l(te PARASITES OF MAN 



daily administrations of trichinous pork, in the form of bolus, 

 were made to a sheep by Mr Pritchard. The Trichinae were 

 obtained from one of our experimental animals at the Veterinary 

 College, about two ounces of the flesh being given at each 

 feeding. The flesh of this sheep (destroyed in the following 

 November) failed to give any indication of the presence of 

 parasites. 



Exps. 26 and 27. About the same time, and occasionally at 

 intervals extending over a period of five weeks, Mr Pritchard 

 also fed two young fowls with the same trichinous pork. 

 Towards the close of October, 1866, both birds died, when Mr 

 Pritchard carefully examined the flesh of them, but failed to find " 

 any trace of Trichinae. 



Exps. 28 and 29. From April 2nd to the 9th of the same 

 month, 1866, inclusive, feedings with trichinous pork were 

 likewise given to two dogs. These animals were destroyed and 

 examined by Mr Pritchard in November, 1866, but the result 

 appears to have been negative. 



It is perfectly certain that the infection of man by Tri- 

 china is invariably due to the ingestion of verminiferously 

 diseased meat, and as remarked in my ' Lectures/ whenever the 

 parasites are taken in large numbers unpleasant symptoms soon 

 show themselves in the infested person. There is, first of all, 

 restlessness, loss of appetite, and more or less prostration. 

 This is succeeded by rheumatoid pains in the limbs, with the 

 frequent accompaniment of considerable swelling. The pain is 

 not situated in the joints, but in the intermediate soft parts. 

 In severe cases the limbs are drawn up and half bent, as in 

 instances of severe and continued cramp. Sometimes the 

 suffering is excruciating and unbearable, patients having been 

 known to request the surgeon to put an end to their lives. In 

 the worst forms of the malady death rapidly ensues from 

 diarrhoea and exhaustion. If the parasites have gained admis- 

 sion to the muscles all hope of destroying them is at an end ; 

 but if a person suspects himself to have eaten diseased or 

 trichinised meat he should lose no time in seeking professional 

 assistance, seeing that the administration of suitable anthel- 

 mintics might be the means of saving his life, whereas a few 

 days' delay would probably prove fatal. So long as the worms 

 remain in the stomach or intestinal canal they can be got rid 

 of, but when once the trichinal brood have invaded the flesh 

 then they cannot be expelled. As remarked in my ' Entozoa/ 



