1 Dec., 1898. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 453 
the blood, though in a subdued and harmless condition—as far as that 
particular bullock is concerned. If, on the other hand, the bullock does not 
succeed in this, and the parasite wins, then both vanquished and victor alike 
perish, and the owner loses his property—though that, at any rate, is an aspect 
of the subject upon which, fortunately for us all, I am not called upon to 
say anything. 
PREVENTIVE MEASURES. 
Having thus, so to speak, reconnoitred the position, it remains now to 
consider the means at our disposal for opposing the assaults of the enemy. 
From what has been said, it is evident that the tick and the microparasite are 
quite distinct forces, either of which, singly, would be, comparatively speaking, 
harmless. For the microparasite alone— even supposing it existed in abundance 
in external Nature—might be safely disregarded, as, without the tick as an 
inoculating agent, it would have no means of gaining access to the blood of 
the cattle. And the tick alone, being unable to produce Texas fever, would be 
shorn of much of its terror. The strength of the attack lies in the fact that 
these two forces are'so closely allied and linked together for purposes of evil. 
Hence it appears to me one of the first and most important strategical 
questions we have to decide is whether it might be possible to break up this 
nefarious alliance; and the possibility of our being able to do this must, I 
think, depend on our obtaining a precise knowledge of the circumstances 
under which, in Nature, the tick and the microparasite become associated and 
dissociated. 
The subject is an extremely interesting one, but we have not now time to 
discuss it. But if it should be found that ticks only acquire the microparasite 
from the blood of previously infected cattle—and then only perhaps during 
some particular stage of its evolution, as during the height of the fever—it 
might conceivably be possible to prevent such an occurrence by insuring that 
any ticks which may spread into as yet clean areas, or the ticks now existing in 
places where no ‘lexas feyer has appeared, sliall not have access to any 
contatminated animals from which to obtain the objectionable associate. 
Tf, on the other hand, the Texas fever parasite exists in external Nature 
and can, be picked up from the soil, grass, or water by young ticks, apart 
altogether from antecedent bovine infection, itis obvious that such considera- 
tions could be of no value. ; 
The interest and importance attaching to such questions have reference, 
however, almost exclusively, to localities in which the tick plague is still 
unknown, or inwhich Texas fever has not yet made its appearance. And’it has 
also to be remembered that any such scheme as that just suggested, even if 
feasible in theory and in fact, might still be quite impracticable under the 
actual conditions of Australian herds. For it would be, to say the least, 
extremely difficult to prevent the intermingling of contaminated with uncon- 
taminated animals, and to limit the transportation of all cattle which might 
harbour the microparasite in their blood. 
INOCULATION. 
Putting aside, therefore, all such questions as we have been discussing, 
and leaving out of consideration the various means that have been adopted for 
limiting the spread of the ticks themselves—such as quarantine lines, medicinal 
agents, and dips and dressings—all of which have proved more or less ineffectual, 
we have to consider the means at our disposal for preventing the spread of 
Texas fever, or rather of mitigating its effects, and protecting the cattle 
against it; for so long as we have no effectual means of controlling the spread 
of the ticks, or of preventing them from carrying the germs of the disease, we 
can‘obviously have no effectual means of limiting the spread of the infection. 
All we can reasonably hope to do under these conditions—and what fortunately: 
we ean do’ very effectually—is to anticipate the spread of the disease by 
inoculating the cattle, and thus make them proof against it. 
