30 
Wilson and Chowning (lOOda, p. 32) refer to having seen 10 cases 
personal!}" in 1903, and to having collected data from 2 cases which 
they did not see. To these 12 cases, 7 deaths, should be added the 
following: 
1903, August-September. — E. B., telegraph operator, was at Woodman, on Lo Lo 
stream. Was taken sick with a chill Saturday evening (August 29), and brought to 
llissoula Monday morning (August 30), where he later died. He was aware of the 
“tick theory” which had been published, but claimed that he was not bitten by 
ticks. Mr. and Mrs. George Kieth say positively that there was no history of tick 
bite in this case. He was seen by Doctor McCullough and Dr. Parsons. 
1903, August-September. — J. G. W., 24 or 25 years old; so far as he knew, he was 
last bitten by a tick in July. About the last of August he was taken sick and saw 
Doctor McGrath, who made a diagnosis of “spotted fever” and sent him to St. Pat- 
rick’s Hospital in Missoula. He reached Missoula September 1 and was treated by 
Doctor Mills. The case, which was “typical,” ended fatally on September 5. 
During the season 1904 there occurred in the Bitter Eoot Valley 11 cases, with 9 
deaths. Thus we may complete the above table (p. 29) as follows: 
Date. 
Cases. 
Deaths. 
Lethality. 
1885 to 1902 
114 
80 
Per cent. 
70. 17 
1903 - 
14 
9 
64. 29 
1904 
11 
9 
81. 82 
Total Bitter Root Valiev, 1885 to 1904 
139 
98 
70.5 
Gatests cases near Bridger, 1894 to 1904 
17 
3 
17.6 
Comparison. — In bovine piroplasmosis large numbers of animals may be affected in 
the same season. In some years 20 per cent of the sheep in the swampy islands of 
the lower Danube are destroyed by carceag. 
The occurrence of a large number of cases of a piroplasmatic infec- 
tion in a given district is natural, when we consider how A"ery prolific 
an animal the tick is. A female tick lays hundreds of eggs, and it is 
the next generation (developing from the eggs of an infected female) 
which carries the infection. Accordingly, for every infected female 
which lays eggs, there may be hundreds of infected individuals of the 
next generation, hence piroplasmatic diseases are apt to attack large 
numbers of patients at about the same time in the same locality, and 
if ‘‘ spotted fever” is a piroplasmosis, transmitted by a tick, we should 
expect a large number of cases to develop in any locality in which one 
case develops. This, however, is exactly what we do not find in 
'‘spotted fever,” and this was the first point to lead me to seriously 
doubt the tick hypothesis. AYilson and Chowning lay considerable 
stress upon the point that, according to their studies, “ in no instance 
have two or more persons with the same food or water supply been 
simultaneously stricken with this disease.” 
LOCALITY OF INFECTION. 
Idaho . — Several Idaho observers speak especially of the fact that the disease is 
found in the valleys; and Collister (1896, p. 63) says that it is rarely found in high 
mountains. Maxey (1899, p. 434) states that in his opinion it is contracted while 
