124 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Mar. 
“ (i.) The fact that while the lavish expenditure of money in many of 
the research laboratories appears to be wasteful, and a great 
deal of work done which leads to no immediate financial 
return, the results of a single investigation may be of such 
far-reaching value in industry as to pay for all the abortive 
investigations.” 
The report concludes with a general discussion of the place of research 
in industry, and the organization of British industrial research. 
J. A. T. 
The Cattle-tick in Australia. Bull. No. 1, Advisory Council of Science 
and Industry, Commonwealth of Australia, 29 pp., Melbourne, 
1917. 
This bulletin is the report of a special committee appointed by the 
Commonwealth Advisory Council to review the whole position of the tick 
pest, present and future, and make recommendations both as to future 
scientific research and as to immediate remedial or preventive measures, 
whether by legislation or otherwise. It acquires a special interest for New 
Zealand in view of the recent discovery of the tick in the North of Auckland 
district, although fortunately tick-fever has not yet made its appearance. 
The fact that the cattle-tick is capable of giving rise to disease per se, by 
gross infestation, must not, however, be neglected. 
Tick-fever is a specific disease of the blood of cattle caused by a protozoan 
parasite, Piroplasma bigeminum or Babesia bigemina, which is spread by the 
cattle-tick, Boophilus australis. Even after an affected animal has recovered 
good health it is still a source of danger to uninfected cattle if the tick is 
about. 
The report gives a general account of the history of the pest in Australia, 
with statistics of the losses caused, the symptoms of the fever and its treat¬ 
ment, the abortive results of protective inoculation, the life-history of the 
tick, methods of eradication, and ends with recommendations for Federal 
control and for further research on points still doubtful. A campaign of 
tick-eradication financed by the Commonwealth and loyally followed by 
stockowners should do much to free Queensland of this costly pest. 
J. A. T. 
(1) Potash—an Investigation into its Economic Sources in South Aus¬ 
tralia ; ( 2 ) Wool-fat—its Recovery and Purification from the 
Wool-scouring Process : by D. C. Winterbottom. Bulletin of 
the Department of Chemistry, South Australia, No. 2, 34 pp., 
1916. 
Potash from Plants. —The author gives analyses of a number of sub¬ 
stances examined in the laboratory of his Department, from which one 
learns that the woods of various species of Eucalyptus yield an ash which 
may contain from 1-25 to 5-2 per cent, of potash. What amount of wood 
it would take to produce a ton of ash is not stated. The author attempted 
to extract the potash from straw, but found that the soluble silica (60 per 
cent, of the ash) was present in such great proportion as to render the 
lixiviation of potash salts unmanageable. He concludes from his analyses 
of sundry garden-plants, bracken, &c., that generally speaking the plant- 
life of Australia has a lower potash-content than that of European countries. 
