20G SOCIETY OF PHYSICS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF GENEVA. 



should hope tliis to he the case. The experiment, even if it shoukl not have 

 the romantic character indicated, Avill probably teach some curious details of the 

 life of these parasites. Almost everywhere the commonest rules of cleanliness 

 are disregarded in the rearing of pigs. Yet pigs are naturally clean animals, 

 avoiding" like dogs and cats, all contact with ordure. Though they burrow in 

 the earth, and in summer wallow in the mud, they abhor the heaps of excre- 

 ments mixed with straw in and upon which they are frequently kept. A due 

 regard to cleanliness will prevent trichime in the pig. In wild boars, of which 

 many are eaten in the country round the Hartz mountains, trichina has never 

 been found. Neither has it been rnet with in sheep, oxen, or horses. Beef is 

 the satcst of all descriptions of meat, as no parasites have ever been discovered 

 in it. They have also never been found in the blood, brain, or heart of those 

 animals in whose striated muscles they love to reside. — British Medical Journal. 

 [Lately, the common ground-worm has been found to be infested by trichinaj, 

 one of the probable sources of the infection of swine.] 



The interest excited by this case has induced a more careful investigation 

 into the consequences resulting from the imprudent use of hog's flesh, and fatal 

 cases have been recently reported in this country. It had, indeed, been long 

 known among men of science that the trichina Avas occasionally found incysted 

 in the muscles of man in the United States as well as in other countries, but no 

 case of death resulting from the presence of the worms is known to have been 

 observed till recently. In February, 1864, "an instance of the poisoning of 

 a whole family and the death of one member caused by eating ham" infested 

 with the trichina was observed by Dr. Schnetter in the city of New York.* 

 Dr. L. Krombein has since recorded some cases of a fatal nature noticed by 

 him in the western part of the State. Having been summoned to attend a man 

 and his wife resident in the village of Chccktonaga, he found them afflicted 

 apparently with '• acute muscular rheumatism of a somewhat peculiar charac- 

 ter," and was sustained in his opinion by the concurrent belief of an associate, 

 Dr. Dingier. He subsequently surmised that the symptoms might indicate 

 trichiniasis ; and the patients having soon afterwards died, a microscopical 

 examination by Dr. Krombein, assisted by Dr. Homberger, demonstrated the 

 presence of " trichina3 both in the incysted and free state." " The specimen 

 of human muscle taken from one of these cases after death, and also the sau- 

 sages eaten of, wei'e examined by Dr. J. 11. Lothrop and Professor George 

 Iladley under the microscope, and the trichina found in both in gi-eat numbei"^. 

 In the muscle the parasite was free, in the sausage incysted." t Other members 

 of the family, attacked by the same parasite, were only less unhappy in escaping 

 a fatal end. 



[The foregoing accounts, though they indicate an alarming cause of disease, 

 point out a ready means by which the evil may be averted, particularly in the 

 great pork marts of this country, namely, inspection by the microscope. It 

 will probably be found that the disease is exceedingly rare, but the assur- 

 ance which the inspection would give of this fact would be of sufficient import- 

 ance to warrant its adoption. — J. H.] 



* American Medical Times, Fehniary 20, 1864. 



t Uuliulo Medical aud Suigical Jom-nul, June, 1864. 



