TRICHINAE. 
393 
by the public itself, but by those who are especially employed in 
the study of the question of public hygiene. 
While the Bible tells us that the’ first commandment is “to 
have no other God beside me,” it is unquestionably true that 
this has to do with the spiritual man, and that the first command 
to the material man should be, “ man, know thyselfa command 
which has been for him very much neglected, for the average 
individual knows very little of the physiological laws which con¬ 
trol the action of the machine which he calls his body, or of the 
causes within or external to himself, which lead to the disturb¬ 
ances of the regular or physiological running action of this com, 
plicated engine. 
It will be our endeavor in the succeeding pages to briefly call 
public attention to some of the most important causes of disturb¬ 
ance which come to pass in our own organisms, that are to be 
sought in our domestic animals, but not to write any learned 
treatise on the same. 
As the majority of the American people are inclined to assume 
that the limit of all our knowledge may be always sought in the 
Bible, it may not be inappropriate to turn to the pages of that 
book in order to see what Moses had to say to the chosen of 
Jehovah, with reference to the question in point. We find, how¬ 
ever, that the laws and regulations which were given to the Jews 
had far less reference to the health of that people, than to the 
certain assumed uncleanliness or unsuitableness of certain classes 
of animals for food. Some enthusiasts have even gone so far as 
to assume that Moses’ aversion to the flesh of swine was to be 
attributed to his knowledge of the presence of trichiniae in the 
swine, but as these pests are microscopically small any such 
assumption is simply to be classed with many another absurdity 
of ignorance and credulity. 
That diseased animals were unfit for food did not, however, 
entirely escape the attention of the learned author of Israelitish 
law, but his restrictions as to its use did not extend beyond the 
chosen people, for he seems to have been as utterly regardless 
of the effects of such flesh upon others as any modern butcher 
well could be. 
