20 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



In clause 8 it does not stand upon facts, but upon a mere asser- 

 tion — that " probably," etc. 



Again, the person who instructed the Government knew abso- 

 lutely nothing about trichinae. Neither the breed of the hogs nor 

 corn-feeding, or any manner of feeding as commonly practiced, aside 

 from swill-feeding, need have anything to do, pro or con, with tri- 

 chinae in the hog. The hogs at the two great packing centers have 

 never been thoroughly examined for trichinae, and at the time this 

 document was published neither the Interior nor any other depart- 

 ment had organized any proper examination of American pork. 



The percentage of deaths among human beings has nothing to 

 do with the percentage of infection among swine. 



Luckily for the American people, it has not. Even though 

 cooking will kill trichinae, and thus render infected pork harmless, 

 it does not prove that American hogs have " much less trichinae 

 than those of any other country." A German has as much right to 

 indulge a taste for uncooked smoked ham or spiced hashed pork as 

 an American or Englishman has for rare or raw, warm or cold roast 

 beef. The German may be invaded by trichinae for his cannibal- 

 ism, and the American by a tape-worm (tamia medio-canalata). 



Examinations of American Pork. 



At Chicago, April, 1S81, a Dr. Paton is said (newspaper report) 

 to have examined twenty specimens each, from four hundred hogs, 

 and found none trichinous. 



The Chicago Academy of Sciences (" Boston Medical and Surgi- 

 cal Journal," vol. lxxiv, p. 1S6) reports the examination of thirteen 

 hundred and ninety-four hogs, and finding twenty-eight trichinous. 



Health Commissioner De Wolff reported (1879) finding eight 

 out of a hundred trichinous. 



In 1879 I commenced my examinations of pork for the State 

 Board of Health of Massachusetts, and again during three months 

 of the summer of 1881. These examinations were not made upon 

 any selected lots of swine, but the specimens were taken at random 

 from the hogs as they hung up. 



!No attempt was made to discover whence the hogs originally 

 came, though, with the exception of about fifty, they were all 

 bought at Chicago, and hence were emphatically Western hogs. In 

 making these examinations, the pillars of the diaphragm were inva- 

 riably used, one pillar representing one hog. But three microscopic 

 specimens were taken from each pillar — a rule which I invariably 

 adhered to. 



