OEDEE OF PACHTDEEMATA. 119 



is not rare there to see harnessed to the same plough a Woman, a 

 Horse, an Ass, and a Pig. 



A point in the history of the Pig which we should not 

 forget is that many ancient legislators forbid its flesh to be 

 eaten. This prohibition was founded on the fact that, in all 

 seasons in hot countries, and in summer in temperate climates, the 

 flesh of these animals is often infested with the esffs and srubs 

 of worms, when, if it is imperfectly cooked, the germs not being 

 destroyed, it is possible for them to become developed in the body 

 of the person who has partaken of it. 



Diseases resulting from the use of pork thus eaten would 

 have been frequent in Asia, if the public health had not been 

 protected by this salutary prohibition. In our climates it has 

 been established beyond doubt that pork-butchers are more often 

 attacked by Tcenia (tape-worm) than those persons who follow 

 other trades. 



Moreover, measly Pigs occasion a disease called tricJiinesis, about 

 which, of late years, a great deal has been written. 



The trichine is a minute worm, with difflculty visible to the 

 naked eye, for it has scarcely as large a diameter as a very fine 

 hair, and in length is rarely over two millimetres. It is found 

 in the intestines, where it lives and produces its young, which 

 are at first in the grub or worm state. When pork containing 

 the trichine grubs is eaten by Man, these pass into his intestines. 

 But this abode not suiting them, they cut their way out, and 

 get into the veins, when they are carried along with the blood in 

 the circulating torrent, and finally lodge in the muscles. 



This is the part of the human form which is preferred by the 

 trichine. It gnaws, separates, and dissects the muscular and ten- 

 dinous fibres, producing intolerable pain. 



This disease has made the greatest ravages in the North of 

 Germany, where raw ham is much eaten ; it has also been pre- 

 valent in America. France, however, seems to have enjoyed com- 

 plete immunity from it. 



Although this epidemic has almost disappeared, we will state 

 the best means for preventing its development. They are as 

 foUows : — 



1st. Watch carefidly over the food of the Pigs, and never give 

 them animal substances about which there is the least suspicion ; 



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