It requires to be noticed, here, that the term rnfected, in the last ques- 

 tion asked, has, in a great many instances, been mistaken by owners for that 

 of affected or diseased ; and through this misapprehension erroneous 

 opinions have been expressed with respect botli to inoculation and legisla- 

 tion. In that question the term " infected " is used in the broad sense given 

 to it in the interpretation clause of the Sheep Act. In this way whole 

 herds — in which there are only, perhaps, a few head of cattle actually 

 diseased, or, perhaps, not even a single head diseased — would be held to be 

 infected. The evils resulting from the driving together, and inoculating 

 diseased cattle, would therefore never occur, as herds, and perhaps 

 camps, of cattle would be inoculated immediately upon any of them coming 

 in contact with the infection. It would thus seldom occur that even a 

 single head would be actually diseased, when inoculated ; and never more 

 than a few at the most. 



It is but right, also, to call attention to the very unfair trial which 

 inoculation has, in many cases, received : — (1st) through the cattle being, in 

 a considerable number of the herds, badly diseased before they were inocu- 

 lated ; and (2ud) through improper virus being used, or the operation being 

 improperly performed. 



With regard to the first of these impediments to the success of inocu- 

 lation, it is a well-known fact that a very large proportion of owners did 

 not inoculate their cattle until they were alarmed at the number of deaths 

 among them ; and, by that time, the disease had obtained a firm footing in 

 their herds. Thousands of cattle, therefore, — which wei'e evidently diseased, 

 and more than thrice as many thousands, which were so, but shewed no 

 symptoms, — must have been inoculated ; and inoculation must be a cure, as 

 well as a preventive, to have been thoroughly successful in such cases. 

 This circumstance is of itself sufiicient to account for a great many of the 

 failures in inoculation, as well as for the deaths, which some of the owners 

 attribute to that operation. 



As to the second impediment, there is no doubt but a great many 

 mistakes were at first made, both in selecting the virus, and in performing 

 the oi?eration. It was some time before correct information was obtained 

 from Europe on these points ; and owners not only used virus which was 

 both useless and poisonous, but inoculated in such a way as to cause the 

 death of many of the cattle. When the operation was first attempted, pieces 

 of putrid lung were placed under the skin of the tail, and in doing so the 

 muscles and even the bones of the tail were frequently severely injured. 

 In this way inoculation was found to be worse than the disease ; and with 

 more experience and information that method of inoculating was abandoned 

 for the saturated thread and grooved inoculating knife ; while more correct 

 ideas as to the proper virus began to o])taiu. Still, for some time there were 

 many owners who neglected to make themselves properly acquainted with 

 the right sort of virus, and the correct mode of inoculating, and even up to 

 the present time some owners have failed to do so. This has not arisen 

 from the want of correct information, for ample directions on these points 

 have been frequently given through the press. 



The owners to whom allusion has just been made, were no doubt anxious, 

 and, in a certain sense, did everything in their power to make the operation 

 a success ; but there were many professional inoculators who did not care 

 whether it was successful or not, so long as they were paid at the rate of 6d. 

 to Is. a head for the cattle they inoculated. As the occupation of inoculation 

 was a very remunerative one — bringing in at times from £5 to £10 a day — 

 many, who knew very little of the disease, and less about the selection of 

 virus, took to it ; and to conceal their ignoi-ance, and keep up the deception, 

 surrounded the operation with a great deal of mystery ; while there is no 

 doubt, but in many instances they used virus (preserved as they termed it) 

 which had in reality nothiog but the right color to recommend it. 



