SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
Arsenic as a Dip.—One of the interesting experiments carried out was the 
use of arsenic and soda as a dip, in the strength of 0.4 per cent. per gallon of 
water. This dipping mixture showed an excellent record, only 16 per cent. being 
found struck in the fifty (50) sheep used. Of these, some were “dried off.” 
The fleeces dipped in this solution were remarkably bright and clean. Yet I 
have a very strong prejudice against arsenic so strong as 0.4 per cent. being used 
as a dip mixture. The ordinary cattle dip must by law contain only 0.2 per’ cent. 
of arsenic. That is half the above, and many cases of scalding and death have 
been observed in cattle. There is also a case on record of a well-known English 
formula which contains 0.32 per cent. of arsenic per gallon, and which had been 
used for many years successfully against the fly in Britain, causing serious 
losses in a flock which had been dipped. Further and extended trial is necessary 
in this case. 
Washing with nearly Full Fleece—A trial was made by washing the sheep iv 
a liquor of soft soap and water. The appearance of the fleece later, on th¢ 
shearing board, was distinctly worse than those of similar sheep. I think that 
experiment should not be persevered with. 
Mice as Maggot Destroyers.—A report by Mr. C. J. Hare, the man in charge, 
shows that mice, which were so numerous up till recently, had devoured all thé 
maggots in several sheep under his observation. The cure, however, was pro’ 
bably as bad as the disease, for the mouse plague destroyed much good fodder, 
Chaleid Wasp as a means of Destroying the Maggots—My. Taylor, Entomo’ 
logist, was not many days on the ground before he discovered the presence of th¢ 
Chalcid Wasp. This parasite on Blow-fly pupe had been discovered in October, 
1913, by Mr. Edmund Jarvis, Assistant State Entomologist, and hatched out iv 
numbers in Brisbane. For various reasons nothing further was done in th¢ 
matter, but in search for a means to control the blow-fly there is no doubt that it 
will be very useful. There is this to be said, however, in the district where Mr- 
Jarvis discovered the parasite—Longreach, Talleagrand, and Strathdan stations— 
at the very time the Chaleid Wasp was found to be very numerous, station? 
reported that up to 80 per cent. of sheep had been struck by flies, and it is # 
matter of common knowledge that flies were very troublesome for years after’ 
wards. 
It seems to me that undue stress is being laid in New South Wales on the 
efficacy of the Chalcid Wasp as an exterminator of the blow-flies. There is cer’ 
tainly undue misrepresentation by the daily and other journals in the south ag 
_ to the investigations being carried out in Queensland. New South Wales 
problems and ours must differ, owing to the incidence of rainfall, which govern? 
the blow-fly pest, being so different. We are tropical and sub-tropical, and hayé 
a distinct dry season (May to October) and a distinct wet season (December to 
April), wherein very heavy rain falls in three seasons out of six. It is, there 
fore, absurd for the scientist of the southern States to say ‘‘ Queensland is asleep; 
and is just waking up.” Queensland, for the past five years, has been working 
quietly and persistently on the problem, and is not without hope that a solution 
is in sight. 
One use of physical science is that it gives 
definite ideas. 
—SIR_ HUMPHRY DAVY. 
on 
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