APRIL 3Q 
298 
Uliscfllaittous. 
THE TRUTH ABOUT IT. 
[The object of articles under this heading’ is not so 
much to deal with ••humbugs" as with the many un¬ 
conscious errors that creep into the methods of daily 
country routine life.—E ds.] 
TRICHINA IN PORK. 
A vast amount of error and nonsense has 
been spread abroad of late in regard to a para¬ 
sitic disease in pigs known as the spiral flesh- 
worm , trichina spiralis. The whole pork-eat¬ 
ing world are In arms and dread to touch their 
favorite meat on account of the danger of in¬ 
fection from this parasite. The most foolish 
and surprising reports are made in respectable 
journals, by which the public who take their 
information at second hand are deceived and 
alarmed. Perhaps those enterprising persons 
who Eire known as the great pork speculators, 
who get up corners, and who, by false reports 
and doubtful schemes, gain the control of the 
whole pork product of the country, may have 
“ a finger in this pie” in the effort to pull out 
a plum from it. Nevertheless there is a popu¬ 
lar excitement altogether undue in its extent 
and wholly exaggerated in its character, which 
should be allayed by the very simple remedy 
of telliDg “ the truth about it.” Now the truth 
about this disagreeable little spiral fle6k-worm 
is as follows :—It has been known for a num¬ 
ber of years, but it is within 20 years that its 
deadly character in the human system has be¬ 
come notorious. In 1871 a large number of 
persons died in Cumberland, Eogland—a fa¬ 
mous bacon and ham district—from the dis¬ 
ease, brought on by eating raw ham. Boih 
before and since then it has occasionally ap. 
peared in localities where raw pork and sau¬ 
sages are habitually eaten. 
The natural history of this pest is very simple 
and when known should both remove all misap¬ 
prehension as to Its character and suggest such 
effective piecautions as would totally remove 
all danger from it, The prevailing ignorance 
in regard to it among educated people is sur¬ 
prising, and it shows how recklessly some 
writers for newspapers, who call themselves 
“ journalists,” make statements that are utter¬ 
ly unwarranted. For instance, a “ special dis¬ 
patch ’’ from Boston is given in a leading Chi¬ 
cago paper, purporting to be copied from a 
Boston commercial journal, in which it is stat¬ 
ed that an outbreak of trichinosis has occurred 
in Massachusetts, but it is not expected to be¬ 
come epidemic, The person who could write 
such a paragraph must be very ignorant of the 
subject, and none but a reckless person could 
so mistake, or so assert, without at least look¬ 
ing iuto the nature of what he is writing about. 
Such loose, ignorant statements do much to 
harm and greatly disturb and harrass people 
who cannot know any better. 
• 
Trichina spiralis is a nfinute worm whichhas 
an active and a dormant stage of existence; it 
is from one-sixth to one-twentieth of an inch 
in length and when encysted can be seen by 
the naked eye, and easily with the help of a 
small magnifying glass. It infests the muscles 
of mankind, the hog, dog, cat. rat, mouse, 
chicken, owl, hawk, and even the goat and 
rabbit; but it is always introduced through 
the stomach in food or something that is eaten. 
In the human body it can only enter with in¬ 
fested food ; in other animals It may be taken 
in with the dung which is picked up eagerly 
by fowls, dogs, and hogs, or in the prey caught 
by cats, owls, etc. The lame or the mature 
and fertile worms may be swallowed in dung 
and the larva? in their dormant and encysted 
state, in flesh. The worm matures in the intes¬ 
tines, and in seven days after it becomes fully 
grown, it produces a numerous progeny of 
very small hair-like larvae and then dies. The 
larvae at once pierce the walls of the intestines 
and penetrate the muscles all over the body. 
It is during this journey that the fatal effects, 
are produced. The irritation caused by the 
passage of myriads of these worms through the 
walls of the intestines and the peritoneum (the 
abdominal lining membrane) produces all the 
symptoms of intestinal or typhoid fever, or 
diarrhea and other complaints of the bowels, 
and their migration through the muscles 
causes severe pains, stiffness, and cramps in 
the limbs, which are similar to those belong¬ 
ing to rheumatism. These painful symptoms 
last from four to six weeks unless death sooner 
intervenes, and the recovery is slow and tedious. 
As soon as the worms become settled they are 
surrounded and euelosed in an oval or lemon¬ 
shaped cyst, and remain dormant, giving 
no further trouble for years, until by some 
occurrence the worms enter the stomach 
of some living animal when the cyst is dis 
solved, and in two days the worm becomes ac¬ 
tive, and fertile, and the same round is repeated 
with its progeny. It is said that the lower 
animals do not suffer in this way from the 
presence of the migrating worms, but this is 
scarcely reasonable and there is every proba¬ 
bility that many of the obscure diseases which 
afflict these animals, such as intestinal fever, 
paralysis, stiffness of the limbs, and rheuma¬ 
tism in swine and poultry may be thns caused. 
fig. 228. 
When the worms become encysted they ap¬ 
pear as small, white oval grains imbedded in 
the muscles. They arc never found in the fat, 
and this utterly disproves the absurd reports 
that they have beeu found in Jard and other fat 
products. When very numerous, a ham or 
other flesh cut across may appear pale in 
color, and by close examination the white 
cysts may be seen by the naked eye. In cut¬ 
ting slices of rnuscIeB for microscopical exami¬ 
nation with a flue blade, the gritty feeling may 
sometimes indicate the presence of the para¬ 
site. At Fig. 228 is shown the appearance of 
these cysts with the inclosed worms in muscu¬ 
lar fiber magnified. At A, Fig 229 is shown a 
piece of pork infested with measles, a larval 
form of a tape-worm, teenia solium ; the cyst 
with the inclosed worm being shown atC, Fig. 
229, aud the head of the worm at B, Fig. 229. 
From the marked similarity between the measle 
in its encysted form, as here shown, it can be 
readi'v seen that measles can be easily mistaken 
for trichina?, and possibly sometimes are. But 
in truth there may not be much to choose be¬ 
tween these two creatures, both sufficiently 
disagreeable; the tape-worm, however, re¬ 
mains in the intestines, and one may become 
the unsuspecting host of a lively tape-worm 
without feeling much trouble, and be secure 
from any fatal results from it, while the tri¬ 
china! produce serious and frequently fatal dis¬ 
orders. All these pests, trichina? included, are 
killed by exposure to a boiling heat; and thor 
ough cooking is a perfect safeguard against 
them. Cleanly-fed animals are never subject to 
them. Where mice and rats abound, and where 
animals are suffered to consume the dung of 
others that are infested, or where dead animals 
are left to be devoured, this aud other simi¬ 
lar parasites may abound. It is thus seen 
that to consider this disease as liable to be¬ 
come epidemic is utterly unwarranted; also 
that it may be guarded against by the cleanly 
keeping of our pigs, fowls aud dogs, and the 
abolition of mice and rats from the premises; 
and, lastly, if people will refrain from the sav¬ 
age and uncivilized habit of eating raw meat, 
whether it be salted or smoked (for these 
modes of preparation are futile against the 
danger), and will take care to cook their flesh 
meat thoroughly, all the danger may be avert¬ 
ed. Another truth of this matter is that the 
present excitement is an instance of the spas¬ 
modic appearance of those popular delusions 
and apprehensions which are founded on facts 
drawn chiefly from the imagination of sensa¬ 
tional writers for the public press. h. s. 
Pocket Silos. —There is no use in letting 
the rich farmers have all the silos, we poor 
ones ought to have a small chance according to 
our means. Let us all go to the boiler-makers 
and get sections of old boilers, fitted with a 
permanent bottom at one end, and a snap 
cover on the other; then let the rich philo 
sllo-pbers, with Lheir steam power presses, 
cram our little silos full of greens or cow- 
erout, or whatever the right name is, and we 
will call for our little kettles and lug them 
home to our cows in our pockets, if our pock¬ 
ets are big euongh, and if they ain’t, why, we 
wou't meddle with them, aud all other men 
with big heads and little pockets will do like- 
wisely. s. r. m. 
!(tears Hfecfllaitjr. 
ADVENTURES OF AN ANTEDILUVIAN 
In The Land of Promise. 
BV JAMES M’NKILT.. 
(Continued from pawe 278.) 
CHAPTER XIV, 
FIK8T TMl-HKSSIONS OF THK COUNTRY. 
We had now arrived within a couple of miles of 
the city’s boundaries, which fact was made 
known to me by Mr. Gllnden, In answer to my In¬ 
quiry concerning some objects which appeared to 
be moving about m the air at quite a distance from 
us. As we approached, these objects seemed to 
increase tn number, and their movements became 
more complicated. Now one, appearing a mere 
speck In the distance, would gradually grow on 
our sight, till my eyes, strained in the effort to dis¬ 
cern its form and appearance, would And relief in 
It? suddenly dropping from sight. Another would 
rise on my view, and gradually appear to diminish 
in size till it was completely lost to sight. There 
were others crossing and recrossing the tracks of 
these at all angles, and It. certainly appeared to 
me that their movements were carried on at the 
Imminent risk of collision. I could compare them 
to nothing else but the boats and ships In the har¬ 
bor of some great city, in fact they were air¬ 
ships plying between the city aDd all parts of the 
country. It was necessary for them to have their 
stations on the outskirts of the city so that they 
might, have plenty or room to make thetr ascents 
and descents In windy weather. Travel across the 
country was carried on almost exclusively by 
these atr-sbips which had arrived at such a mar¬ 
velous degree of perreettou both In thetr construc¬ 
tion and management, that trips were made In 
them with absolute safety, and with much less 
hindrance from the winds and currents of the air 
than the ships of our day receive from the storms 
of the ocean. While the speed with which they 
traveled under favorable circumstances rivaled 
the flight of the swiftest bird. 
It was certainly very awe-inspiring to me to 
look directly up at these great objects moving 
above me with so much gracefulness and majesty 
of movement. And when I reflected that from 
twenty to one hundred and fifty human beings 
were suspended In each of these gTeat alr-shlps, 
my blood ran cold at the thought of the many 
frightful catastrophles which must happen among 
a great people whose ehler means of travel Is 
through the air. But Mr. Gllnden informed me 
that there were so many safe-guards placed about 
these alr-shlpa, and that they were built with 30 
much care and skill, and were managed by men 
who were bom to the occupation, and trained to 
It most carefully, that he had never known of a 
single accident which had been attended with 
loss of life. 
They were constructed cn the principle of 
pbtllego-motera, but beside the great disc which 
was much larger m them, they had sails which 
enabled them to utilize the wind, and a most In¬ 
genious apparatus for guldlog their course, whleh 
was capable of being used almost as skillfully as 
a bird uses Its tall tor the same purpose, it was 
most marvelous to see how quickly the speed of 
these ships could be checked, and a descent 
effected when a station had been reached. Even 
if there was a considerable wind blowing, the 
skill of the teronaut enabled him to guage Its force 
and hts distance so nicely that he would bring his 
ship to Its destination as accurately as the eagle 
swoops upon lia prey. 
I was surprised to And that the boundary of the 
city was as clearly defined as any street within it. 
The outside wards were made up as regularly of 
their hundred and forty-tour squares about their 
parks as any ward in the heart of the city, while 
the streets which ran around the outside of these 
Bquares presented the peculiar appearance of 
fields of grain and other growing crops on the one 
side and closely built up houses on the other. 
Our passage from the city Into the country was 
therefore as abrupt as could well be Imagined, and 
l must own that the scenes which now burst upon 
my sight, it they were less wonderful and magnifi¬ 
cent, were no less Interesting and pleasure-giving 
than those with which 1 had been so wonderfully 
entertained In the city. 
As an appearance of thrift, wealth and refine¬ 
ment characterized everything about the city, so 
th the country there was nothing common or slip¬ 
shod about the farmers or their homes. Every¬ 
thing spoke of the accumulated culture and pros¬ 
perity of many generations of prudent, far-sighted 
and unstinted industry. The roads were wide and 
paved tike the streets of the city, and on either 
aide of them was a row of grand old elms, whose 
far-reaching boughs, the growth of many centur¬ 
ies, formed a complete canopy above them. There 
was also a well-paved sidewalk on either side of 
the road between the rows of trees and the lands 
of the fanners. No fences protected the crops from 
tne animals which might pass along the road, nor 
were there any boundary fences between the lands 
of the different farmers. In (act, the only fences 
whlcn 1 saw were those about the farm-yards 
where the cattle were confined. 
1 wondered at this, and also that the houses of 
the Inhabitants were built tn close proximity to 
one another so as to torm a most attractive vil¬ 
lage. I observed that these villages occurred at 
regular Intervals, and that they were invariably 
built at the Intersection of two highways, which 
also invariably crossed each other at right angles. 
I finally asked M r. Gllnden how it was that the 
country roads were laid out with the same regu¬ 
larity as the streets of the oily, and why the peo¬ 
ple built their homes together at the Intersections 
ot these roads instead of singly, on their respective 
farms. 
“The answers to these questions,” he replied, 
“ may he found In the methodical and social char¬ 
acteristics of our people. As our cities are divided 
Into wards ot a uniform size, so the cultivated lands 
of the country are divided into sections of about a 
mile square. Twenty-five families occupy each 
section, which they own and cultivate In common, 
and thB proceeds of thetr labor Is divided equally 
among them. 
“ The villages are composed of the families of 
four adjoining sections, and they are built at their 
contiguous corners so that the families ot each 
section may occupy their own land and still enjoy 
the advantages of the larger society which this 
arrangement gives. Each village has Its church, 
Its gymnasium, Its school and Its library, as well 
as Its embowered pavilion, where the people may 
meet in the evening for social pastime and enjoy¬ 
ment. 
*• Moreover, each section is associated with a 
ward of the city and finds a ready market for Its 
productions in Its own ward, and each ward re¬ 
ceives an abundant supply of country produce 
from its own section.” 
" This Is doing business ou the co-operative and 
mutual benefit plan on a large scale, surel.v," l re¬ 
marked. "But do you mean to say that every 
ward In the city has Its particular farm In the 
country, so to speak 7" 
“ Yes, sir, about every city there are as many 
sections of good arable land as there are wards In 
the city, and each ward Is the market for a par¬ 
ticular section. Therarmers ot each section, of 
course, arecarefal to put In such crops and such 
quantities ot them as the demands of their market 
require, and by long practice they have learned 
to regulate this matter so that supply and de¬ 
mand are always equal. The farmer thus disposes 
of his crop without trouble or anxiety, and with¬ 
out even the necessity of accompanying It to 
market. In fact, the occupation of the farmer, 
which was formerly one of toll, uncertainty and 
anxiety, has lost these characteristics as complete¬ 
ly as any occupation whtch our people follow. 
Our farmers have learned the art of keeping their 
land In the very highest condition of tilth, and 
the uniformity of our seasons in conjunction with 
this, Insures a uniformity of production; and, 
consumption and value remaining ever the same, 
he knows before he sows hts seed Just what will 
he the income from his labor.” 
CHAPTER XV. 
FARMING AS AN ART. 
We now approached the residence of Mr. Gllnden’s 
friend, and as we drew up In front of It, an old man 
who had been sitting on the spacious veranda 
came down to greet, us. 
“ What. Elijah he exclaimed, “ is that you ? 
Joy and happiness be with you! I am glad to see 
you.” 
Thlswa3 the common mode ot salutation In 
this country Instead of “ How do you do 7 I hope 
you are well."etc,, as with us. 
Then peering very sharply at me the old man 
inquired, " Is this llelpo that you have brought 
with you ?” 
nelpo, I may explain, was a favorite monkey of 
Mr. G linden's. It Is also due to the old gentleman 
to say that he was well stricken In years, and that 
hts sight was quite dim. And of nelpo it may be 
said that he was a very remarkable specimen of 
his species possessing the gravity, wisdom and 
physical perfection of many generations of pro¬ 
gressive development. 
When Mr. Gllnden explained to the old man 
that I was a stranger from afar-off, and hitherto 
unknown country, he was equally surprised and 
abashed. He apologized for the error Into which 
he had fallen by assuring me that when I had 
lived In the world a hundred and fifty-seven years, 
as he had done, it would not be straDge If 1 some¬ 
times mistook an Inferior man for a superior 
monkey. 
Here again I may explain that this people are 
so honest tn thought, word, and deed, that they 
often discover the greastest simplicity In speaking 
what. Is in their minds, it was not the first time 
that I had been cut by such a remark as the fore¬ 
going. spoken without the least Intention of giving 
pain, but with the artlessness of a mind which 
was incapable of concealment or deception. 
The old man led the way into the house, which, 
by the way, was constructed on the same plan as 
the residences of the city. In fact, all the houses 
in the country were built ot the same material as 
those of the city, and with no less skill and ele¬ 
gance In every detail ot thetr construction. 
We were cordially received by an elderly lady. I 
would call her old, had not our aged friend. Mr. 
Lenor introduced ner as his daughter. She was In 
reality tne wife of his son. and though as lively as 
a cricket, she bad seen at least, a hundred and 
twenty summers. 
Mrs. Lenor told us that all the other members of 
the family were out In the harvest field, and, 
knowing that she was luliy occupied with house¬ 
hold duties, Mr, Gllnden proposed that we should 
go out and watch the operations ot the men and 
women, I may add, tn the field. 
We could see them from the house scattered 
over the far side ot the sections a small army ot at 
least a hundred men and seventy-five women, 
mowing and reaping and gathering into the great 
Btone barns, the grass and grain at it was cut. 
There were no horses connected with these labors, 
thetr places being fully occupied by the wonderful 
phlllego. The phlilego-engines were quite small 
and light as compared with our steam engines, 
and remarkably manageable In the hands ot a 
Bkllirul driver. Among the farmers this duty was 
accorded through courtesy to ihe women, as being 
less laborious than any other. My training led 
me to remark to Mr. Gllnden that It would be an 
evidence of a truer courtesy on the part of the 
men. If they would take upon themselves the ex¬ 
tra labor which the women performed, that they 
might bfe permitted to pursue duties which were 
more delicate and congenial where they would 
not he oppressed with the burden and heat of the 
day. 
He looked at me in a reflective manner, as if he 
