282 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 



Other ill Liege, in Belgium. It is doubtful if in either case the trouble 

 was traced to our pork ; but no facts in regard to them have yet been 

 obtained. 



M. Chatin,in his recent work on trichinje and trichiuiasis, states that 

 " such is actually the frequency of trichiuiasis in the Uiiiteii States that 

 the newspapers consider themselves happy if they have but a few 

 deaths to record each week." Whether any one in France believes this 

 remarkable exaggeration may be considered questionable, but still it is 

 seriously advanced by a scientific man as a reason for prohibiting our 

 pork. Those who see the American papers know very well that not 

 only weeks but months elapse when no deaths are recorded from this 

 cause. And if it were not for our foreign population, who have brought 

 with them their dangerous habits of eating uncooked pork, America 

 would be as free from trichiuiasis among her people to-day as is France. 



When we examine the records of Germany, however, we find that, in 

 spite of the small proportion of infected hogs which they admit, in 

 spite of the inspection, there occur a very large number of cases of this 

 disease. In 1877 there were 16 in Konigsberg, 1 in Potsdam, 6 in Ber- 

 lin, 98 in Stettin, 1 in Oppelu, 61 iu Merseberg, and 52 in Minden. In 

 1878 there were 27 in Konigsberg, 8 in Marienwerder, 102 in Potsdam, 

 50 in Stettin, and 30 in Merseberg. In 1879 there were 55 cases in 

 Konigsberg, 93 in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, 82 in Berlin, 7 iu Marien- 

 werder, 3 in Schleswig, 60 in Erfurt, 7 in Merseberg, and several in at 

 least three other places. In 1880 there were 149 in Merseberg, 83 in 

 Erfurt, 49 in Fraukfort-on-the-Oder, 3 in Marienwerder, 29 iu Konigs- 

 berg, and 16 iu Berlin. In 1881 there were 3 in Marienwerder, 15 in 

 Berlin, 10 iu Frankfort-on-the-Oder, an indefinite number in Posen, 4 in 

 Stettin, 148 in Merseberg, and 58 in Erfurt. In 1882 there were 3 cases 

 iu Berlin, 60 iu Cologne, 4 in Merseberg, 4 iu Heiligenstadt, and several 

 in Posen.* In 1883 the remarkable epidemic in Saxony occurred from 

 eating pork which had been slaughtered and inspected in the town of 

 Ermsleben. In Ermsleben 257 persons contracted the disease, and 50 

 died.t In Deesdorf there were 40 cases and 9 or 10 deaths ; in Nieu- 

 hagen 80 cases and 1 death. There were a number of other epidemics 

 during the year, the statistics of which have not yet been published, 

 but we have already recounted sufficient to show that trichiuiasis is in- 

 comparably more frequent in Germany than iu America. 



Indeed, for the sev^en years from 1877 to 1883, inclusive, the very in- 

 com})lete statistics given above show that 1,835 people contracted the 

 disease, being an average of 262 cases per annum. When in addition 

 to this we consider that the United States is really the greatest pork- 

 eating nation in the world, that we consume more than four times as 

 many hogs as are raised in Prussia, that a considerable portion of our 

 population consists of Germans who retain their habit of eating raw pork, 



* Eulenberg, Vrtljrscht. f. <xer. Med.,N. F., XXVIII-XXXVII. 

 t Deutsche med. Woch., 1884, No. 1, p. 7. 



