CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 283 



the wonder is, not that we have a half dozen or a dozen cases of trichi- 

 uiasis in a year, but that we do not have many times this number ; and 

 we see no way of explaining the comparative immunity which our jieople 

 enjoy except by the conclusion that our x>ork, even when fresh, is not so 

 much more dangerous than the German article as the results of micro- 

 scopic examination thus far published would lead one to suppose. 



REPORTS OF BOARDS OF HEALTH. 



The commissioners prepared and forwarded copies of the following 

 circular letter to the various State and city boards of health : 



With a view to ascertaining the extent to which trichiniasis prevails in the United 

 States, the following questions have been formulated, to be addressed to the seci'eta- 

 ries of the various State and city boards of healtli. 



As it is desirable that the report of the commission should be presented to Congress 

 at once, the undersigned would beg as speedy a response as jjossible : 



1. How many cases of tiichiniasis have come to thekuowledge of your board ? Please 

 give dates as far as practicable. 



2. In how many cases was there a microscopic identification of the trichina; in the 

 human subject and in the suspected meat ? 



3. How manj' of the cases were fatal ? 



Eesponses have been received from thirty-nine of these boards ; of this 

 number twenty-two give negative replies ; they were as follows : Ala- 

 bama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, 

 Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Albany (N. Y.), Ohio, Penn- 

 sylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Virginia. 



The secretary' of the State board of Alabama says that no case has 

 ever occurred in that State, though infected meat has been reported. 



The secretary of the health department of Maryland says that after 

 an examination of the records from January 1, 1834, to December 31, 

 1883, covering a period of fifty years, he finds no cases of trichiniasis 

 reported. 



The health offtcer of Cleveland, Ohio, says that in 1872-'73 there were 

 some cases of trichiniasis reported in that city, but no definite record of 

 them can be found. 



CASES OF TRICHINIASIS REPORTED. 



Cases of trichiniasis are reported by the following boards, viz: 

 Connecticut. — Three in 1882, all from the same pork and at the same 

 time. The suspected meat was examined by Mr. C. W. Chamberlain, of 

 Hartford, secretary of the board, and others. Xo deaths resulted. 

 Illinois. — The registrar of vital statistics for the city of Chicago says : 



Tlirec deaths from trichiniasis have occurnvl in this city within the last ten years. 

 Two of these occurred in December, 1>^80, and the last one in January, 18"*2. There 

 was a microscopic identification in the two first cases and probably also in the last. 



The secretary of the State board of health says : 



Between 1866 and 1881 there had been seven outbreaks of trichiniasis in Illinois, 

 resulting in eleven deaths out of some seventy or eighty cases. Since 1881 there have 



