428 



trichinjj: in pork. 



A letter to tins department from Charles J. Sundcll, consul at Stettin, in 

 Prussia, announces the scourging of another locality by the fatal effects of in- 

 troducing pork infested with these parasites into the human system. It also 

 notices the recent terrible ravages of cholera in Stettin, by which 2,118 died of 

 3,416 attacks, among a population of 80,000. The follov/ing extracts aremaile : 



" About that most dreadful disease in swine called trichinae, nothing further 

 was heard here since the Hadersleben calamity in January and February last, 

 until recently ; the reappearance of said malady is now being reported from the 

 city of Greitswald, in this province. The meat of one single animal, and that 

 not wholly used, as some remaining parts thereof were confiscated as soon as its 

 .infection was discovered, seems to have been enough to infest with these para- 

 . sites over sixty persons, and among these some of the best men there. The 

 sufferings from this shocking intrusion into the system is said io be attended 

 Avith most distressing agonies, and it is feared that many of those affected will 

 ;pay with their lives for yielding to that peculiar taste for raw, chopped, or 

 insufficiently cooked and smoked meat, so prevalent in this country. It is stated 

 that those who had partaken of sausages prepared fresh from the infected meat, 

 and only superficially smoked, are subject to worse pains than those who had 

 eaten cutlets and other dishes insufficiently cooked. It follows therefrom that 

 the greater the heat to which such meats are subjected the surer will the 

 parasites therein be made harmless, and this is a simple fact which cannot be too 

 strongly impressed upon the mind in a country like ours, where pork is so ex- 

 tensively eaten. It is also contended that by cutlets it is hardly possible to have 

 the heat penetrate the meat sufficiently without burning some portion of the 

 chops. The simple remedy Avoixld be to prepare cutlets Avithout bones, and so 

 with all other dishes from swine's meat. 



" The scientific commission of the medical faculty in Prussia gave as their 

 decision, under date of the 14th of February last, that microscopical examina- 

 tions of certain (enumerated) parts of the swine would be the surest way to 

 prevent these fearful diseases. The government has, therefore, now recom- 

 mended microscopic meat inspections, and that much care be taken in thoroughly 

 cooking and preparing, but such examinations have not been made obligatory. 

 This advice, as the Greifswald calamity proves anew, is discreet and well meant, 

 but butchers and meat sellers here seem to care little about it, and it is now pub- 

 licly proposed that those who sell trichinous meat be made responsible for the 

 consequences. Thus it will be seen that the people here are in earnest to guard, 

 if possible, against the recurrence of this late discovered ill that human flesh is 

 iheir to." 



ITEMS OF FRENCH INDUSTRY. 



The following f;xcts of agriculture are given upon authoiity of M. T7eyhe, a 

 French writer upon national economy, from original translations : 



Teasels. — French teasels, generally cultivated in the vicinity of Avignon, 

 are becoming an important article of commerce, they being considered by manu- 

 facturers of cloth as three times as durable as those raised in Germany, attribu- 

 table to the peculiar fitness of the soil from which they grow. 



Madder — The madder grown in the department of Vaucluse is of such ex- 

 cellent quality as to be generally preferred to the Silesian, Dutch, or eastern 

 product. The cultivation of this coloring plant is also carried on to considerable 

 extent in Alsatia, being disposed of for coloring cloth for the French army. 



