137 



animal to another. A dog, for instance, has been found to have its muscles 

 infected with the worms after having been fed upon the flesh of a badger which 

 was loaded with them." 



These worms, then, are no newly discovered creature, nor have they suddenly 

 shown a dangerous character, which they have not before exhibited ; indeed, they 

 have been thought rather harmless when imbedded in the muscles. The danger 

 seems to arise chiefly where they are introduced iuto the stomach in large quan- 

 tities. From the stomach and bowels they pass into the muscles, by eating 

 their way through them, and when in large numbers, the injury to these organs 

 results in inflammation. The following statements show in what manner the 

 trichinae pass from the stomach and bowels to the muscles : 



" The symptoms," says Mr. Gamgee, an English writer, " have been ascertained 

 in the course of experiments, and they are found to vary somewhat in different 

 cases. N'ot uncommonly rabbits, which are made to swallow thousands of 

 trichinse, appear to suffer no indisposition for some days, and then die suddenly. 

 Leuckart fed nine rabbits with half an ounce of muscle, containing about 160,000 

 trichince, and repeated the dose about three days afterwards. No symptoms of 

 importance resulted until the seventh day after the first administration, when 

 one of the rabbits died. After death, the diaphragm and the serous coat of the 

 intestine were of an intensely red color. Exudations had occurred from the 

 mucous membrane, on which numberless trichinae with their embryos were found. 

 Leuckart and Claus then traced the embryos on the peritoneal coat, (the smooth, 

 serous lining of the bowels and abdomen,) having therefore forced through the 

 intestine, and many were also found in the pleural cavities. Leuckart also 

 ti'aced the parasites in the red spots on the peritoneum, (the same smooth coat,) 

 which evidently indicates the parts where the parasites were burrowing. In 

 the pig thousands of trichinae may exist without affecting the animal's health; 

 though commonly, at the period of migration from the alimentary canal to the 

 muscular system, there is diarrhoea, lassitude, and a general feverish state. 

 These symptoms may be so severe as to kill, or may pass off; and either the 

 animal lives on with trichinae in its flesh, which afterwards die and cretify, (be- 

 come chalky,) or within a fortnight or a month there is evidence of pain, stiff- 

 ness in movements, languor, debility, and death." 



We here see the cause which makes these worms fatal. Their existence is 

 not new or strange; but when introduced in large numbers, their rapid prop- 

 agation and passage through the bowels and peritoneum cause death. The 

 numbers that may exist in a single ounce of infected meat are seen from this ex- 

 tract. We suppose, therefore, that the fatal cases reported by our consul, and 

 which have made the disease so notorious, arose from a hog being exceedingly 

 affected by them, and yet living in apparently good health. 



In the city of Washington, these trichinas have recently been found in rats, 

 occupying old pork-houses. And from Detroit we have the following account 

 of the death of a German girl : 



" There has been a case in Detroit of a girl from Germany, who died with 

 the trichina. Coming over to this country, she ate Bologna sausage, and after 

 her arrival was taken very ill. Dr. Kiefer, a German, who attended her, could 

 not tell what was the matter with her, but suspected that it was this disease. 

 After her death he examined her, and found that she was alive with these worms. 

 Each worm is enclosed in an e^g, and after it is admitted into the stomach, the 

 egg by coming in contact with the gastric juices dissolves, and the worm roams 



