904 
B. O. MINGE. 
Meat is inspected for the sake of getting fine meat, that is, meat 
free from trichinae and various impurities. 
Take the pork of our own country or any other country. 
When we eat it we have no idea what we are eating. There are 
two phases of trichinosis : (i) Intestinal ; (2) Muscular. The 
intestinal phase is shown by fever, thirst, prostration, want of 
appetite, spasms of the throat, very heavy perspirations, fullness 
at the stomach, and sensations of malaise ; these are the most 
important symptoms of this phase. The muscular phase is 
shown by swelling of the limbs, puffiness of the face, accompa. 
nied by pruritis and formication ; the muscles become very pain¬ 
ful, contraction in the flexors, deafness, and finally broncho¬ 
pneumonia, which is sure death. Trichinosis is usually epi¬ 
demic. 
In 1879 there were about eleven million hogs killed, Chi¬ 
cago furnishing half this number. Half this number were ex¬ 
ported to foreign countries. On account of poor packing the 
trichinae were not killed. From this some of the foreign C oun- 
tries passed a law prohibiting American pork being brought 
into the country. American pork has given rise to a great 
many questions, especially the demand for public health. This 
demand has brought about the microscopical examination of the 
dead animal at the port of export and import. There are three 
ways of judging: (1) Judging by lot. (2) Judging the lot. 
(3) Judging by piece. Judging by lot is to take pieces from 
here and there and examining them ; if infested, reject the entire 
lot. In judging the lot every box or barrel is examined ; if one 
piece is infested, reject the lot. This is recommended to be the 
best method in order to keep down fraud. In judging every 
piece, all the infested pieces are thrown out and the good ones 
kept. 
A large staff is required in order to do the work. It is im¬ 
possible to make every examination correct, because sometimes 
the trichinae are not fully developed. It is then very hard to 
distinguish it. Sometimes it slips the inspectors, and then the 
blame is laid on American pork. For instance, take the case 
