI.—WNotes on the Rev. J. E. TENISON Woops’ 
paper “ On the Glacial Epoch of Australia.” By JuLius 
Haast, Pu. D., FBS. - 
| Read 14th October, 1867.] 
ie the “Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria,” 
part 1, vol. viii., which I received a few weeks ago, I find an 
interesting and suggestive paper written by the Rev. J. E. 
Tenison Woods, “On the Glacial Period of Australia,” and 
read March 4th, 1867, on which I beg to offer a few observa- 
tions ; the more so, as the author, when alluding to New 
Zealand, does me the honour to refer to my labours. 
