108 PROTECTION OF PLANTS, lVUi-I7 



Not only are the forms which develop directly disseminated in this way, 

 but those which, like the tapeworms, must be taken up by an intermediate 

 host, find ideal conditions for their development here. The illustration well 

 shows how hogs might become infected if any of the occupants of the farm 

 harboured the pork tapeworm. Cattle would pick up the eggs of the beef 

 tapeworm from contaminated herbage. 



A striking instance of infestation of animals from defective sewage 

 disposal was reported by Dr. B. H. Ransom, in 1913. Three lots of cattle 

 from the same locality had shown a very high infestation wdth cysts of the 

 beef tapeworm. Examination of the surroundings under which they had 

 been kept showed that "(1) the intake of the w^ater supply for the cattle 

 troughs was in a small river 75 yards below the outlet of the sewer from the 

 city where the cattle were being fed; (2) in the cattle yard was a stagnant 

 pool which was the only water the cattle had to drink when the regular 

 supply was frozen, as it frequently was during the winter, and this pool re- 

 ceived the drainage from an area containing the privies of the establishment 

 where the feeding was done and from that part of the city where soil pollu- 

 tion existent; (3) the cattle were fed cotton seed hulls which were more or 

 less contaminated with human feces, as it was a common practice of the 

 employees of the establishment to defecate in the buildings where the hulls 

 were stored." « 



"An extreme case," it may well be proriounced and yet it is not alto- 

 gether too suggestive of conditions about many a farm home where, added 

 to the insanitary privy and defective drainage, there is almost always pollu- 

 tion by human excreta about the barns and the straw stacks. 



Such conditions emphasize the importance of proper inspection of meat 

 supply from farms and local slaughter houses. A few years ago there was a 

 great furor in the United States over conditions in the great packing houses, 

 and as a result, many important reforms were brought about. As a matter 

 of fact, the danger from such sources is vastly less than it is, carcass for car- 

 cass, from the local slaughter house. The animals reared on the great cattle 

 ranges are much less likely to be infested than are those reared on the 

 average home farm. It is a popular theory that locally grown and butchered 

 meats are the safest, but this is wholly fallacious, unless they are marketed 

 under a system which allows for a rigid inspection and for condemnation 

 of that which is unwholesome. 



Nor are meats the only food products which from the viewpoint of the 

 parasitologist should be subjected to supervision and to proper regulations 

 for the purpose of preventing contamination. All ready-cooked foods, and 

 fruits and vegetables which may be consumed uncooked, must be protected 



