PLEURO-PNEUMONIA IN AUSTRALIA. 
175 
subtle germs were not extinguished also. The disease con¬ 
tinued to spread, for little exertions were ever made by 
legislature and settlers to arrest its progress. A bill was 
passed through the Victorian Assembly, on the 19th of 
March, 1861, to prevent the further spread of this epidemic, 
which, however, had reached the Ovens, near the border of 
New South Wales, by about the month of April following. 
A bill was speedily introduced into the Sydney Legislative 
Assembly, passed in one week, and approved of by the 
Upper House, without any alteration, “ for the purpose of 
regulating the importation of cattle, and preventing the intro¬ 
duction of contagious or infectious disorders, or propagation 
thereof in that colony. April 11, 186l. ,; The act may 
appear stringent, and powers in it conferred on the Executive 
may seem too ample ; but the circumstances require vigorous 
measures, which, through laxity, have been unsuccessful 
in Victoria. We stand not alone in exclusion, pro tem of 
all importations of the bovine family, to shut out disease. 
Norway had taken a like course, and many other countries 
have followed the examples. 
Symptoms .—When any animal, whether of the sheep or 
ox species, falls behind its companions, mark it; if the head 
hangs, the breath is hot, a very hard short cough sets in, 
there may be a little lameness, appetite is gone, anon there is 
a tenderness exhibited about the spine and lumbar region, 
flanks heaving, a pain apparently in the shoulders, there is 
a peculiar grinding of the teeth, and cough becomes more 
frequent, matter is thrown up by a kind of spasm—be certain 
that pneumonia is commencing its deadly operation. The 
particular diagnosis may be shortly stated:—Twitchings 
along the sides ; the sick animal usually lies, if it lies down 
at all, upon the diseased side, and when standing stretches 
out the neck and protrudes the head, at every expiration a 
deep groan is uttered, indicating extreme pain. The auscul¬ 
tatory indications are crepitous murmurs during respiration 
in the first instance, but when the disease advances that crepi¬ 
tus ceases. We have here to remark, that the disease runs 
through three stages—first, the initiative; secondly, the 
inflammatory; and thirdly, the typhoid. When lymph is 
effused, and a .part of the lungs gets hepatized, then the 
disease assumes a serious stage, breathing is continued with 
great difficulty, and if disorganization of the lung is not 
extensive an adventitious membrane is formed, separating the 
diseased part from healthy portions, and partial recovery is 
not infrequent for a season. 
But when inflammation of the pleura runs high, the con- 
