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people had been unnecessarily alarmed at the danger of get- 

 ting trichinosis, but the fact was that these so-called trichines 

 were the immature forms of a higher parasite well known 

 to them, and persons might swallow any quantity of them 

 without any evil effects. In the Basque provinces they 

 actually collected the small vivaria under the impression 

 that they were really small fish and ate them with delibera- 

 tion and relish ; and in Italy the " maccaroni prati " was 

 considered a most toothsome dish. The important question 

 was whether there were any parasites in the human frame 

 arising from eating fish, and to that question the answer 

 must be given that it was possible to contract an important 

 and injurious parasite by eating some of the salmonidse in 

 an uncooked state, because it had been shown that we 

 must look to the salmon and trout family as the source of 

 the great tape worm. There was, however, very little 

 ground of alarm ; all they need do was to be sure that the 

 fish, in cooking, was raised to a temperature of 1 20 degrees, 

 when the parasites would be destroyed however numerous 

 they might be. He might further add by way of encourage- 1 

 ment to those who still had their fears, that every kind of 

 parasite had its particular territory and if it were possible 

 to swallow a thousand different species, no harm could 

 possibly result, unless they happened to swallow the parti- 

 cular one that could live in the human territory. Needless 

 alarms had been spread on that point which he hoped would 

 shortly be allayed. 



Mr. KENNETH CORNISH said he agreed with Dr. Cob- 

 bold that there was no danger or very little to be 

 apprehended from the presence of parasites in fish, but he 

 thought some caution ought to be exercised to prevent 

 danger from poisoning. His namesake, who read a Paper 

 on the previous Friday, had alluded to the poison present 



