i88i.] Trichince and their Distribution, 669. 
pound, without thorough cooking, may bring on fatal attacks 
of trichinosis. Thus the rat, so to speak, condenses and 
concentrates the mischief. 
There are certain modern changes in our habits which are 
very favourable to the spread of Entozoa in general, and of 
Trichince in particular. Imperfect cookery has, indeed, al- 
ways ranked among our national sins, and we still cling to 
the semi-barbarous habit of submitting our animal food to 
the adtion of fire in such large masses that the heat cannot 
penetrate to the centre of such sparingly-condudtive matter. 
But in former days we were always, as far as the present 
writer has been able to learn, much more careful about the 
thorough cooking of pork than of beef or mutton. Lat- 
terly, however, we seem to have caught the German super- 
stition that smoking meat may be accepted as a substitute 
for cooking. We do not believe that Englishmen have yet 
been persuaded to eat raw ham, “ hack-fleisch ” ( i.e ., raw 
meat), minced or “ speck-salat,” — to wit, salads in which 
bits of raw bacon do duty instead of oil. But we fear that 
smoked (and uncooked) sausages are gradually finding their 
way into consumption. Parenthetically we may point it out 
as something exceptional that we, who as a nation are very 
conservative in our diet, should have been so quickly taught 
to relish the flavour of burnt wood. 
Some people have come to believe that the operations of 
salting and smoking may kill the Trichince. As far as the 
surface of a ham is concerned this may be the case. But 
the quantity of salt and smoke necessary to penetrate the 
centre of a thick piece of meat, and destroy the Trichince 
right through, would be more than sufficient to make it indi- 
gestible, and indeed quite uneatable. 
The adtion of fire itself, as commonly applied, is not suffi- 
ciently prolonged to destroy life to the very centre. As Mr. 
Phin remarks, “the cooking must be thorough; no mere 
surface-scorching, on the one hand, or brief dipping in 
boiling water, on the other.” A temperature of at least 
160° F. — we should say rather 212° F. — must be reached in 
every part of the meat. It is, indeed, maintained that so 
long as any part when cut looks red, or emits a red juice, so 
long there is no safety, — a result manifestly unattainable if 
the meat is cooked in large masses. It is exceedingly unfor- 
tunate that in these days such a great proportion of the 
population are compelled to dine at eating-houses, or to buy 
their food at “ ham and beef shops,” in both which classes 
of establishments semi-rawness is the rule. 
On the prevention of Trichince Mr. Phin has various 
