141 



By these tables it will be perceived that we have found trichinae in the muscles of 

 twenty-eight hogs out of the 1,394 examined. We may therefore conclude that in 

 the hogs brought to Chicago one in fifty is affected with trichiuiasis, in agreater 

 or less de<'ree. We must confess our surprise at arriving: at this result, which in- 

 dicates, with little doubt, the startling fact that trichiuiasis in pork is even more 

 common in this country than in Germany, where it caused so much suffering and 

 death. " For instance, in the city of Brunswick, where a most careful inspection 

 of 19,747 hogs was made in the years 1864-'65, only two were found to contain 

 trichinae in their muscles, the proportion being one to ten thousand against one to 

 fifty, as before stated, in our country. The comparative immunity from disease 

 which our own people have enjoyed undoubtedly results from our habit of cookin^ 

 meat before eating it, while in Germany it is eaten raw by the poorer classes on 

 account of the high price of fuel. 



It will be also observed, by consulting these tables, that the specimens ex- 

 amined show great variation in the number of the worms infesting them. We 

 have given, indeed, only an approximation to the number existing' in a cubic 

 inch in each specimen of muscle, but this approximation is sufficiently near the 

 truth for our present purposes. Our method has been to count the trichinas oc- 

 curring in the several different portions of muscle, each a cubic tenth of an inch 

 . in size, and to multiply the average number by one thousand to find the number 

 to a cubic inch. By this method we find that only three of our specimens (Nos^ 

 10, 11, and 23) contain over ten thousand to the cubic inch, and are, therefore,, 

 as densely infested with the Avorms as the pork which has occasioned the dis- 

 asters in Germany. The remaining twenty-five are infested in a comparatively 

 slight degree, viz : from fort^'-eight to six thousaiid to the cubic inch. The spe- 

 cimen most thickly infested contains eighteen thousand to the cubic insh, and 

 we have calculated that a person eating an ordinary meal of this pork in a raw 

 state would speedily become a victim to the ravages of not less than a million of 

 young trichinae. In certain cases of death from tiichiniasis the number found 

 in the muscles of man has been two millions. 



With regard to the muscles of the hog most liable to be infested, we have to 

 state that our determinations do not accord with those of European observers, 

 inasmuch as more than half of our trichinous specimens have been taken from 

 the spinal muscles. 



HOW TO GUARD AGAINST THE EVIL^ 



• 



Now that the existence of trichinae in our pork has heeu established beyond 

 a doubt, it will be proper for us to point out all known means of defence against 

 its ravages. First, with regard to the rearing of hogs. These animals un- 

 doubtedly b^^come infested through the eating of flesh of some kind, since no 

 trichinae, nor germs of trichinae, have ever been found in any vegetable food. 

 A strict attention to the feeding of hogs, and their confinement in pens where no 

 animal food is accessible, is an infallible preventive against trichiuiasis in them. 

 Such management is all the more necessary, since European authorities agree 

 that it is impossible to diagnose the disease in the animal from external appear- 

 ances, and no culpability can therefore attach to the farmer for selling hogs 

 which prove to be affected with trichinae. 



In regard to pork the origin of which is doubtful, the use of the microscope 

 is primarily indicated. With this instrument only can we ascertain with cer- 

 tainty whether the muscles of the hogs are free from the parasite. The general 

 use of the instrument is, however, impracticable, unless a system of microscopic 

 inspection be adopted here, as in Europe, at the great packing establishments. 

 But we have in our power much more simple means of insuring safety in the 

 consumption of pork. It is simply necessary to cook it thoroughly, so that every 

 portion of the meat shall have experienced a temperature of at least 160 degrees 



