502 Cyst-affected Beef and Pork. [part hi. 



in any way to increase the "tendency to death" which laceration of the capsules 

 might do, and yet not permitting too much of the meat attached, so as materially 

 to modify the amount of temperature to which they were exposed. They were then 

 subjected to a temperature varying from blood-heat upwards, and kept so for definite 

 durations noted at the time. As the data thus accumulated would tend rather to 

 confuse than to elucidate were they given in detail, the following general deductions 

 may be considered sufficient : 



(1). — That exposure to a temperature of 120° F. for five minutes will not destroy 

 life in cysticerci, but that they may continue to manifest indications of 

 life for at least two or three days after such exposure ; 

 (2). — That exposure to a temperature of 125° for five minutes does not kill 



them ; but 

 (3). — After being subjected to a temperature of 130° F. for five minutes, they 

 may be considered to have perished. After exposure to this and higher 

 temperatures, in no instance have I been able to satisfy myself that the 

 slightest movements took place in their substance when examined under 

 even a high power. At least it may be confidently asserted that, after 

 exposure for five minutes to a temperature of from 135° to 140°, life, 

 in these parasites, may be considered as absolutely extinct. 

 (4). — The presence of salt to the extent used in cooking did not materially 



modify the result ; nor 

 (5). — Did the fact of their having been introduced into a hot chamber without 

 being immersed in fluid, except that in the latter case the time of 

 exposure required was longer. 

 In no case was I able to detect a single live bladder-worm in portions of measly 

 meat which had been cooked in the usual way, and even in portions of it which had 

 been rather under than over cooked. 



It may, therefore, be inferred that even with ordinary precautions on the part of 

 the cook, the further development of cysticerci will be arrested ; it is rarely that 

 persons from preference partake of meat so much underdone as not to have been 

 subjected in every part for five minutes to a temperature of from 135" to 140°F., 

 after which exposure it may be confidently stated the entozoa will have succumbed. 



