272 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 



ill Europe, perhaps represents the condition of American pork so far as 

 examined. 



In Europe there are some localities where the inspections have shown 

 a greater i)roi)ortion of infection than the average in the United States. 

 At Stockholm 2,000 hogs contained 58 infected ones, or 2.9 per cent.; 

 at Tannefors 300 hogs contained 10 infected ones, or 3.3 per cent. ; and 

 in 112 Bavarian liams 3 were trichinous,* while Dr. Rine, of Linten, re- 

 ported 4 infected animals in 45, or nearly 9 per cent. t In Prussia, 

 where the only really effective inspection is made, the proportion found 

 infected with trichinfe was, in 1876, 1 to 2,000; in 1877, 1 to 2,800; in 

 1878,1 to 2,000; in 1879, 1 to 1,632; in 1880,1 to 1,460; in 1881, 1 to 1,839; 

 in 1882, 1 to 2,056 | The number of inspectors in 1882 is placed at 

 20,140. Several inspectors at Erfurt were removed on account of in- 

 capacity, and complaints were made as to the condition of the micro- 

 scopes. Indeed, it seems that the village barber is usually trusted with 

 the inspection of hogs in the smaller towns and villages, and that he is 

 required to make but three preparations from each animal. 



Frequently, or generally, the specimens for examination are taken 

 from the hams and hard muscles, where the trichinjB are least abundant, 

 instead of from the pillars of the diaphragm and tenderloin, where they 

 are most easily found. Since the great epidemic of trichiniasis in Sax- 

 ony it seems to be admitted that these inspections are totally inade- 

 quate, and in order to make them more efficient the magistrates have 

 awarded sums varying from 15 to 30 marks for each trichinous animal 

 discovered. As a result of the rewards, and possibly of the fear ex- 

 cited by the recent terrible outbreaks of the disease in people, an in- 

 creased number of infected hogs seem to have been discovered. § These 

 facts, as well as the extraordinary number of people recently infected 

 from eating pork which had been inspected, are sufficient to demonstrate 

 that large numbers of trichinous hogs pass the inspectors without being- 

 discovered, and that consequently the figures given above are not a 

 correct representation of the proportion of hogs which are infested with 

 this parasite. 



In nearly every country of Europe hogs have been examined and a 

 certain number found to contain trichina;, but the records do not seem 

 to have been carefully kept ; the data are not fully given, and there is 

 reason to doubt the accuracy of the work. It is difficult, therefore, to 

 reach any satisfactory conclusion as to the proportion of infected hogs. 

 We may safely assert, however, that no country can with reason claim 

 that its hogs are free from trichinae, while the probability is that Eu- 



* Warfwinge, Nord. Med. Ark., 1875, VII, 3, No. 18. 



tMeissner, Schmidt's .Jabrbiicher, No. 130, page 118. Quoted by Glazier Rep., 

 page 6b. 



t H. Eulenberg, Vierteljahrschrift f. Ger. Med., 1877 to 1883. 



$ Dispatches of A. A. Sargcut, American minister at Berlin, to State Department, 

 dated October 26 and November 12. 



