OEDEE OE PACHYDEEMATA. 
179 
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 he 
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 eggs and grubs 
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 trichinesis, about 
which, of late years, a great deal has been written. 
The trichine is a minute worm, with difficulty 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 Horth 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 
follows : — 
1st. "Watch carefully over the food of the Pigs, and never give 
them animal substances about which there is the least suspicion ; 
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