20 JULY 1872, Page 3

The dry heat which is sometimes felt in New York

appears to be terribly dangerous to life. A temperature of 106° in the shade is not uncommon in the hotter districts of India, say Saugor or Jubbulpore, but in New York the hot week ending 4th July killed the people and the horses in hundreds, though the thermo- meter barely touched 100°. The people could get no sleep, and 1,000 persons were struck with heat apoplexy, usually during the night, of whom 230 died. The fact about the horses is curious, for as horses do not as a rule drink whisky, it indicates that drink is not the principal predisposing cause, which is probably the nervous exhaustion produced by the peculiar climate. This theory is confirmed by the frightful number of cases in which the heat produces delirium, and even permanent insanity.