74 ALIMENTATION. 



cooked these parasites find their way into the muscles, pro- 

 ducing serious disease, and sometimes death. Since the 

 disease called trichiniasis, as it occurs in the human subject, 

 was first described by Professor Zenker, of Dresden, it has 

 been frequently observed and carefully studied by patholo- 

 gists. Pork that is thus tainted is called measly. The vi- 

 tality of the parasite is destroyed by thorough cooking. 1 



The flesh of various non-domesticated animals is esteemed 

 highly as food. In some parts of this country, buffalo-meat 

 is largely used. This is somewhat coarser and of a more de- 

 cided flavor than beef, but does not differ in its physiological 

 properties. Yenison is a meat very highly esteemed. This 

 resembles mutton, but, as a constant article of diet, is by no 

 means as agreeable. The flesh of the wild boar is used as 

 food in many European countries. It is darker and more 

 highly flavored than ordinary pork, and is generally regard- 

 ed as a delicacy. In this country the raccoon (Procyon lotor\ 

 the woodchuck (Arctomys monax), and the opossum (Didel- 

 phis Virginiana) are occasionally eaten. These can hardly 

 be ranked among the delicate varieties of game. They are 

 not, however, unpalatable, but are excessively fat. Among the 

 rodentia, we have the hare, most abundant in Great Britain, 

 the rabbit, and the squirrel, which are very commonly used 

 as food. Their meat is well-flavored and nutritious. The 

 English hare is very highly esteemed. 



The flesh of many animals is consumed before it arrives 

 at maturity, as veal, lamb, sucking pig, etc. As a rule, this 

 kind of meat is whiter, softer, and less nutritious than that 

 of the adult animal, and develops in cooking less of that aro- 

 matic principle which adds so much to the agreeable flavor 

 of meats. An exception may be made in the case of lamb, 

 which is sufficiently high-flavored, and is rather more tender 



1 For an account of microscopic examinations of the muscles of a patient who 

 suffered from this disease, and examinations of the meat by which it was produced, 

 see DALTOU, Observations on Trichina Spiralis. Transactions of the New York 

 Academy of Medicine, 1864, vol. iii. 



