310 THE VETERINARY DOCTOR. 
sensitive than the majority of people suppose, if one may judge by the ex- 
posure to bitter cold and burning heat that is usually imposed. Such 
neglect contributes to discomfort and disease, and the exposure in winter is 
peculiarly unwise, in that it creates a great demand for food to merely 
maintain the temperature of the body, whereas the food should be used 
directly for flesh-forming purposes. 
There is a widespread aversion to the use of pork because of the ex- 
istence of trichine, and it is well to remark that much can be done to avoid 
this diseased condition by a proper regard to the pen and feed. Trichine 
are parasites in the flesh of the hog which are liberated in the human 
stomach by digestion, if infested pork is eaten without being long and 
thoroughly cooked. Rats and mice are peculiarly affected by these para- 
sites and they will communicate them to the hog. It is a well-known fact 
that swine are prone to eat these animals, and that the latter will infest the 
pens to get the grain therein. It is obvious, therefore, that special pains 
should be taken in the construction of a piggery to wholly shut out rats 
and mice from all possible reach of swine. Besides, the offal of the hog, 
from the slaughter-house, butcher’s shop and kitchen, should be scrupulously 
excluded from the feed, lest it be infested with trichina and so transmit 
them to healthy swine. 
The last caution upon the feed may be carried further. It seems 
strange that, while hogs are kept solely as producers of food for the table, 
their owners so generally act upon the rule that any food is “good enough 
for a hog.’ This must be the outgrowth of the most complete thoughtless- 
ness. To say nothing in detail upon the necessity of wholesome feeding to 
secure even acceptable pork, the writer will drop a remark upon the unwise 
use of milk and flesh-food. It is generally understood that milk is one of 
the choicest articles of food for swine, and it is if it is from a healthy cow. 
But what shall be said of the practice of carrying to the pigs the milk 
taken from diseased cows—because it is unfit for the family? That pigs 
are afflicted with anthrax, foot and mouth disease, and other malignant 
disorders, as a result of drinking the milk of cows suffering from the same, 
is well known. Again, carelessness is exhibited in allowing hogs to eat 
the flesh of cattle and other animals that have died from these diseases or 
been slaughtered because they were so affected, and sometimes such flesh 
is directly fed to them. In either case, they will become diseased and their 
flesh, when put on the table, will create move or less sickness in the house- 
hold. Since the hog is not at all fastidious in his eating, it is all the more 
important that his owner guard the food, and particularly because his only 
direct use is the supplying of food for the human family. 
The above points are mentioned because they are matters for every- 
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