298 



SCIENCE. 



TRICHINA IN MEAT. 



A short time ago the public was greatly excited over 

 the introduction into France of trichinated meat. • It is 

 remembered that the first case of trichina was noticed at 

 Lyons on provisions exported from America. As regards 

 the importance of this question, it is sufficient to state 

 that, according to official documents, the importations of 

 salt pork and of lard amounted in 1880 to 46,164,000 kilo- 

 grammes, of which 37,102,000 kilos, came from the United 

 States. The prefecture of police ordered the inspectors 

 of slaughter houses to examine all the incoming speci- 

 mens of salt and smoked pork in the different stations and 

 especially that of Batignolles. This station received in- 

 deed all the envoys of Havre, where four-fifths of Ameri- 

 can imports are disembarked. Unfortunately there was a 

 great disproportion between the service of inspection and 

 the continually increasing extent of the provisions. The 

 result was an encumbering of provisions suspected of be- 

 ing contaminated at the points where the inspection took 

 place. A certain number of merchants, moreover, desi- 

 rous of entering into the possession of their merchandise, 

 so as not to retard its delivery, have sought to evade in- 

 spection, and in order to obtain this end took advantage 

 of the small number of inspectors, who, being grouped 

 at certain points, thus allowed certain entries to be free 

 from all verification ; they have accordingly introduced 

 their merchandise at these points. 



The administration should put an end to this invasion. 

 The Secretary-general of the police departments, anxious 

 for the public health and its interests has, in concert with 

 the Prefect of police, taken opportune measures and 

 charged the municipal Laboratory to investigate the tri- 

 chinated provisions that have passed the ports. The offi- 

 cers of the Laboratory, accompanied by a commissary of 

 police, proceeded to those accused of introducing unin- 

 spected provisions. Microscopic examination has in sev- 

 eral cases shown the presence of trichinae. We have, 

 therefore, thought it useful to demonstrate the procedure, 

 very simple, which is pursued in the investigation of this 

 infection. 



A specimen is taken from the muscular portion, and as 

 much as possible in the vicinity of the bone or tendons, 

 which is very easily accomplished by means of the instru- 

 ment represented in figure I. A small fragment of meat is 



Fig. 1— Instrument for Extracting Specimens of Meat, and its 

 Sheath. 



cut with a scissors from the fibres, and stretched on a 

 plate of glass. A drop of diluted alcohol is added or 

 some potassa, and the preparation is levelled by cov- 

 ering it with a lamina of glass (fig. 2); then placed on 

 the stage of the microscope. A magnification of 70 dia- 

 meters is sufficient for seeing the trichina quite distinctly. 

 It is preferable, nevertheless, in order to work more rapidly 

 and to distinguish the trichina; of the striated muscular 

 fibres, to magnify it 140 diameters. 



Fig. 3 represents one of these preparations seen under 

 the microscope ; two trichinae are enclosed in their cyst 

 and the third has free movement over the muscular tissue. 



The parasites that are met with on the trichinated meats 

 of America are not dead, as is proved by the following 

 experiments. A cut is made is made into the trichinated 

 meat ; distilled water is used instead of alcohol, and we 

 begin our search for a free trichina. The preparation is 

 then placed upon Ranvier's hot platinum, and the tem- 

 perature is raised to 40° C. At the end of a certain 

 time, displacements of the trichina will be observed. 

 These movements become stronger from 42 C. to 45° C, 

 and at 50 C. the animal dies. 



The municipal laboratory, in employing this very sim- 

 ple mcde of investigation ^has, as we have mentioned, 

 been able to detect contaminated provisions in Paris, and 

 has caused their seizure. 



Moreover, as soon as the invasion was known, the nec- 

 essary precautions were announced to the public, and all 

 the journals have reproduced the circular of the minister. 



Tnchinated meat, which has been sufficiently cooked 

 in order that the central portions attain at the le"st a tem- 

 perature of 60 C, can be eaten without danger ; for 

 this purpose, each kilogramme of meat should be cooked 

 about an hour. 



The municipal Laboratory adds that it would be advan- 

 tageous to add vinegar during the cooking. 



Such are the means taken at first by the administration 

 to oppose the importation of trichinated provisions. 



It remains still to give a decision in regard to provis- 

 ions stopped at the port as suspected. . The inspectors 

 being few in number, rejected a whole chest as soon as 

 they discovered a trichina. It was hardly possible to do 

 otherwise, unless a veritable army of microscopists was at 

 hand, as is done for instance, in Germany, or the pork 

 shop keepers be responsible for the sale of trichinated 

 pork — a procedure which would set 18,000 microscopes 

 in pursuit of the infection. 



M. Pasteur, who was consulted upon the question, 

 whether all the provisions of a chest should be seized, if 

 only a single trichinated fragment had been encountered, 

 replied in the affirmative, basing his decision upon the 

 following reasons : 



" It is not because I believe in a direct contamination 

 caused by the wanderings of trichina? from one piece to 

 another, but, in addition to the tact that this contamina- 

 tion can be made through the falling of trichinated 

 debris upon those which are not, the separation becomes 

 illusory through the difficulty of effecting it. Finally, a 

 trichinated piece may appear healthy, even after a careful 

 examination." 







' A 



I ' 1 







f a /£7 



Fig. 2— Trichinois Meat Prepared for Microscopical Examina- 

 tion. A. Glass Slide. B. Thin Glass Cover. 

 C. Portion of Trichinous Meat. 



The " Concile de I 'Hygiene et de la Salubrite" at- 

 tiched to the prefecture of police has noticed the impos- 

 sibility of examining under the microscope all the salted 

 provisions exported from America. As but a small 

 quantity chosen from each cask can be examined, the 

 Council has formed the opinion that the only efficacious 

 means of saving the public health should be to prohibit 

 absolutely the importation of American salted provisions 

 into France. And to prevent the consumption of trichi- 

 nated meats already introduced, the Council, adopting the 

 view of M. Pasteur, has expressed the opinion that the 

 admistration should destroy all the contents of casks en- 

 closing several pieces that are known to be infected with 

 trichina. 



In this state of affairs, we believe that immediate pro- 

 hibition would be the best course for the government to 

 follow. We will recall, besides the fact that Spain, Portu- 

 gal, Greece, etc., have prohibited American provisions ; 

 that Italy has prohibited all imports of pork; that Ger- 

 many has interdicted the entrance of any minced pork 

 meat coming from America, and finally that Hungary has 

 taken like measures. 



