EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
125 
diseased slieep be subsequently introduced, the pastures will 
remain free from fluke. It appears to me that taking Dr. 
Cobbokks theory to be correct, and of this I have not the 
slightest doubt, the plan I have suggested is the only rational 
method of stamping out liver-fluke from our flocks. The 
difficulties and the loss attending these proceedings might 
at first sight appear very great, but if you compare them 
with those incurred in the retention of fluky sheep, the 
loss will be comparatively trifling, and in the long run it 
will be found “ the first loss will be the best/'’ Store sheep 
are just now in great demand, and our infested sheep could 
readily be sold to or exchanged for sound ones with any of 
the sheep breeders on the salt bush country, provided a 
liberal allowance was made to cover an increased mortality, 
which under any circumstances would not exceed 20 per 
cent. No sheep will fatten so quickly on salt country as 
those infested with flukes. I have fattened thousands of 
them on the Murray plains, and converted them into money 
within six months after their arrival. The suggestions I have 
ventured to offer to my fellow sheep farmers are the result 
of a long and painful experience of the folly of continuing to 
breed from infected sheep in a country favorable to the 
reproduction of fluke. If this communication should only 
be the means of exciting more attention to its important 
subject than has hitherto been displayed by slieep-owners 
my object will be accomplished; more thought and more 
research may lead to fresh discoveries in this interesting 
branch of therapeutics. At present, from the data before 
us, we must come to the inevitable conclusion that there is 
no remedy for liver-fluke, and that the sooner they are 
fattened and converted into cash the better it will be for the 
colony.-” 
In a footnote Dr. Rowe questions whether flukes ever 
pass out by the bowels of infected animals* He says —“ My 
observations lead me to doubt the accuracy of Dr. Cobbold's 
statement in this respect. I do not think the living fluke 
ever leaves the ducts of the liver ; its embryo only, encased 
in an eggshell of the minutest size, passes through the liver 
duct. I have never found a living fluke in the duct small 
enough to pass through.” 
