172 BOARD OF AGRlCLLTUKk. 



are felt, especially hi the neck and extremities. In lact, they are 

 neither sick nor well, observes Leiickart. and vet thev feel stransrelv 

 and are unable to account for it. Following this transition stage, the 

 pains become more intensified in certain muscles, and with more or 

 less swelling. • 



Thus a chronic febrile condition sets in, differing from the usual 

 type only in the absence of acute symptoms. In other cases a high 

 fever occurs suddenly, with severe bronchial catarrh, and the patient 

 often succumbs to such an attack in a few days, which of course is 

 very terrifying to the friends, and especially so when it shall have 

 been ascertained that the whole cause of the troul>le is this dreaded 

 parasite, consumed with the meat from a fine domestic hog, reared 

 on his premises and fed by his own hands. 



MEANS OF PREVENTION. 



• 



Although the swine of every land may occasionally be infected 

 with this noxious parasite, still the frequenc}' of its transmission will 

 depend in a great measure upon the habits of the people. In those 

 countries where the practice of eating raw pork and sausages so ex- 

 tensivel}' prevails, of course the parasites contained in the flesh will 

 be transported to the human stomach unmolested, but no fears need 

 be anticipated from even the free use of j)ork if it has been sub- 

 jected to a sufficient degree of heat, in the process of cooking, to 

 destroy every germ of animal life ; then it would be as harmless from 

 this cause as fish, beef, or venison. 



The ravages of this loathsome malady from the use of diseased 

 pork are not confined to any country, and I believe it prevails more 

 extensive!}' than is generally supposed. Dr. George Sutton of Au- 

 rora, Indiana, who has been examining pork killed in the State, in 

 1875, says he had found from three to sixteen per cent of the hogs 

 affected with this disease — differing in various localities — and that, 

 taking the rate at four per cent, we have put upon the market from 

 the Western States 221,484 diseased hogs, or about 44,290,800 

 pounds of infected meat, ever}' ounce of which might produce dis- 

 ease.* 



The Committee of the Chicago Academy of Science has shown 

 that the percentage of swine infected by the trichina in the Western 



*A report on Trichinosis, from the Transactions of the Indiana State Medical Society, 1875. 



