NEWS AND ITEMS. 
451 
Extreme Pyrexia.— Roscoe R. Bell, D.V.S., of Brooklyn, 
reports that he was called to a patient on July 31st, the subject 
being a driving horse which had been driven from Brooklyn to 
Coney Island, at a very moderate speed, and tied in the sun 
(which was extremely hot) while the occupants of the carriage 
enjoyed themselves on the beach. At noon the horse was 
offered his dinner of oats, which he refused, and about six 
o’clock his head was turned toward his city home, but while he 
plodded along there was no spirit to his movements, and when 
three miles had been traversed began to stagger, meantime per¬ 
spiring and showing other indications of being overwrought. 
He was forced to continue his unwilling journey, but after 
another mile became unable to proceed further. At this point 
Dr.. B. was telephoned for, arriving in half an hour, finding the 
patient lying in a field, with rapid respiration, frenzied attempts 
to arise, but evidently in a dying condition. No medication 
was indulged in, but recognizing that it was a case of the effects 
of heat upon the cerebrum, his temperaturer was taken, and 
found to be no° F. The registration was epeated, and the 
mercury ran so quickly to the extreme rating of his clinical 
thermometer, that he thinks there is no doubt but that the true 
amount of heat would have registered 115 or 120 degrees Fahr¬ 
enheit. 
Destroying Ticks with Cotton-Seed Oil. —Dr. M. 
Francis,, of the Texas Experiment Station, has lately drawn at¬ 
tention in a paper to the method of destroying ticks upon cattle 
of his State, and as the study of the tick pest is one of his prin¬ 
cipal duties, his description is of much value. After several 
unsuccessful attempts to destroy them by various means the 
dipping process has been adopted with the most gratifying re¬ 
sults. A large vat of the capacity of 5,000 gallons is used, and 
the cattle are forced to swim through it. Various carbolic and 
arsenical, sheep-dips were employed, but either the cattle had to 
be kept in them too long a time in order to kill all the ticks or 
they were irritated by the ingredients. This led Dr. Francis to 
try the effects of oil in destroying the ticks. It is well known 
that grease or oil of almost any kind is fatal to insects, lice, etc., 
and so a layer of three-quarters to one inch in thickness of crude 
cotton-seed oil on the water in the vat was first used, the cat¬ 
tle being forced to swim through it, so that when they emerged 
from the vat they were covered perfectly with the oil. This 
procedure had no' ill effect upon the cattle, but was exceedingly 
fatal to the ticks, and was superior to any other treatment ex- 
