MEDICAL WORK WITH MICROSCOPE 



as trichinosis. We need not give a precise account 

 of the life history of this interesting worm, it will 

 suffice for our purpose to know that it finds its way 

 into the bodies of human beings, in badly cooked 

 pork or in improperly cured ham or bacon. The 

 little worm is only about 1/25 inch long and, at 

 first, dwells in the intestines of the pig. Each 

 female produces upwards of fifteen thousand young 

 and these pass into the blood of their host and thence 

 to its muscles. Snugly coiled into a spiral between 

 the muscle fibres, each young worm becomes sur- 

 rounded with a lemon-shaped covering, which is 

 exceedingly resistant. Suppose now a human being 

 should happen to eat such pork, the juices of the 

 stomach would dissolve the pork and also the little 

 case enclosing the parasite. Once set free in the 

 human body, the whole proceeding is repeated and, 

 at last, the result is very severe muscular pains 

 for the victim. The medical man is called upon to 

 study such parasites as Trichinella, and they are 

 not so uncommon as one might think. 



In addition to animal parasites medical science 

 demands a knowledge of many disease bringing 

 fungi. One of the commonest is the fungus respon- 

 sible for the unpleasant malady called ringworm. 

 But we have written sufficient to show that the 

 general practitioner needs his microscope always by 

 his side. Not only so but very many instruments 

 he uses in his work, though called by other names, 

 are really microscopes adapted for special purposes. 



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