Cornelius CE (1989) In Clinical Biochemistiy of Domestic Animals, edited

Counsel1 W and Lumsden JH (1988) Yet Clin Pathol17:71 Driscoll TR, Hamden HH, Wang G , Wright PFA and Stacey NH (1992)

Ewing GO, Suter PF and Bailey CS (1974) JAm Anim Hosp Assoc 10:463 Farver TB (1989) In Clinical Biochemistty ofDomestic Animals, edited by

Kaneko JJ, Academic Press, 4th edn, San Diego, p 1 Galen RS and Peters T (1986) In Textbook of Clinical Chemistry, edited by

TieQNW, Saunders, Philadelphia, p 387 Jacobs RM (1993) In Clinical Pahologv, University of Sydney Post-

Graduate Committee in Veterinary Science, Proceedings No 207, p 101 Jensen AL (1991a) J Vet Med A 38: 134 JensenAL(1991b) JVetMedA 38:241 Jensen AL (1991~) JVet MedA 38:247 Johnson SE, Crisp SM, Smeak DD and Fingeroth JM (1989) JAm Anim Hosp

Patterson DF (1968) Circ Res 23: 17 1

by Kaneko JJ, 4th edn, Academic Press, San Diego, p 364

Br JInr Med 49:700

A ssoc 25: I29

Patterson DF, Pyle RL, Buchanan JW, Tautvetter E and Abt DA (1971)

Marretta SM, Pask AJ, Greene RW and Liu S (1981) JAm Yet MedAssoc

Meyer DJ (1986) JAm Vet MedAssoc 188:168 Meyer HP and Rothuizen J (1991) Tijdschr Diergeneeskd 116:80S Meyer DJ, Strombeck DR, Stone EA, Zenoble RD and Buss DD (1978) JAm

Patterson DF (1989) JSmallAnim Pmct30:153 Phillips L, Tappe J and Lyman R (1993) Proc I I th Am Colt Yet Intern Med

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Solter PF, Hoffmann WE and Hoffmann JW (1991) Vet Clin Patho,[ 21:114 Tisdall PLC, Hunt GB, Bellenger CR and Malik R (1994) A usf Vet J71: 174 Wang G and Stacey NH (1990) Eiomed Chromatog4:136

(Accepted for publication 29 August 1994)

Circ Res 29: 1

178: 133

Vet MedAssoc 173:377

Forum, p 438

HN (1993) J Vef Intern Med 7:136 (abstract)

Pastoral development and the veterinary profession in Australia, 1850-1900 JR FISHER

Department of Economics, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, Newcastle, New South Wales 2308

From early in the nineteenth century, while livestock numbers in eastern Australia continued to grow rapidly, the pastoral sector faced an increasing number of challenges. These included a mix of economic and ecological problems, notably the drastic decline in livestock values in the 1840s. They also included an increased threat to livestock health from introduced pathogens.

Sheep scab, imported on the First Fleet (Fisher 1994), was a major problem by the 1830s. The first definite reference to liver fluke in sheep came in 1826 (Cole 1973), while ‘catarrh’ began its ravages in 1834 (Mylrea 1992a). Anthrax, the ‘Cumberland disease’, first appeared in 1 847 (Cole 1973), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia became established from 1858 (Seddon 1953) and foot-and-mouth disease made brief incursions in the 1870s (Fisher 1984). Other infectious diseases, including glanders, were detected in imported stock but never gained a foothold. Cattle tick fever may have been introduced into the tropical north as early as the 1820s (Letts 1992) to become a serious problem as it began its southward penetration some 40 years later. When bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis arrived is unknown, but the former especially was a major cause of concern by the 1880s (Mylrea 1990b, 1991).

There is still much that is unclear on the growing threat of intro- duced disease through the nineteenth century. The range of species imported, plant and animal, rose over the century, probably peaking between 1860 and 1880 when the Acclimatisation Societies were at their most active (Rolls 1969). However, the number of potential hosts for pathogens, in the form of the numbers of introduced domesticated livestock, did not increase. Further, after 1810, most livestock imports came from the British Isles rather than the Cape or India. This offset the progressive shortening of passage times to Australia (Blainey 1968) to maintain the natural quarantine provided by the ocean voyage. Conversely, the success of domesticated live- stock meant that the numbers and stocking densities necessary to sustain introduced pathogens now existed. Even so, only a few out of a wide range of potential migrants were successful (Meischke and

Geering 1985). As in the case of macro-organisms, and as recent experience with bluetongue (Gorman 1985) demonstrates, factors specific to particular micro-organisms could have played a role which is not yet clearly understood but which would have been different in each case.

Action against Disease By 1860, the two major concerns were sheep scab and bovine

pleuropneumonia. Scab was such a problem as to lead to a number of Scab Acts from 1832 onwards (Hindmarsh 1967). Its incidence fell in the 184Os, when boiling-down helped contain infestation (Fry 1973), only to flare again in the 1850s. The earlier Acts had been ineffectual largely because the means necessary to enforcement were not forthcoming. These means were now provided: a fulltime, paid inspectorate was established in the two major colonies in the early 1860s and coordinated action aimed at eradication began in earnest (Seddon 1964; Pullar 1965-66).

Pleuropneumonia first alerted stockowners to the losses that further introduction of disease could mean. While the initial identilication of the disease was too late to prevent dissemination, subsequent investigation established its origin in an imported animal (Seddon 1953b). There might have been argument on the infectiousness of pleuropneumonia (Pullar 1966-67), but its high mortality caused sufficient alarm to lead to legislation providing for the inspection and quarantine of imported livestock at the port of entry in Victoria and New South Wales in the 1860s.

By 1872 a basic framework for public action against animal ‘disease was in place. The form and objectives of this public action were essentially much the same as in a number of European countries, where incursions of rinderpest or pleuropneumonia were likewise a stimulus to action (Fisher 1986). Legislation was passed providing for controls on animal entry and internal movement. An inspectorate, coordinated by a central body, was set up to implement these meas-

I26 Austmlian Veterinary Journal Vol. 72, No. 4, April 1995

ures. However, the measures put into place in the Australian colonies differed from European precedents in one glaring respect.

The great European veterinary schools were founded in the late eighteenth century. Many of their graduates were already employed by public authorities by the middle of the nineteenth century. They were mainly engaged in countering the threat of epizootics (Karasszon 1988), although in France and Prussia they also helped enforce public health measures (La Berge 1975). When formal veterinary services were established, these professionals were the natural source of personnel. This was true even in Britain where veterinary education was weakest (Cotchin 1990). Although the Veterinary Department of the Privy Council was originally headed by a non-veterinarian, the department was dominated by the staff and graduates ofthe British veterinary colleges. They acted to ensure that both central and local programmes were securely in professional hands (MAFF 1965). This did not happen, could not happen, in Australia.

It could not happen because of the scarcity of qualified veterinarians. There were, of course, no veterinary schools or colleges in Australia and, at the time the stock branches were being formed, there was still a negligible number of British graduates in practice. Mylrea (1 994) has found 8 who arrived during the 1850s. Triple that number might have followed in the next decade, but many never established a practice while others were in Australia for a limited period only. The total was inadequate to staff a disease control system.

Almost as significantly, Australian veterinary surgeons could not match the wide geographical spread of the profession in England. Those who established practices still did so overwhelmingly in the coastal cities. These were away from the pastoral heartland, espe- ciaJJy in the case of Sydney. In 1867 there were no veterinary surgeons in major inland centres, such as Albury and Bathurst, which serviced the pastoral sector (Baillieure 1867). John Stewart junior later had a practice in Bathurst but it lasted only afew years. Through to 1900, only about a dozen of those British graduates for whom Mylrea (1994) can find an address were located outside the capital cities (and half of these were in Ballarat and Bendigo; others, like Robert Gibton of Warrnambool, were not in practice: Taylor J 1990). In the face of low livestock values, the continuing growth of numbers and the increasing incidence of animal disease created no new veterinary markets in the pastoral sector.

Colonial Stock Branches If professional veterinarians could not staff a control system they

might still have led it. Here the low social status of the profession (and the continuing perception that veterinary surgeons were competent only to treat horses), inherited from Britain (Fisher 1993), told against them. Two professionals, John Pottie (Beardwood 1974) and John Miscamble (Seddon 1953), were consulted on pleuro- pneumonia, but there is no evidence that they were considered as heads of the incipient stock branches. Instead the two crucial appoint- ments, in New South Wales and Victoria, went to men with an extensive knowledge of stock but who otherwise seem to have been selected on the basis of personal and social qualities. Edward Curr (Curr 1883) and Alexander Bruce (King 1969) became the Chief Inspectors in Victoria and New South Wales respectively, and were to have a considerable influence on the way in which disease control through the stock branches deveIoped.

This was especially true of Bruce. He held his post for nearly 40 years and was responsible only to Ministers who came and went with monotonous regularity in the chaotic politics of the colony (Loveday and Martin 1966). One of Bruce’s greatest achievements was to keep the stock branch relatively free of the endemic patronage and cormp- tion characteristic of New South Wales politics in the second half of the nineteenth century. He enjoyed considerable autonomy in what was a loose administrative structure; the stock branch was located at various times in the Department of Land and the Department of

Mines before finishing in Agriculture (nor did it have a formal title as such. The term ‘stock branch’ gradually gave way to ‘stock department’). Further, given a strong personality, evident ability and an immense capacity for work, his influence was great on disease control legislation, on the stock branch’s strategies and on its personnel. The instrument he fashioned in New South Wales provided a model for the other colonies.

It was a model in which veterinary surgeons played a peripheral role. Bruce has rightly been given credit for his achievements, notably the eradication of sheep scab in New South Wales (Seddon 1964; Hindmarsh 1971). He was a great organiser and publicist and, as his Reports as Chief Inspector show, a keen observer of develop- ments in veterinary science (see, for example, New South Wales 1873-74 and 1882). His policies were based on scientific precept and, in 1874, it was his motion, at the first Intercolonial Conference of Chief Inspectors of Stock, which called for “a veterinary surgeon from each colony (to) attend to assist the Inspectors in their delibera- tions” (New South Wales 1875a). That, however, was where he set the limit to professional involvement. Veterinary surgeons were employed to diagnose disease, especially in imported animals, and as a source of advice. From the mid-l880s, as will be seen below, they undertook some modest research. They never had a direct role in policy formulation or its implementation.

Even this limited role was performed in a variable and spasmodic fashion for most of Bruce’s tenure. John Pottie was employed, on a part-time basis, for a number of years, to provide diagnostic advice when disease was suspected in imported animals. The first full-time veterinarian appointed to the stock branch, Anthony Willows, MRCVS, appeared in 1883 but was retained for only 15 months. His successor, Edward Stanley, FRCVS, lasted longer, from 1884 to 1892, playing a significant advisory role at times. However, he disengaged himself gradually from the stock branch as his responsi- bilities (and salary) grew as Chief Veterinary Inspector at the Board of Health. In 1890, he gave up his post as inspector of imported stock at Sydney; in 1892, he resigned as the branch’s veterinarian. There- after, the branch lacked any professional advice until the appointment of JD Stewart in 1898 (New South Wales 1895 and 1900).

This last interlude in part reflected economic factors (see below). However, the generally limited and variable nature of the profes- sional contribution to the branch also reflected Bruce’s own views (and contemporary opinion in general). Willows was dismissed for incompetence: he failed to detect scab in some American sheep imported in 1883 (Mylrea 1992b). Despite “the diplomas and testi- monials of qualifications held by Mr Willows”, he had never seen the disease and knew nothing of its pathology. Effective control, in the view of the Royal Commission investigating the episode, “required the services of an intelligent man of large practical experience in the management of sheep and in their diseases”(New South Wales 1883184). A stress on “practical experience”, or on the “want of” it among those who disagreed with him, had earlier been a feature of Bruce’s Reports as Chief Inspector. He found these qualities wanting in the British Veterinary Department (New South Wales 1873/74). Effectively carrying out control policies was best left to experienced men like himself.

Beyond the “government veterinarian”, as he was known, only one qualified veterinary surgeon can be traced as having been employed by the stock branch. This was Samuel Durham, MRCVS, who was cattle inspector at the port of Newcastle from 1884 to 1890. Bruce preferred his men of “practical experience”, of whom there was an increasing supply available as the position ofpastoralists deteriorated in the 1880s (Cain 1962), as inspectors. At the end of the century, there were more (5) veterinary surgeons working under Stanley at the Board of Health than in the stock branch in NCW South Wales (New South Wales 1900; Mylrea 1990a).

Australian Veterinary Journal Vol. 12, No. 4, April 1995 I27

The heads of the stock branches in other colonies were even less interested in veterinary participation than Bruce. Thomas Chalwin, MRCVS, was described as performing “gratuitous duties as inspector”, and as rendering “his professional services when desired” in South Australia in the 1880s (South Australia 1886). Archibald Park, MRCVS, was also a source of advice for but not in paid employment with the Tasmanian stock department (Tasmania 1886). He attended the Stock Conference held in 1886, to be the only veterinary surgeon present besides Stanley (New South Wales 1887). Bruce’s protege, Patrick Robertson Gordon (Clay 1959), became Chief Inspector of Stock in Queensland in 1872. He did not officially employ professional advice until the 1890s (Queensland 1894). As for the Victorian Chief Inspector, Edward Curr was actively antagonistic to veterinary surgeons.

Curr’s role in the Victorian foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 1871 had been less than glorious (Fisher 1984). Local veterinary surgeons had been prominent, however, and their leading figure, Graham Mitchell, MRCVS, was appointed as veterinary consultant to the stock department (Taylor J 1990). He sought constantly to play an active role in policy formation and, in I88 I , his role in a campaign to strengthen disease control legislation brought latent tensions in relations with the Chief Inspector to a head. Curr dismissed Mitchell and denounced “the worthlessness of professional knowledge” (Age 3 January 1881). Matters did improve in Victoria at the end of Curr’s tenure. In 1888 the Melbourne Veterinary College, the first in Australia, came into existence. A year later Victoria passed a Veterinary Surgeons Act, thus becoming the first state to accord legal recognition to professional qualifications. This was due to the enthusiasm and drive of two individual veterinary surgeons, Graham Mitchell and WT Kendall (with support from some pastoralists and the Age). However, without their commitment, which had a substan- tial financial component, it is doubtful that much would have been achieved.

Kendall took the initiative in founding the Melbourne College in the belief that it would soon be publicly funded. However, vague promises of public support did not materialise for another 20 years when the College was incorporated into the University of Melbourne (Hughes and Milne 1992). This tardiness did not reflect personal prejudice or opposition to the demands of professional veterinarians as such. The essential problem was one of the allocation of (limited) public financial resources in the face of the competing demands of private interests. Among these, the interests of stockowners and, by extension, those of trades and professions servicing livestock, did not loom large.

Governments, Stockowners and the Finances of the Stock Branches

The colonial stock branches were hnded on the ‘user-pays’ prin- ciple by a financial ‘levy’ on the number of livestock held by individual pastoralists. Such a levy had first been imposed in New South Wales in 1839 to support a body of ’border police’ (Coghlan 191 8). The principle of ‘user-pays’ funding was maintained to enable enforcement of the various Scab Acts of the 1850s and 1860s; by the end of the latter decade about €10 000 was being raised annually (New South Wales 1875b). The levy was retained after scab was eradicated, by 1890, growing livestock numbers meant that the amount in the “Scab in Sheep Fund”. as it was known, had doubled to over €20 000 (New South Wales 1897a). Nor was it the branch’s only source of income. Its responsibilities proliferated from the 1860s; it came to supervise the registration of brands, the control of stock routes and watering-places as well as the destruction of “noxious animals” in later years (Hindmarsh 1971; Mylrea 1990a). All wcre supported by financial charges in the form of licences, fees, fines and further levies. These, however, were either insignificant or devoted entirely to the purpose they were raised for. The levies paid

into the “Scab in Sheep Fund” remained the chief financial r~upport of the stock branch to the end of the century.

As such, the levy had a three-fold significance. First, it syrnbolised the prevailing attitudes of governments towards the pastoral; sector over most ofthe second half ofthe nineteenth century. Second., policy formulation had to take close account of the views of those who paid the levy. Third, reliance on the levy meant avulnerability to changing economic conditions which made long-term planning difficult. These themes, and their implications, are explored below.

The nature of the levy reflected nineteenth century political realities. In 1880, introducing the Pastures and Stock Protection Bill, Sir Henry Parkes (1 879-80) was adamant that the existing principle, that services to the livestock sector be “self-supporting”, be maintained. Colonial governments were willing to accede to the demands of stockowners for disease control legislation only if the latter met the cost of implementation. Despite the overwhelming importance of livestock to their economies, they saw no merit in allocating general revenue to the benefit of pastoralists in an age when anti-squatter sentiment was rife (Hirst 1988). The reverse was true. Pastoral land sales and leasehold rents were a major source of total revenue. In 1876, there were land sales to the value off4 089 507 (although only E2 457 2 19 was actually paid) and rental payments of €2 I5 387 (New South Wales 1877b). This income was raised at the expense of pastoralists and allocated to purposes from which they derived little benefit (Butlin 1964). Total levies on stock brought in less than E20 000 at this time.

In turn, the tendency of stockowners, whose management strategies, as noted elsewhere (Fisher 1994), were predicated on minirnising costs, was to take an essentially short-term view of their expenditure on the stock branch. They looked for immediate and tangible returns -an outlook that had a substantial influence on financial allocation. In New South Wales, the eradication of sheep scab in the 1860s made Bruce something of a hero; this was a major gain, speedily accom- plished and thus with a minimum of disruption. Even so, some stockowners wanted to disband the stock branch: they considered its work complete and the expense unnecessary (New South Wales 1875/76). The same sentiment held sway in Tasmania (Tasmania 1880). A majority were more far-sighted, but there were always limits to

that support and cooperation from stockowners essential to the enforcement of regulatory policies. Thus, Bruce was an ardent supporter of inoculation against pleuropneumonia. He argued strenuously in favour of making inoculation compulsory but failed to achieve his objective in the face of pastoralist opposition (New South Wales 1882; Seddon 1953). Individual stockowners used inoculation extensively but were reluctant to bear the costs and risks of a programme that would constrain stock movements. Cum, in Victoria, and CJ Valentine, the Chief Inspector in South Australia, refused to support Bruce’s proposals on the same grounds (New South Wales 1887).

In view of the constraints imposed on the stock branch by govern- ment and stockowners, and its growing regulatory responsibilities, it is not surprising that close to 80% of its income was spent on salaries and allowances to its inspectorate. As the size of the Scab in Sheep Fund grew, with the continuing increase in livestock numbers, so too did the number of inspectors; there were 35 in 1876,46 in 1885 and 56 in 63 districts by 1894 (New South Wales 1877% 1886 and 1895). They were certainly active. In 1890, each inspector would, if Bruce’s calculations are accepted, have travelled nearly 1 I miles and inspected 6 horses, 74 head of cattle and 1620 sheep on every day of the year (New South Wales 1891/92a). Expenditure on purposes other than servicing the inspectorate was negligible; one aspect was, however, highly significant. The two government veterinarians of the 1880s, Anthony Willows and Edward Stanley, conducted investiga- tions into rabbit diseases and anthrax (Mylrea 1990a). Willows, before his enforced resignation, was the first person in Australia to

I28 Ausfmlim V e t e r i n q Journal Vol. 72, No. 4, April 1995

diagnose anthrax correctly and to demonstrate its transmissibility by drenching or inoculation (Seddon 1953a). Such research was symp- tomatic of the new challenges faced both by Australian pastoralism and the stock branches at the time, challenges which were to come to a head over the next decade.

The Problems of the 1890s By the 1890s, pastoralists faced a mounting incidence of existing

diseases, and the prospect of losses from the introduction of others, in the context of mounting adverse environmental and economic pressures. The incidence of anthrax had reached serious proportions in the 1880s (Todd 1992). Cattle tick fever was a major problem in Queensland and threatening to enter New South Wales (Hindmarch 1971). Pleuropneumonia was still prevalent in all mainland States, and it was reported that “the spread of tuberculosis is very marked” in 1900 (Coghlan 1902). Perhaps most ominously for the future, blowfly-strike first appeared at this time (Froggatt 1904; Graham 1979). Bruce’s regulatory approach could partially contain such threats

(Hindmarsh 1971) but could offer no permanent relief. If there was a light on the horizon, then it lay in the potential arising out of the breakthroughs in disease aetiology and pathology associated with the names of Pasteur and Koch. This potential was realised in the case of anthrax (Todd 1992), but the episode also illustrated a critical prerequisite to the effective use of scientific knowledge. As Pasteur had already found, developing vaccines that were effective under laboratory conditions or in the field in Europe did not guarantee their efficacy elsewhere. The gains from scientific advance could only be realised in Australia by longer-term research and investigation in the local context.

In turn, in the case of livestock disease, this necessarily involved a strong local base in veterinary education and science. There were some signs that this was appreciated before the end of the century. In New South Wales, in the 1880s, Bruce encouraged Stanley’s investigations into anthrax and supported the establishment of what became the Pasteur Anthrax Vaccine Laboratory on Rodd Island in Sydney (Todd 1992). In the next decade, the stock branch also financed research into cattle tick fever and cooperated with the Board of Health in its investigations into tuberculosis (New South Wales 1897b; Mylrea 1990b). Classes in veterinary care and knowledge were set up at the Sydney Technical College in 1895, and taught by JD Stewart (Taylor RI 1990). These were possibly intended for the Department’s inspectorate, as with similar classes instituted in Queensland in 1899 (Queensland 1899). The first Australian veterinary research station was founded in Queensland, in 1893, to investigate the same problems (Queensland 1894; Clay 1959). How- ever such initiatives were all either ephemeral or underfunded (or both). The reason is not difficult to find. Bruce’s most farsighted initiative, first raised in 1889, was for an Intercolonial Stock Institute. He set out detailed proposals two years later at a meeting of the colonial Chief Inspectors in Sydney. The Pasteur Institute was his model and he recommended seeking a distinguished European scientist to take charge. Indeed, he suggested that the Rodd Island Laboratory, which was already conducting research into vaccines against pleuropneumonia as well as anthrax, could serve as the foundation, if only as a “temporary arrangement”, for the projected Institute (New South Wales 189 1/92b). The proposal was still-born. Colonial governments were reluctant or even flatly refused to con- sider the question of financial support. This was the year of bank crashes and the temporary ending of the flow of foreign investment into Australia. Public revenues had already been falling and, corre- spondingly, public expenditures were already being severely reduced in all colonies (Boehm 1971). In fact, during the decade after 1891, the ingrained parsimony of stockowners and governments alike was exacerbated by the extreme economic pressures to which they were subject. In the 1890s, stockowners not only faced the increasing incidence of livestock disease but also a continuing rabbit plague,

lower wool prices, labour problems and a sequence of droughts. At the end of the century, according to the government statistician in New South Wales, TA Coghlan (1902), rabbits remained “the greatest pest” confronting pastoralists, while he calculated that “unfavourable seasons have been responsible for the loss of 22 000 000 sheep” in New South Wales alone. The Australian flock fell by more than a third, from 106 000 000 to 69 000 000 in the decade to 190 1, while cattle numbers were also severely reduced (Shaw 1982).

Income from the stock levy in New South Wales fell correspond- ingly. It peaked at over f24 379 in 1891, fell to just over f 16 360 in 1893, and remained below E20 000 per annum for the rest of the century (New South Wales 1897a and 1900). The branch was forced to prune its expenditure in the context of a major bout of reform and retrenchment in the public service generally (Knight 1961). The inspectorate was reduced in size, its salaries were reduced and the post of government veterinarian was left vacant between 1892 and 1898. The branch’s income also had to be supplemented from general revenue in 1898 (Coghlan 1902). There were similar problems in the other colonies. In Tasmania, the Chief Inspector was reduced to pleading for a higher levy and more inspectors by the late 1880s (Tasmania 1888/9). In South Australia, country police sergeants were given an allowance of f25 and made temporary stock inspectors as the number of permanent inspectors fell (South Australia 1899). In Queensland, the chief inspector had his salary reduced in 1893 (Queensland 1893).

The capacity of the stock branches to maintain existing regulatory programmes was thus reduced while the general economic depression of the 1890s left governments, even if sympathetic, with little scope for investment in education and science. Rather, scientific advance was regarded as a possible source of cheap panaceas, which might obviate the need for additional expenditure. The €25 000 prize for a cure for the rabbit plague in 1887, which attracted international attention (Loew and Wood 1978), was the best example of this tendency (Rolls 1969). Stockowners and governments quickly lost interest in scientific research that did not yield immediate benefits. The failure of the Queensland research station to produce a satisfac- tory vaccine against cattle tick fever soon caused dissatisfaction among stockowners (Queensland 1898 and 1899; Durack 1983). Even when undertaken, veterinary research continued to be miser- ably funded until well into the twentieth century (Schedvin 1987).

The Impact on the Development of the Veterinary Profession

In 1881, members of the recently-formed Australasian Veterinary Medical Association (with all of 14 members; Taylor J 1990) com- plained that: “at the present time there is not a single veterinary surgeon in the Australian colonies wholly employed in government service”(Mitchel1 1881). Their concern was justified. Promoting the infant profession was not just a matter of self-interest but was becoming vital to the health status of Australian livestock.

As J Taylor (1990) notes, public service to the agricultural sector has always been an important ideal for the veterinary profession. It was an ideal of peculiar relevance to the development of European settlement in Australia. The livestock sector ofthe new economy was the prime force underlying its remarkable growth and prosperity in the nineteenth century. However, and even paradoxically, the spec- tacular success of livestock in a new environment constrained the achievement of the veterinary ideal.

In Britain, the involvement of professional veterinary surgeons in public disease control measures after 1866 brought major advances. The profession gained in status, in income and in the quality of its education (Pattison 1984; Fisher 1993). With an assured market in the public sector, the veterinary colleges could afford to be more discriminating in their intake and to provide more rigorous and scientific instruction. Further, the success ofpublic action eventually spilled over into gains in private practice. Farmers began to appreciate

Australian V e t e r i n q JourndVol. 12, No. 4, April 1995 I29

the value of veterinary treatment and advice based on scientific precept rather than merely empirical experience. The absence of a parallel development in Australia proved a major impediment to the profession’s fortunes and the achievement of its ideal.

In 1900, two of the main features of nineteenth-century pastoral development still held good: the abundance and therefore the low unit value of stock and a level of disease incidence that was still low by international standards. Throughout the 1890s, Coghlan began the section on “Diseases of Stock” in the annual The Wealth and Progress ofNew South Wales with the sentence: “On the whole, the stock of New South Wales are comparatively free from disease, sheep and horses being remarkably healthy”. The only variation was to substitute the synonyms “relatively” or ‘Tolerably ” for “compara- tively”. In comparison to other regions, especially Europe, this was true. Moreover, while the incidence of animal disease was increasing, at the end of the century it loomed as much less important than stock prices, droughts or the rabbit plague. Much of the real threat, as with flystrike, lay in the future.

This meant a continuing market constraint on private practice. The number of qualified veterinarians in Australia remained low, still only a small proportion of the British total. By 191 1 there were 408 veterinary surgeons in Australia(Knibbs 1913), 2612 in England and Wales (Census 1911). At a glance, this appears to show a narrowing ofthe gap between old and new countries. The figures are misleading however. In England and Wales, the census number was declining (it was 2941 in 1901: Census 1901) as the Veterinary Surgeons Act of 1881 took effect; no new unqualified practitioners joined the British ranks. There was an equivalent Act in Victoria but nowhere else in Australia. However, the major problem for the profession was not the continued presence of the unqualified.

A century of growth in livestock numbers came to an end in the 1890s. One factor (among others) involved in the vicissitudes of the pastoral sector was that it could no longer rely on the gains from expansion; the land of eastern Australia was now overstocked at the then level of pastoral technology. Henceforward land and stock management were to become increasingly dependent on science, including veterinary science, for their prosperity. In this respect, by the end of the century there was a growing realisation of the benefits of veterinary expertise. Qualified veterinary surgeons were to be found increasingly in public roles: providing advice on disease control programmes, courses for stock inspectors and as part of the inspectorate necessary to public health measures.

The main factor which constrained the further achievement of the veterinary ideal at this time was financial. Government parsimony and the desire of consumers to see immediate results are perhaps universal features in the history of education and science. In Australia, they acted to limit professional opportunity in the service of agriculture throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. At the end of the century, the further financial stringencies imposed by economic depression on stockowners and governments alike precluded the substantial investment necessary in a variety of areas. In the case of veterinary science and education, incremental advances were made, notably the provision made in the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney (a recognition of the changing status of the profession at least). Nevertheless, veterinary science remained underfunded until the 1920s and beyond while, given the poor financial prospects, local demand for a veterinary education was restricted to a dedicated few.

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(Accepted for publication 29 August 1994)

Epizootiology of Borna disease in horses Extensive epizootiological studies have shown that infection with Borna disease virus (BDV) is much more

widespread than was previously thought. Herzog et a1 (1 994) Wen Tierarztl Monafsschr 81 :374-379, reported that the disease was rare, but occurred in almost all states of West Germany, extending beyond the classical endemic regions.

BDV infection more frequently runs an inapparent course. BDV-specific antibodies were found in clinically healthy horses in West Germany, but also in other European countries as well as in Israel and the USA where the disease was hitherto unknown. These horses can excrete BDV and therefore represent a potential source of infection.

Diagnosis of dermafophyfosis Calcafluor white is a textile brightener, which binds specifically to the polysaccharide components of fungal

cell walls and, when viewed under ultraviolet or blue light, fluoresces strongly. Calcafluor white is used widely in human diagnostic mycology because of the ease of interpretation of the results when material is viewed under fluorescence microscopy, and the increased sensitivity yielded by the technique compared with routine light microscopy.

Sparkes et a/ (1994) Vet Rec 134:307 evaluated the use of calcafluor white for the diagnosis of dermato- phytosis in 54 culture-positive samples of skin and hair from animals and compared the results with the results of routine light microscopy. They found that the simple, one-step preparation of samples with calcafluor white was a more sensitive method than light microscopy. In addition to dermatophytes, calcafluor white stains the cell walls of other fungi and the technique can therefore be adapted to the examination of cytological smears and paraftin-embedded or frozen tissue sections where an examination for fungi is required.

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