170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



muscular system as thoroughl}' invaded with the parasites as where 

 the quantity was large and thus produced severe trichinisis or was 

 followed by a fatal termination. 



Hence we are led to infer that hogs may become infected by this 

 Doxious flesh-worm without ever showing the slighest s3'mptoms of 

 disease through life. Again, a mild t3'pe of this trouble would never 

 be noticed by any farmer in the State, and undoubtedly many cases 

 of trichiniasis have occurred, which were treated for "hog cholera" 

 or "black tush." 



Nearly all mammalia can be artificially infected with trichinae, but 

 our danger comes wholly from the porcine race. Swine are the bear- 

 ers of this parasite which affects mankind. Hence the necessity 

 of more carefully studying the various diseases of the hog, and ac- 

 cordingl}' exercising greater care in the rearing of these animals for 

 the market, that our own tables may be protected and our lives pro- 

 longed. 



HISTORY OF THE DISEASE IN MAN. 



Though much had been learned concerning the natural history of 

 this parasite, especially through the investigations of Leuckart and 

 Virchow, yet Dr. Zenker of the Dresden Medical School supple- 

 mented these observations in a timel}' manner and threw new light 

 upon the subject, in a medical point of view. He found upon mi- 

 croscopic examinations, free and living trichin.ne in the muscles of 

 a servant girl who died in the hospital, at the age of twenty, of 

 what was supposed to be a typhoid fever. She was taken ill January 

 12, 1860, and fell a victim to this strange malady within a month. 

 Her symptoms were severe, and in some respect resembled rheuma- 

 tism, with painful swellings of the limbs. The history of the case, 

 therefore, was of more than usual interest to the profession, and ex- 

 cited not a little clinical inquir}^ but no one mistrusted the cause of 

 the trouble. It was soon ascertained, however, after Zenker's post- 

 mortem disclosure, that she had assisted in the making of sausage 

 on the 21st of December previously, and that she had partaken of 

 some of the raw meat only a few days before her illness. This led to 

 his well-known investigation on the nature and pathology of trichiniasis, 

 which has been so extensively published to the world, and has already 

 crowned his life with a diadem of philanthropj^, that scientific men 

 will ever revere. 



