128 STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. [J 



an. 



But there is still another, and, one must admit, more 

 probable, source of infection throu<^h the contents of the 

 faeces. Leuckart (op. cit.^ p. 501) calls attention to the fact 

 that, up to the third day after feeding with trichinous flesh, 

 the intestines of the animal experimented upon may contain 

 fragments of meat which are incompletely digested, and 

 which may still contain encapsuled trichinae in a more or less 

 normal condition. Occasionally, he adds, such fragments 

 may be found in the faeces. Of course, the importation of 

 such fragments derived from the faeces would be just as 

 dangerous as the eating of so much meat which had not 

 passed through the intestine of another animal ; besides, in 

 that condition, — more or less protected from desiccation by 

 being enveloped in the faeces, — the encapsuled trichinae 

 might survive for a long time. But I cannot think that 

 anything except an unusual combination of circumstances 

 would lead to so extensive an infection even by this means. 



Taking all these facts into account, I do not believe that 

 any considerable proportion of even the mildest cases 

 reported here can be accounted for on any other assumption 

 than that of direct infection by the eating of meat con- 

 taining encapsuled trichinae. But, granting what certainly 

 is possible, that a very small proportion of the cases exhibit- 

 ing one worm to a grain of flesh are thus accounted for; it is 

 evident that this must be more than counterbalanced by the 

 fact that there are probably ijiany cases of direct infection 

 of a type still milder than the feeblest of those here reported. 

 From the computations which have just been made, it is 

 clear that any case in which less than 46 females came to 

 maturity in the intestine of the host, would present a degree 

 of infection which might escape detection by a process of 

 examination such as I have followed. 



I think, therefore, that these inferences may be drawn : 

 (1) That the cases of indirect infection — i. e., through 

 faeces — lie for the most part quite outside the possibility of 

 discovery by any examination which is limited to one grain 

 of flesh; and (2) that the cases of direct infection which 

 are also too mild to be discovered by that standard of exami- 

 nation exceed those resulting from indirect infection which 

 may have been detected, and thus have helped to swell the 



