THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



27 



known in our country districts as staggers, or more gene- 

 rally as turn-sick, because when they are attacked by it 

 they turn round perpetually. Innumerable legions of 



14. Trichinse gnamng a muscle, magnified two hundred diameters. 



another worm, even still smaller, invade all our fleshy 

 structures, and sometimes multiply in them to such an ex- 

 tent, that as many as twenty-five have been counted in 

 one of the muscles of the ear which does not exceed a 

 grain of millet in size.^ 



This worm, which has been a great deal spoken about 

 of late years, is the Trichina spiralis. The pig is its 

 favourite abode; but it is sometimes seen in man, especi- 

 ally in those cases where, as in Germany, ham and sau- 

 sages are eaten raw. Once introduced within the frame 

 by means of the food, the Trichinae multiply in the in- 



' I allude here to the Trichina spiralis, a little microscopic worm, twisted 

 spirally, which has occasioned numerous fatal accidents in some parts of Germany. 

 Physiologists know that it is propagated by the use of the flesh of animals in- 

 fected by it. In certain countries, where they suspect it is introduced within the 

 system by the use of raw pork as food, the authorities have already begun to 

 interdict the use of the latter article. This is the case in some parts of Prussia. 



