330 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



let loose and immediately everything became quiet 

 again. The pig was found to be in good condition. 



Emile was passing at the time of this perform- 

 ance. What are they doing to that poor animal with 

 the big stick thrust between its jaws ? Why are they 

 feeling in its mouth? Could n't they leave the crea- 

 ture in peace instead of making it squeal worse than 

 if they were slaughtering it? Such were the ques- 

 tions that passed through Emile 's mind as he found 

 himself almost seized with terror at the piercing 

 cries of the animal and the chorus of alarmed grunts 

 from its companions. In the evening the conversa- 

 tion turned upon this event. 



"The man who felt with his hand in the pig's 

 mouth, " Uncle Paul explained, "while the stick kept 

 the formidable jaws apart, had a definite purpose, 

 which was to assure himself that the animal was free 

 from measles. For the pig is subject to a strange 

 disease thus named, which makes its flesh unwhole- 

 some and even dangerous. When the animal is af- 

 flicted with this malady, its flesh is filled with a mul- 

 titude of round white granules from the size of a pin- 

 head to that of a pea, or larger ; these granules are 

 called hydatids. Their number is sometimes so 

 great that in a piece of fat no larger than the five 

 fingers of my hand they can be counted by hundreds. 

 To determine whether a pig is thus affected, it is of 

 course out of the question to explore the flesh of the 

 living body. What do they do then? They feel the 

 soft parts accessible to the hand the walls of the 

 mouth and especially the under side of the tongue, a 



