284 
F. 8. BILLINGS. 
such flesh. Even our Boards of Health simply recognize the ex¬ 
istence of the parasites in pork as a scientific fact, but take no 
steps to prevent its sale. All the hogs examined by myself were 
cut up and sold, even thougn the Massachusetts Board knew that 
I was continually finding trichinae among them. Until the public 
becomes alive to its own interests, we may be sure po steps to¬ 
ward prevention will be taken by the State. A German Judge, 
however, has ruled differently than was the case at Brooklyn. 
*A provision dealer at Berlin was declared guilty by a Judge 
of a criminal court for selling trichinous pork, which had not 
been subjected to microscopic examination, but which had caused 
disease in a number of persons, some of whom died. The Judge 
ruled that such a decision was justifiable, even though the micro¬ 
scopic examination of pork was not then made imperative by 
law. The objection that the seller had no knowledge of its in¬ 
jurious character, was ruled out. 
Dr. Sutton, of Aurora, Indiana, reports the following nine 
cases of trichiniasis, three of which ended fatally : All of the 
persons had eaten of uncooked smoked sausages, which were 
derived from a pig, the flesh of which had never been examined; 
the sausages were found full of trichinae. All the sufferers show¬ 
ed the same symptoms of gastro-enteritis ; muscular pains were, 
however, not present in all. In one of them, who died, the mus¬ 
cular pains were so severe, that he could not make the least 
movement; general oedema also complicated his case. An in¬ 
vestigation of the muscles of this person revealed an immense 
number of trichinae, so many, that it was calculated each cubic 
inch contained 100,000. In both the other cases, which enjoyed 
the same cause, and were accompanied by the same symptoms, no 
trichinae were to be found in the muscles, post-mortem, only the 
indications of gastro-enteritis. One or two trichinae only were 
found buried in the mucous coating of the intestines. In the 
first case, the general oedema and myalgia appeared ten days 
after the appearance of the gastric phenomena, and as eight days 
(or thereabouts), are necessary to the development of the em¬ 
bryo trichinae, the emigration of the same oyer the organism 
must have taken place very rapidly, 
*Apothekerzeitung, 1876, No. 2Q, 
