176 
PLEURO-PNEUMONIA IN AUSTRALIA. 
sequence is effusion of serous matter, and the animal dies of 
hydro thorax. 
The lapse of time during which pleuro-pneumonia may 
remain latent in the system is unascertained. Numerous 
statements have been made regarding the periods of incu¬ 
bation. Fifty cases have been recorded, by which it appears 
that from the fifteenth to the twentieth day four fifths of the 
animals fall sick, and nine tenths before or on the sixtieth 
day. In two cases, six days only elapsed, but all these must 
depend on the stamina and condition of the animal, or causes 
enumerated elsewhere. 
Treatment .—This head will be considered by some as 
entirely unnecessary. We have heard of many pretended 
cures, but all have failed when put to the test by competent 
men. Pleuro-pneumonia is an eminently fatal disease, and 
rarely an instance can be quoted of complete recovery at its 
first outbreak, when its intensity is supposed to be greatest. 
Cattle die from various other maladies, and ignorance, nay, 
sometimes experience, is non-plussed to distinguish. Com¬ 
plications are often met with. Disease may be for a time 
arrested, but disorganizations of the lungs are never repaired. 
Both in cattle and in men, nature is unable to remove the 
deposits caused by this disease, and to substitute sound 
tissue in place of that destroyed ; and the more we know of it 
the more positive we become that all cures are perfectly 
inoperative with the object of absolutely removing disease 
from the system; yet veterinary science is not altogether 
without power to arrest its activity and extend the life pro 
tem . of many animals. 
Precautionary and p rev entire measures .—Segregation has, in 
many cases, been recommended. Contact must be avoided. 
Remove wide apart all cattle ascertained to be free of pneu¬ 
monia, and slaughter every apparently diseased beast, or 
those under the slightest suspicion of labouring under the 
epidemic. Let all the carcases be immediately burnt, lest 
birds of the air convey portions to remote parts of the coun¬ 
try, or the dogs, or perhaps dingoes, carry it to distant 
stations. All the clothes of men who have been handling 
contaminated carcases are to be washed, and boiled, or 
changed, ere the owners can be allowed to come into healthy 
townships or habitations, or upon runs believed to be in a 
sanitary condition. Our best sheet-anchor is prevention. 
The time now is approaching when men must act vigorously, 
or else lose their cattle—if they wish to save the country, unite. 
c; The summer returns, 
And the fever burns.” 
