92 "^^iSL DISEASES OF THE HOG. 



en-hundredth of an inch in thickness coiled up in 

 two or three turns; the size of the cyst is about one- 

 eighth of an inch long and one one-hundred and 

 thirtieth thick. If the flesh of the pig containing 

 these worms be eaten by man, they become liber- 

 ated in the stomach and, entering the intestine, at- 

 tach themselves to its soft lining, and there, sur- 

 rounded with abundance of food, they grow very 

 rajjidly and become mature, with fully developed 

 sexual organs, in tw^o days. The females are more 

 numerous than the male and become about one 

 eighth of an inch long when full grown. They pair 

 as soon as mature and the male soon dies, but the 

 female begins to give birth to living worms in five 

 or six days from the time it enters the stomach and 

 lives long enough to produce a brood of from five 

 hundred to one thousand young worms each. As 

 one ounce of pork often contains a quarter of a mill- 

 ion or more of the worms, it is not surprising that 

 the million of adult worms and their offspring 

 sometimes resulting from a single meal of raw 

 pork should by their presence, produce great irrita- 

 tion and inflammation of the intestine and violent 

 diarrhea and vomiting, which are often the first 

 symptoms in severe cases. But the young worms 

 as soon as they are born, begin to eat or force their 

 way through the membrane of the intestine into 

 the minute blood vessels and other organs, thus 

 vastly increasing the irritation. Entering the cir- 

 culation they are carried by the blood to the heart, 

 thence to the lungs and then become diffused 

 through the whole system. (Verrill.) Some other ob- 



