24 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



The English examination spoken of reads as follows : 



" The inspectors of the Veterinary Department examined two 

 hundred and seventy-nine separate portions of swings flesh, which 

 were sent from Liverpool, and detected living trichinae in three 

 specimens" (1 to 93). 



As to the discrepancy spoken of between the results of my ex- 

 aminations, made about a year apart : it is not greater than that 

 between any two lots taken at random in the same examination, nor 

 so great as between very many lots examined on two consecutive 

 days ; for instance, in my series of 1881, lot 14 (source the same 

 as in 1879) consisted of 100 pieces, of which none were infected, 

 while of lot 13, 121 pieces, six were trichinous. 



In two different epidemics of small-pox, the number of deaths 

 is never the same, or even the number of cases. Are we, then, to 

 say a later invasion is not small-pox, because the number of cases or 

 deaths is less or more than in a previous ? I never for a moment 

 expected similar results, and should have been as pleased to find 

 none as any one in the country. 



"With reference to the English examination, 1 to 93, it is greater 

 dy far than the ratio of infection found in the hogs of any 

 other country, and greater than I found in some lots examined hy 

 me; for instance, lots 1, 2, 3, 4, of my third series, 1881, con- 

 tained, respectively, 105, 45, 65, and 80 specimens, representing 295 

 hogs, of which three were trichinous, 1 to 98. Further, we do not 

 know the parts that -the English examined ; had they been pillars 

 of the diaphragm, the proportion might have been greater. 



As to the correctness of my results, I will simply say that Dr. 

 Folsom, of the Massachusetts Board of Health, went over a large 

 part of those examined in 1879, and that competent physicians and 

 a gentleman whom I educated to work with me, continually revised 

 my other specimens as I examined them. 



Again, if the Commissioner of Agriculture doubts my results, 

 let him send a competent man, or men, here, and examine with me 

 the same specimens, be it one or ten thousand, and I venture to say 

 we shall find a percentage of infection larger than that reported in 

 any other country, and large enough to satisfy any one. 



Further, the Germans might well doubt the figures of their own 

 examinations, as, from the Prussian statistics, we see the ratio of 

 infection is steadily augmenting. 



I wish now to refer to the report of Dr. Jansen T. Payne,* from 

 which I quote the following : 



* Report of the American Public Health Association, 1881. 



