TRICHINOSIS. 819 



human being than in the lower animals ; and Dr. Cobbold men- 

 tions that a pig experimented upon at the London Veterinary- 

 College, and in which it was calculated that about sixteen 

 millions of encysted trichinae had been developed, manifested no 

 symptoms of suffering ; other pigs, however, showed much 

 general disturbance and suffering, arising from the irritation of 

 the worms in the intestines, and during their passage into the 

 muscular tissues. The irritation of the alimentary canal, which 

 lessens towards the end of the first week after pigs have 

 swallowed trichinae, is denoted by loss of appetite, vomiting, 

 colic, tympanitis, and diarrhoea; dulness, arching of the back 

 whilst standing ; and pigs incline to lie down and hide themselves 

 in their litter in this as in many other diseases. These symptoms, 

 with the exception of the diarrhoea, generally disappear in from 

 six to eight days. When the trichinae have been numerous, the 

 membraneous passage of a great number of them have, in the 

 experience of Leuckart, induced in some a fatal peritonitis ; and 

 in others, a form of enteritis, with ejection of false membrane. 



" The muscular symptoms appear towards the termination of 

 the second or during the third week after the ingestion of the 

 trichinosed flesh ; while the intestinal phenomena become less 

 marked, and the fever increases in intensity. At this stage the 

 patient is often lying ; in walking, it carries its back raised and 

 the limbs stiff, and manifests signs of pain ; mastication, opening 

 the mouth, and swallowing are difficult; the voice is harsh, 

 husky, and weak; the respirations laboured and loud; cuta- 

 neous oedema appears in different places, together with the 

 intense pruritis already alluded to ; the conjunctival membrane 

 is most frequently infected, and emaciation rapidly sets in. If 

 the number of migratory trichinae is very great, death may be the 

 result, though this is somewhat rare in the pig. Usually the 

 different symptoms disappear gradually, and it is only in very 

 debilitated animals that convalescence is slow. The presence of 

 trichinae in the muscles does not appear to exert any subsequent 

 influence on the development or fattening of the animals which 

 harbour these strange creatures ; on the contrary, it has been 

 stated that they fatten more readily than before they were 

 infested." — (Fleming's Sanitary Science and Police^ The de- 

 termining test, however, is the discovery of the parasites in the 

 intestinal discharges, or in fragments of muscular tissue extracted 

 by a harpoon. 



