TRICIIINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 25 



" The method of conducting the researches was as follows : ' The 

 examples procured one afternoon were examined the following day 

 by the aid of a good microscope, capable of magnifying objects two 

 hundred diameters. A low power teas found to give greater satis- 

 faction than a higher one could have done, and observers in this 

 field icould do ivell to bear this in mind. When it is taken into ac- 

 count that each of the specimens had to be separated into minute 

 shreds before they were placed upon the stage of the microscope, and 

 consider the number of fibers examined in such cases ' " (he exam- 

 ined in all 21,600 specimens from 5,400 hogs), "' it will readily 

 be perceived that it is impossible to make anything like an ac- 

 curate guess as to the ichole numher of pieces of muscle-fiber ex- 

 amined? " 



Kesult : Number examined, 5,400 ; trichinous, 22. 



" By this series of examinations, it has been ascertained that 

 Southern-bred hogs are free from trichina? 



If there is anything I dislike to do, it is to criticise the work of 

 another observer ; but one would like to know if two hundred di- 

 ameters is considered a low power. For myself, when looking for 

 trichinae, should I use such a power, I should not expect to find 

 many trichinae, but boa-constrictors ; in fact, many would escape 

 me. The male trichina measures one eighteenth, the female one 

 eighth of an inch, in length — magnified two hundred diameters, 

 what would one have ? 



Again, dividing specimens into shreds may be highly technical, 

 but eminently unpractical ; for with crush-specimens one can easily 

 recognize the parasite, and it is done quickly ; while in this way, 

 and with such a high power as two hundred diameters, one would be 

 sure to miss many. 



I doubt the statement that " Southern hogs are free from trichi- 

 nae " as much as I do that " corn-feeding " has anything to do with 

 trichiniasis. 



But Boston is not the place for anything but statistical examina- 

 tions. "We must go nearer to the fountain-head. At Chicago it 

 would be possible to examine large lots of hogs that have come 

 directly from the breeder or fattener to the packer. Here lots 

 could be examined and traced to the breeder. If highly infected, 

 it would be easy to go to such places and make all manner of ex- 

 aminations of the remaining hogs, of the earth, worms, grubs, etc. 

 Some unknown living thing lodges trichinae before they enter the 

 porcine organism. The scientific questions are : What is it ? where 

 is it ? and what are its modes of life ? 



