PARASITES OF ANIMALS. 117 



hundred or more persons, should they eat it raw or but slightly 



cooked. 



Oases of Trichiniasis. 



Since 1860 thousands of cases have been observed and hun- 

 dreds of deaths are known to have occurred, especially in 

 Germany, where the custom of eating various forms of raw 

 or imperfectly cooked pork is much more common than in 

 this country. At Hettstadt, in 1863, the flesh of one pig in- 

 fected one hundred and thirty-five persons, of whom twenty 

 died. Several other similar " epidemics" have also occurred 

 in the same country. In the United States, many sad cases 

 have also been recorded, as the following in stances will show: 



At Marion, Iowa, May, 1866, Mr. Bemis and eight mem- 

 bers of his family ate rare -done and raw ham, and were im- 

 mediately taken sick. Up to June 3d, three had died, and 

 others were considered critical. A post-mortem examination 

 showed about two hundred thousand worms to a cubic inch of 

 muscle in one of those who died. 



AtDubuque, Iowa, according to Dr. Asa Horr, two families 

 were attacked. In one five persons died ; in the other, five 

 or six. Through him we also learn of a case where the 

 mother of a family ate of the interior, rare-done part of a 

 ham and took the disease, while those who ate the outside 

 escaped. 



At Springfield, Mass., February, 1867, Mr. Ransley Hall 

 and family ate of raw ham, and all seven were attacked in 

 various degrees, according to the amount eaten. A daughter, 

 aged seventeen, died, and the father had a long and very 

 dangerous illness. 



At Albany, N. Y., January, 1869, two boys ate of raw ham 

 and were infected ; the rest of the family ate of the same 

 ham, when cooked, and escaped. 



At Rome, Oneida County, N. Y., December, 1868, Mr. 

 John Wilbrecht and family, nine persons in all, ate raw 

 smoked and dried sausages. All were dangerously sick, and 

 four adults, the father, son, and two daughters died before 

 January 15th. Their sausages and salt pork were examined 

 and found to be full of Trichina, as were also the muscles of 

 those who died. 



