1^18.1 VETERINARY MEDICINE. 883 



Tests made of the action of " bitterweed " {Helenhim tenuifoUum) Indicate 

 that it is toxic for horses, mules, and dogs, but not so for cattle. A collection of 

 ISO tabanids was made during the fall. 



A series of tests made to determine the toxic action of Eupatonum ageratoides 

 indicate that it produces progressive degenerative change in the red blood cells, 

 polymorphonuclear cells, and eosinophils. In the cat, dog, and goat it failed to 

 produce any symptoms resembling " trembles." 



White snakeroot or richweed (Eupatorium urticagfolium) as a stock- 

 poisoning plant, C. D. Marsh and A. B. Clawson (C7; S. Dept. Affr., Bur. 

 Anim. Indus., 1918, pp. 7, fig. 1). — This is a popular summary of information, 

 based upon the investigations previously noted (E. S. R., 38, p. 685), in which it 

 is pointed out that the losses of live stock from poisoning by this plant should be 

 avoided by prevention rather than by reliance upon remedies. Since it takes a 

 fairly large quantity to poison an animal, little harm will result from eating the 

 plant for a short time unless the animal is unusually hungry. 



Efficacy of some anthelmintics, M. C. Hall and W. D. Foster ([/. S. Dept. 

 Agr., Jour. Agr. Research, 12 {1918), No. 7, pp. 897-447, fig. 1). — In carrying out 

 the series of experiments here reported the plan of the authors was to test as 

 many drugs as possible having a known or alleged anthelmintic value, making 

 further experiments with the more promising. The animals were given an 

 appropriate dose of the anthelmintic to be tested. ' The treatment was usually 

 administered in the morning and all feces were collected and examined every 

 morning thereafter until the animal was killed, which was usually the morning 

 of the fourth day after the administration of the last dose of the anthelmintic, 

 and all parasites remaining were collected and counted. 



The experimental data presented are arranged in three groups, (1) simple 

 purgatives, (2) a group including anthelmintics having a mineral base and coal- 

 tar products, and (3) a group covering the vegetable anthelmintics. The con- 

 clusions drawn by the authors from the results of the investigations reported 

 are as follows : 



" Simple purgatives, calomel and castor oil, may have some slight value as 

 anthelmintics, but it is hardly sufficient to justify their use for this purpose. 

 Ascarids in dogs are sometimes removed by castor oil given as a preliminary 

 purge, and this fact may prove of benefit in veterinary practice as a diagnostic 

 measure when the more accurate method of microscopic fecal examination can 

 not be carried out. However, castor oil failed to remove ascarids more fre- 

 quently than it succeeded, and in no case were all the ascarids removed from any 

 one animal. As many of the experiments on dogs were preceded by a dose of 

 castor oil, the writers have fairly extensive data on this subject. 



" The most reliable vermifuge for ascarids, whether in dogs or s\vine, is oil of 

 chenopodium. This drug, which was tested out on 34 dogs in six experiments, 

 showed an efficacy for the entire series of 97 per cent. It rarely fails to remove 

 all the ascarids present in a dog if given at the rate of 0.2 mil per kilogram, 

 preceded by a dose of castor oil and the animal starved for 24 hours before 

 treatment. The chenopodium treatment is also very efficacious for ascarids in 

 swine and when properly administered may be expected to remove most, if not 

 all, of the worms present. It would seem, however, that neither chenopodium nor 

 any other drug tested will give satisfactory results if mixed with the daily 

 ration and the animals allowed to dose themselves ; it is best given to each pig 

 individually in suitable dosage, preceded by a fast. While this method neces- 

 sarily involves considerable labor when treating animals as unruly as swine, 

 the labor can be reduced by sorting the liogs roughly into classes according to 

 size and confining them in inclosures which will permit them to be caught with 



