58 
F. S. BILLINGS. 
of this establishment kindly gave me an opportunity of examining 
28 hogs which had been kept and fattened by them at the island 
mentioned. None were found trichinous. These hogs received 
no city swill of any kind. What flesh they received had been 
subjected to the heat necessary to extract the fats; otherwise 
they received nothing but corn meal. Forty rats caught at one 
of the large packing houses near Boston, were all found trichi¬ 
nous. Of 50 rats caught for me at different stables in the city of 
Boston, where no hogs had been kept, but six were found tiiclii- 
nous. 
This rat theory, i. e., that the swine become infected by hunt¬ 
ing, killing, and eating rats which are trichinous, is open to most 
serious doubt, although it has able defenders. 
Conversation with hog keepers has revealed the same difference 
of opinion, some saying they have seen swine hunt and kill rats, 
while others assert that such a thing never takes place, although 
they admit that a hungry hog would undoubtedly eat a rat if it 
had it. 
Admitting that hogs may become infected from eating a trich¬ 
inous rat we have still before us the questions: 1st. Is this the 
only source from which swine become infected ? 2d. Is there no 
common source from which not only they, but wild animals, es¬ 
pecially omnivora and carnivora, may become infected ? 
As according to German, and other American observations, as 
well as my own, American pork, and according to my very limited 
examinations, American rats, are much more infected with tiich- 
dnse than similar animals in Germany ; it seems as if here in Amer¬ 
ica, were the place to decide these important questions. 
Important Questions ! Not only are they of the utmost im¬ 
portance, from the fact that our own people frequently become 
infected, but also that people of other countries have been, and 
still will be infected with trichinae from American pork; but also, 
the questions have a national importance from an economical point 
of view, for already a serious alarm is created, and pork growers 
and continental papers are feeding the flame, which, unless we 
ourselves awake to the necessity, may drive American pork large¬ 
ly out of continental markets. 
To be continued. 
