TRICniXIASIS OF MAX AND ANIMALS. 25 



" The metliod of couductiii^ the resoarclies was as follows : ' The 

 extlCujiles procured one afteniuon were examined the following day 

 by the aid of a good microscope, capable of magnifying objects two 

 hundred diameters. A low i)ower was found to yive greater satis- 

 faction than a higher one could have dune, and obsetniers in this 

 field would do loell to hear this in mind. WJt£n it is taken into ac- 

 count that each of the specimens had to le separated into minute 

 shreds hefore they were placed upon the stage of the mhyroscope, and 

 consider the number of fibers examiiwd in such cases ^ " (he exam- 

 ined in all 21, GOO specimens from 5,400 hogs), ^^^ it will readily 

 be perceived that it is impossible to make anything like an ac- 

 curate guess as to the whole number of pncccs of rnuscle-fiJber ex- 

 amined.'' " 



Eesiilt : Is uml^er examined, 5,400 ; trichinous, 22. 



'* By this series of examinations, it has been ascertained that 

 Southern-bred hogs are free from trichince.''^ 



If tliere is anything I dislike to do, it is to criticise the work of 

 another observer; but one would like to know if two hundred di- 

 ameters ia considered a low power. For myself, when looking for 

 trichinju, should I use such a power, I should not expect to find 

 many trichina?, but boa-constrictors ; in fact, many would escape 

 me. The male trichina measures one eighteenth, the female one 

 eighth of an inch, in length — magnified two hundred diameters, 

 what would one have ? 



Again, dividing specimens into shreds may be highly technical, 

 but eminently unpractical ; for with crush-specimens one can easily 

 recognize the parasite, and it is done (juiekly ; while in this way, 

 and with such a high power as two hundred diametei-s, one would be 

 sure to miss many. 



I doubt the statement that " Southern hogs are free from trichi- 

 ncB^^ as much as I do that ^^ corti-f ceding" has anything to do with 

 trichiniasis. 



But I'oston is not the place for anything but statistical examina- 

 tions. We must go nearer to the fountain-head. At Chicago it 

 would be possible to examine large lots of hogs that have come 

 directly from the breeder or fattener to the packer. Here lots 

 could be examined and traced to the breeder. If highly infected, 

 it would be ea-^^y to go to such places and make all manner of ex- 

 aminations of the remaining hogs, of the earth, worms, grubs, etc. 

 Some unknown living thing lodges trichinae before they enter the 

 porcine organism. The scientific questions are : "What is it ? where 

 is it ? and what are its modes of life \ 



