156 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[June, 



Fig. 3. — Section of flesh showing capsules broken and escape 

 of Trichinae. 



females produce fi'om 

 1 ,500 to 2,000 embryos, 

 and as they are ten 

 times as numerous as 

 the males, their repro- 

 duction is rapid. In 

 six days the females 

 contain perfectly de- 

 veloped and free living 

 embryos, and these 

 pass out at the vaginal 

 opening and are set 

 free in the intestinal 

 canal of their living- 

 host. Being born with- 

 out any shell, free and 

 active, they soon com- 

 mence their wander- 

 ings, boring through 

 the intestinal walls in 

 seeking permanent 

 lodgment in the muscles of the body. They travel in the coarse 

 intermuscular connective tissue, and their favorite seat is in the 

 sheathed muscles nearest the cavities of the body, more particu- 

 larly the diaphragm, near its attachments, and in the psoas, or loin 

 muscles of the back. They sometimes invade, in much less 

 numbers, all the muscles of the body, producing severe pain and 

 stiffness of the infected parts of the body. In about 1 2 or 14 days 



after they have become 

 permanently located in 

 the muscular tissue 

 they acquire the size 

 and appearance of the 

 'Tric/iiniv s p ir al is 

 (Fig. i). The spot in- 

 habited bythe rolled-up 

 parasites is converted 

 into a spindle-shaped 

 widening, and within 

 this nest, under the 

 thickened sarcolemma, 

 the formation of the 

 1 c m o n - s h a p e d cyst 

 commences by periph- 

 eric hardening and cal- 

 cification. One cyst 

 may contain from one 



Fig. 4. — Showing section of trichinous meat. . .1 



to three worms. 

 The worms become encvsted and enter an inert state after 



