Ruschenberger.] -L^U [April 1, 



found in the Academy, lie could not have succeeded in many of his 

 original researches. 



Dr. Leidy was elected Lihrarian December, 1845. He resigned at the 

 end of the year, and the Academy voted him thanks for his efficient ser- 

 vice. In December, 184G, he was elected a Curator, and was continuously 

 Chairman of the Board till he died^more than forty-four years. 



During all that time he virtually directed and managed the afltairs of 

 the museum. To him it was a congenial occupation — helped him in the 

 line of his pursuits. 



At the weekly stated meetings of the Academy the Chairman of the 

 Curators usually invited attention to any notable addition to the museum. 

 In this connection his verbal communications, which are recorded in the 

 Proceedings, are very numerous, and were always seemingly delivered 

 and heard with pleasure. An examplary specimen of them is, as follows : 



At a stated meeting of the Academy, October 6, 1846, Dr. Leidy 

 announced substantially that he had lately detected an entozoon in the 

 thigh of a hog, which "is a minute, coiled worm contained in a cyst. 

 Tiie cysts are numerous, white, oval in shape, of a gritty nature, and 

 between the thirtieth and fortieth of an inch in length." He supposed it 

 "to be the Tricliina spiralis heretofore considered as peculiar to the 

 human species. He could perceive no distinction between it and the 

 specimens of T. spiralis which he had met with in several human subjects 

 in the dissecting rooms, where it had been observed by others, since the 

 attention of the scientific public had been directed to it by Mr. Hilton and 

 Prof. Owen."* 



In an address, delivered Maj' 1, 1886, he said : "I recall to mind an 

 occasion upwards of forty years ago, while I was a student assisting my 

 preceptor, Dr. Goddard, the Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University 

 and Prosector to Prof. Horner. TVe were making preparations for a 

 lecture on the muscles when Dr. Goddard, who was endowed with quick 

 perception and sharp vision, observed an appearance in the flesh which 

 led him to examine it with the microscope. In it he found a number of 

 minute coiled worms to which he called the attention of Prof. Horner. 

 The parasite had been discovered a short time previously by the English 

 surax'on, Sir James Paget, and was described by Prof. Owen with the 

 name Trichina spiralis. Several j'ears later I found the same parasite in 

 pork."f 



It appears that the existence of trichinse in the human subject was first 

 noticed in England in 1832. 



On the 22d of January, 1833, Mr. John Hilton read a paper before the 

 Medico-Chirurgical Society of London, entitled, "Notes on a peculiar 



* Proc. Arwl. Nat. Sc. of Phila., Vol. iii, pp. 107-S, 18^6. 



t " Au Address on Evolution and the Pathological Importance of the Lower Forms of 

 Life." By I'rof. Joseph Leidy. Delivered before the graduating class of the Medical 

 Department of the University of Pennsylvania, May 1, 1886. Keprinted from the 

 Therapeutic Gazette for June 15, 1886. George S. Davis, Detroit, Mich., 1886. 



