126 



LECTURES. 



" host " to some forty millions of these minute pa- 

 rasites. Dr. William Lindow Dickinson, of Work- 

 ington, who first sent me some of the flesh for 

 determination, has himself published a brief account 

 of the cases in the columns of the British Medical 

 Journal. I wish therefore to state, emphatically, 

 my belief that Dr. Dickinson was the first person 

 to observe, recognise, and treat the disorder in 

 the United Kingdom, and that up to the pre- 

 sent date (November, 1871) I am not aware that 

 any other English, Scotch, or Irish physician 

 or surgeon has ever encountered any case. If I 

 lay stress upon this statement it is because I have 

 learned from Dr. Dickinson himself that at least 

 one other person has asserted his priority in this 

 relation, and I should like to see the matter cleared 

 up by a reference to any published record proving 

 their prior experiences in the matter. Sir Dominic 

 Corrigan is stated to have told a gentleman in the 

 House of Gommons " that he had often met with 

 trichiniasis in his practice in Dublin/' further 

 averring, moreover, that the disease " was quite 

 common in many parts of Ireland/' If Sir D. 

 Corrigan merely wished his friend and others to 

 understand that he has repeatedly encountered the 

 trichina at post-mortem examinations, then there is 

 nothing surprising in his statements ; but if, on the 

 other hand, the disease itself has been frequently 

 recognised in the living Irish subject, I can only 



