QUE DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 53 



a temperature of 140° as soon as the water itself had 

 risen to boiling point (212°), and in five minutes more 

 the inner temperature of the joint rose to 170°. Chops 

 and steaks, he says, " before being considered well done, 

 should be exposed to a temperature of from 170° to 180°. 

 At 150° they are considerably underdone; the red 

 colouring matter has not disappeared, nor does it 

 disappear until the meat has been subjected to about 

 10° more heat." No meat, it is thus argued, can be 

 considered done unless all parts of it have been raised 

 by cooking to a temperature of 150°. It thus becomes 

 evident that the simplest precautions are amply suffi- 

 cient to ensure for ourselves perfect immunity in respect 

 of any of the tapeworms which are liable to gain access 

 to the human frame, since even a very moderate amount 

 of cooking kills these larval cestodes. According to 

 Dr. Lewis, a temperature of 130°, if prolonged for five 

 minutes, is sufficient to prove destructive ; but, in order 

 to insure absolute extinction of life in these parasites, 

 he recommends that the meat be raised from 135° to 

 140°. 



Seeing how constantly this degree of heat is actually 

 attained under the ordinary modes of cooking employed 

 in all civilised countries, it is really quite surprising how 

 it comes to pass that so many Europeans manage to infect 

 themselves with tapeworms. One can only suppose that 

 very many persons prefer their meat almost raw. I have 

 not found in practice many patients willing to allow that 

 such is their habit. Naturally they would not like, in 

 this matter, to be bracketed with semi-barbarous 

 Burates and Abyssinians. Several persons, however, 

 have excused themselves on the ground that their doctors 

 ordered them to eat raw meat, as being more readily 



