408 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 1 May, 1898.] 
A HANDY FLEAM. ~ 
WE have received from Mr. W. Mcllwraith, Rockhampton, the following descrip - 
tion of a handy fleam, introduced by Mr. Smith, Sub-Inspector of Stock ‘at 
Rockhampton. The instrument appears very simple, and it is claimed for it~ 
that its use is perfectly safe and simple :— 
2 
The above are illustrations of the fleam, which Mr. Smith has fashioned, 
and which has been found very useful in the inoculating of cattle as a pre- 
ventive of tick fever. It is used instead of a trochar for drawing blood from 
a “recovered” animal. Itis formed of a small hammer shaft and the point 
of a table knife. The steel part (a) is two inches long, three-quarters broad, 
projects an inch from the handle, and the point is carefully ground and honed, 
A slit is cut in the hammer shaft as shown in No. 2, and the steel fixed with a 
copper washer and rivet as indicated (4). By using bend leather washers 
(No. 3) the depth to which the fleam can be driven is regulated ; when not in 
use the laucet point can be protected by these washers and a cover (No. 4) 
made of bend leather, with a slit between the hair and flesh sides. The jugular 
vein of the recovered animal is made to swell by a strap round the neck; the 
fleam is driven by a smart tap with a little billet of wood into the vein; the 
blood spurts out, is caught in a pannikin, defibrinated, and used for inoculation 
at once. One operator says with a cheap glass syringe, a little bit of tubing, 
a stout inoculating needle, and fleam like this he could inoculate as safely as 
with more costly implements. 
