CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS, 275 



never mentioned, either in the newspapers, the hospitals, or in teaching- 

 medicine. And this was also the case in Belgium.* 



We may conclude, therefore, that notwithstanding the enormous quan- 

 tity of American pork which has been consumed in Europe, there is no 

 reliable evidence that any cases of trichiniasis have ever originated from 

 its use. 



We can now consider more intelligently the conflicting testimony in 

 regard to the condition of the trichinae in American salted meats when 

 they reach Europe. In 1879 it was stated in the German reports that 

 althougli a very considerable number of examinations had been made 

 at Miuden, no living trichiuiie had been demonstrated in preparations of 

 American pork.f This statement was repeated in 1880 by the same au- 

 thority.!: In France, Colin and most others who have experimented 

 with the trichini© of American meats have found them dead and inca- 

 pable of producing any injurious effects when fed to other animals. It 

 was also found that even slight salting killed all the trichinae within 

 two months. (Jolin concludes, therefore, that the danger from eating 

 American pork, considering the time that it must have been in salt be- 

 fore it can reach Europe, is slight or inappreciable.§ Fourment || and 

 Chafing have contested these results, but their opinions are so extremely 

 radical as to lose much of their force on this account. It is not impos- 

 sible that in certain very rare cases the capsules containing the trich- 

 iuie may have become so dense or so impregnated with lime salts as to 

 protect the parasites for a longer time than usual against the action of the 

 brine ; but the complete iuuocuousness of our pork as demonstrated 

 by its use on so large a scale in England, France, Belgium, and Ger- 

 many, with no cases of disease clearly traced to it, is the strongest pos- 

 sible evidence of the destruction of the trichinjie during the process of 

 curing. 



Dr. Brouardel, of the Paris Academy of Medicine, who investigated 

 the recent outbreaks in Ermsleben, has furnished new and very im- 

 portant evidence on this point.** He learned that the meat of the dis- 

 eased l)Og was chopped and mixed with sufficient salt to preserve it, 

 and those who ate of this meat soonest after the killing of the animal 

 were not only more severely affected, but their symptoms appeared in 

 a shorter time. The animal was killed the 12th of September, and of 

 those who partook of this meat on the 13th 33 per cent, died, while of 

 those who did not eat of it until the 18th and 19th none died. In fact, 

 there was a very regular graduation in the intensity and fatality of the 

 cases when they were classified according to the number of dnys which 



'H. Bouley, Bui. de I'Acad. de m6d., Paris, 1884, p. 33. 



tEuleuberg, Vrtljhrscht. f. ger. ni6d., 1879. 



tLoc. cit., 1880. 



^G. Coliu, Comptes Rendus, xcvi (1882), 886-'8. 



II L. Fourmeut, Comptes Keudus, xciv (1H82), 1211-'13. 



H J. Chatiu, La Trichiue et la Tricbinose, Paris, 1883, 1G4-190. 



** Brouardel, Bill, de I'Acad. de mod., 1883, ir)01. 



