LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Shelf _JB8flL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/relationofanimal01bill THE RELATION OF ANIMAL DISEASES TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH. AND THEIR PREVENTION, BY FKANK S. BILLINGS, IX Y. S. y GRADUATE OP THE ROYAL VETERINARY INSTITUTE OF BERLIN; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL VETERINARY ASSOCIATION OF THE PBOTINOE OF BRANDENBURG; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE VETERINARY SOCIETY OF MONTREAL, CANA3>A, ETC, /£ - 1884//} birn P. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, and 5 BOND STREET. 1884. ■<#»> Copyright, 1884, Bt D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. IN MEMORY OP ANDREAS CHRISTIAN GERLACH, LATE DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL TETERINARY INSTITUTE, BERLIN, PRUSSIA, TO WHOSE EXAMPLE, LOVE, AND SYMPATHY THE AUTHOR OWES WHAT LITTLE ABILITY HE POSSESSES, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY PEEFAOE. This book is written for the benefit of the people of the United States. Its purpose is to introduce to every thinking man and woman of the country a new subject, the higher pur- poses of Veterinary Medicine. It is a work which treats of the Prevention of Diseases, not their Treatment. While at times the language of the author may appear unnecessarily severe to the casual reader, he should not forget that the author is an enthusiast ; that he has given his life and energies to the sub- ject of the establishment of Veterinary Science in this country ; and that the evils so severely combated are not " straw men," the creations of a vivid imagination, but actual evils that, unless prevented, will work most serious injury to the country in the not distant future. All that the author asks is calm reflection and an honest verdict upon his work. OOISTTE^TS. PART I. PAGE Thk Diseases of Domestic Animals ...... 1 Trichuriasis of Man and Animals . . . . . . 2 The Intestinal Trichinae . ..... 11 Trichuriasis in Swine . . . . . . . 15 Trichinae in American Pork . . . . . . .18 Examinations of American Pork ...... 20 American Hogs much more infected than European . . . .26 The Disease in Swine ....... 28 Prevention of Trichiniasis in Swine . . . . . .31 The Microscopic Examination of Pork . . . . . 32 Objects which may be mistaken for Trichinae, or not recognized as such . 34 Trichiniasis in Man . . . . . . . 35 Prevention of the Disease in Man ...... 40 Hog-Cholera ......... 41 Etiology ......... 41 Bacillus suis ........ 43 Influence of Season and Temperature ...... 44 Incubation ......... 45 Pathological Anatomy . . . . . . . .47 Microscopic Observations ....... 48 Prevention of the Disease ....... 50 Disease of Cattle . . . . . . . 52 Tuberculosis in Cattle . . . . . . . .61 Statistics as to its Prevalence . . . . . . 71 Infection .......... 74 Bacteria ......... 79 Classification of Bacteria . . . . . . .80 Distinction of Bacteria from Inorganic Objects . . . 84 Dissemination of Bacteria in Different Media . . . . .86 Nutrition of Bacteria ....... 86 Reproduction of Bacteria ....... 88 Reproduction by Spores ....... 89 The Action of Bacteria with reference to Contagious and Virulent Diseases . 89 Dispersion of Bacteria and their Entrance into the Animal Organism . 94 Infection of the Animal Organism . . . . . .98 Disinfection ........ 100 vm CONTENTS., The Diseases of Domestic Animals: Anthrax and Anthracoid Diseases History .... Etiology Nature of the Infectious Elements Appearance and Extension . Phenomena of the Disease Pathological Anatomy Prognosis Diagnosis Prevention Therapeutics . Immunity Anthrax in Man Etiology . Symptoms and Course Therapeutics Anthracoid Diseases Emphysema infectiosum Texas Fever of Cattle . Definition Etiology Stages of the Disease Phenomena during Life Post-mortal Phenomena Microscopic Examination Prophylaxis Diseases of the Dog Rabies Hydrophobia in France Phenomena of Canine Rabies Prevention Diseases of the Horse Glanders Transmission to other Animals Geographical Distribution Etiology . Tenacity of the Contagium . Natural Infection Disposition, Immunity Phenomenology . Duration of the Disease Acute Nasal Glanders Pulmonary or Chronic Glanders Pathological Anatomy Infiltrated Neoplasmatic Processes Diagnosis Prognosis Prevention Glanders in Man Cause Acute Glanders in Man Chronic Glanders in Man CONTENTS. PART II. PAGE History of Veterinary Medicine ...... 209 The Establishment of the Veterinary Schools .... 263 The Veterinary Schools of France ...... 264 The Veterinary Institute at Vienna ..... 280 Short Notices of the Schools of Belgium, Sweden, Russia, and Norway . 291 The Schools of Germany ....... 299 Stuttgart . . . . . . . . • • 299 Hanover . . . . . . . . . 304 Munich ......... 308 The Veterinary Institutions of Prussia ..... 321 The Prussian Laws for Suppression of Contagious Animal Diseases . . 340 The Laws and Regulations for Rinderpest . . . . . 341 Special Regulations to prevent the Introduction of the Rinderpest from Foreign Countries . . . . . . . .343 Regulations with reference to Rinderpest in Germany . . . 344 Regulations to be put in force after the Rinderpest has been declared ended ......... 347 Restrictions with reference to Use of Animals having Contagious Diseases 350 Anthrax ......... 351 Contagious Pleuro-pneumonia ...... 355 Glanders ......... 357 Variola of Sheep ........ 360 Rabies ......... 362 Disinfectants ........ 364 PART III. The Means of Prevention . . . . . . .368 A National Veterinary Police System ...... 368 The Foundation of Veterinary Schools in the United States . . . 390 State Veterinary Schools ....... 415 A National Veterinary Institute . . . . . . .419 PART I. THE DISEASES OE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. The subject of the relation of animal diseases to the public health, while not by any means unknown to hygienists, is still one which has not until the last few years attracted the scientific study which its importance demands. This is mainly due to the practical tendency which has prevailed in all veterinary schools, and which has been pushed, to the undue neglect of scientific investigation. Thankfully, the day of the school empiric is fast drawing to a close, and the rising sun of scientific research is beginning to dispel the fogs of tradition and the apathy of self-content which has rested upon veterinary medicine. The day has come when veterinary medicine is beginning to make its power felt, and to take its true place as a scientific institu- tion among the nations of the world. "We have all been taught that the first commandment is "to have no other gods besides me." But without desiring to enter into the discussion of religious questions, the hygienist may say that, while this may be \erj important to the spiritual man, the earthy man has also certain positive responsibilities to himself, which find their expression in the command, " Man, know thyself." This commandment seems to be a stranger to the minds of most men, for how little do we know of the physiological laws which control that complicated machine, the animal organism, or of the means by which we can in a large measure prevent diseases, not only among ourselves, but among our animals ! The majority of our people assume that the nucleus of all knowledge is to be found somewhere in that record of Jewish history, the Christian Bible. With reference to the prevention of human diseases from causes to be sought in the animal world, either directly or indirectly, we find, however, but little of practical value in that book. The in- 2 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. struetions of Moses to the Jews have far more to do with, certain superstitious ideas of the cleanliness or uncleanliness of certain spe- cies of animals as unfitting them for food than with any true knowledge of their non-hygienic character. Enthusiastic but blind worshipers have even gone so far as to assert that Moses must have known that trichinae existed in pork, hence his forbidding its use as food. But they do not stop to think that these parasites require a microscope for their detection, an instrument which was not known to man until thousands of years after the books of Moses were writ- ten. That the flesh of diseased animals was unfit for human food did not entirely escape the attention of the Israelitic legislator ; but his restrictive utterances were limited to his own people. He tells the chosen of the Lord that : " Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself ; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it ; or thou may est sell it unto an alien • for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God." — See Deut. xiv, 21. Numerous passages, which command that all blood must be re- moved from the body before using it, lead us to infer that all such articles were to be well cooked before being eaten, and that raw or underdone meats were an abomination to the Jews, as they should be to all people. Plutarch asks : "Why is it that the priests of Jupiter are forbid- den to touch raw flesh ? " And answers : " Raw flesh is no more a living creation, and is unfit to eat. Cooking gives it another form." Not only is human life endangered by the consumption of prod- ucts from previously diseased animals, or from the consumption of improperly cooked flesh, but quite a number of animal diseases are capable, by intentional or accidental means, of transmission to man. Yirchow has said that " man is far more susceptible to infection from animal diseases than the latter from similar diseases of man." TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. There is, perhaps, no one disease of our domestic animals which enjoys a more sensational reputation, or which has been more thor- oughly investigated, than the disease of swine caused by the parasite trichina spiralis. There is none more worthy of the attention of the public or the hygienist. Although the literature* treating upon * The American student will find the best compilation that exists on this subject in the " Report on Trichinae and Trichinosis," Glazier. 1881. Published by the United States Marine-Hospital Service. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 3 this disease is of comparatively modern date, still we have no justi- fiable reason for doubting the presence of these parasites in swine at a very early date, and also that the consecutive disease in man must have existed for years, if not centuries, before it came to sci- entific recognition ; I am inclined to think, almost coeval with the consumption of pork as food. In this opinion I find myself op- posed by many distinguished observers ; but the fact that trichinae were not discovered earlier than 1831 does not at all militate against my conclusions. They simply were not suspected. Every fact in connection with the history of the parasite — its minuteness, the un- certainty of its pathognomonic phenomena in man, and still more so in the hog, which render difficult the correct diagnosis of trichi- niasis — supports my hypothesis. Hiller * says : " The history of this disease can be appropriately divided into three periods, the first beginning with the discovery, or observation, of the capsule — the parasite not being recognized — in 1821-28, including the description of the same by Dr. Hilton, of Guy's Hospital, London, England, in 1835. " The second period extends from 1835, when Paget discovered the encapsulated parasite and Owen described it, giving to it its name, 'trichina spiralis,' to the first authentic observation of the disease in a human being, and the direct establishment of its con- nection with a parasitic disease of swine which took place in 1860. " This begins the third period in the history of trichina spiralis — the period of active scientific investigation — which is by no means at an end, and which awaits its conclusion in the discovery of the original source whence swine derive the parasite." In the mean time, Professor Leidy, of Philadelphia, was the first to discover the parasite in the flesh of the hog in 1867. It is a singular fact that this discovery should have been made by means of an American hog. The principal workers in this important field of helminthic re- search have been Owen, Cobbold, Bristow, and others, in Britain ; and Leuckart, Yirchow, Zenker, Kuchenmeister, and the veterinari- ans Gerlach and Fiirstenberg, in Germany. Cobbold f describes the parasite as follows : " Trichina spiralis is an extremely minute nematode helminth, the male in its fully de- veloped and sexually matured condition measuring only one eigh- teenth of an inch, while the perfectly developed female reaches a length of about one eighth ; body rounded and filiform, usually slightly bent on itself, rather thicker behind than in front, espe- * Ziemssen's " Encyclopaedia of Medicine," vol. iii. f " Entozoa," p. 335. 4 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. cially in the males ; head narrow, finely pointed, unarmed, with a simple, central, minute oval aperture ; posterior extremity of the male furnished with a bilobed caudal appendage, the cloacal or anal aperture being situated between these divergent appendages ; penis consisting of a single spicule, cleft above, so as to assume a V-shaped outline ; female stouter than the male, bluntly rounded posteriorly, with genital outlet placed forward at about the end of the first fifth of the long diameter of the body. Eggs measuring T ^ l0 of an inch from pole to pole ; mode of reproduction viviparous." " The shell-less ova develop into minute embryos immediately on fructification, and completely fill the uterus of the female, and are born in immense numbers." * " The embryos measure, previous to birth, about ten micrometres in length, and five to six in transverse diameter. The study of the structure of the embryo is almost im- possible so long as it is retained within the body of the maternal parasite. Here it resembles a delicate thread, having a somewhat uniform granular appearance, which becomes less distinct as devel- opment progresses. In the older embryos — extra-maternal — we may perceive a very delicate cuticle and an axial line running through the body ; the extremities are more or less blunt, and not easily to be distinguished as to which is the posterior or anterior end of the parasite. In the intestines the embryos measure about 0*1 mm. in length, sometimes more, and have a transverse diameter of about 6 fi." (Pagenstecker.) " Within the abdominal cavity they may be found to measure from 0*12 to 0*16 mm. in length, with a transverse diameter of 8 fi. They have scarcely ever been seen less than 0*12 mm. in length when in the muscles. Comparison with mature trichinae indicates that the slenderer of the two extremities is the head." " The posterior extremity possesses more rigidity than the ante- rior, and also seems to have a backward and forward motion. The rigid condition of the terminal end of the parasitic embryo corre- sponds with the situation, or limits, of the axial line, which is looked upon as the rudimentary alimentary canal. The anterior portion of the embryo is not granulous, but clear, being only modified by a delicate chitin thread which is continuous with the cuticle, and con- stitutes the first indication of the chitinous lining of the oval cavity. As development progresses, this axial line divides into two parts ; the anterior portion corresponds to the so-called cell-body of the mature parasite, and the posterior to the stomach, intestines, etc. The sexual organs can not, as yet, be distinguished. The embryos * Leuckart, "Die menschlichen Parasiten," vol. ii, p. 512. TRICHURIASIS OF HAN AND ANIMALS. 5 may be met with not only in the abdominal cavity of the autosite, but also in the thoracic and pericardial sac, and in such numbers that these places may be looked upon as normal resting-places for the embryos on their migrations over the infected organism. In general we find them far more numerously represented in the ab- dominal cavity, which corresponds exactly with our knowledge of their activity, for it is here that they must first come after passing the intestinal parietes on their migrations. From here they pass on to the other cavities by means of the natural openings, or ostia, through which the oesophagus and large vessels pass through the diaphragm. These vessels are loosely surrounded by connective tissue, which offers favorable conditions for the passage of the para- sites. From these cavities the embryos follow the course of the larger vessels and nerves over the body, the loose connective tissue offering the favorable conditions. The duration of the migratory period can not be determined with any great degree of accuracy ; but it is undoubtedly very short, as embryos have been found in the thoracic cavity, the pericardial sac, and adjoining muscles, as early as in the abdomen. The majority of observers seem to agree in considering the ninth or tenth day of invasion as terminating the migratory period — that is, when but a single invasion has taken place." " The embryos display no distinguishable changes either in size or structure during the period of migration. The first appreciable changes occur after they have reached the muscles, and have be- come lodged in their fibers." " When they have penetrated the fiber — that is, become intra- sarcolemmatous — the protoplasma of the muscle-cell undergoes cer- tain pathological changes, which exactly correspond to the fatty de- generation observed in parenchymatous myositis. A proliferation of the nuclei is quite common, if not an invariable phenomenon. Like all tissues which have undergone fatty degeneration of their plasma, such fibers are darker, less refracting, than those which have not been subjected to parasitic invasion. Such fibers lose their con- tractility. When cut transversely, the swollen parenchyma extends beyond the sarcolemmatous sheath, and if the trichina be near the section, it often extends free, or becomes free, with the protruded plasma. It is doubtful whether the trichinge live upon the elements of the plasma while lodged in the fiber, as they are in an appar- ently chrysalis condition. This fatty degeneration of the paren- chyma seems to offer no impediment to a second invasion of the fiber." 6 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. " While previous to migration the embryo shows a somewhat slender form, it soon becomes thicker, or more rotund, its trans- verse diameter being nearly double that which it had before migra- tion. Its anterior portion becomes more slender and resembles that of the mature parasite. The posterior end becomes more blunt. Progressive changes also take place in the axial line, the different organs becoming distinct; especially is this the case in the cell- body. The primitive sexual gland is to be seen as an elongated sac ; the pointed anterior end extends beyond the stomach in the females, and turns abruptly backward in the males. The oval cav- ity has a proportionate length, and over its middle distinctly shows the first traces of a nervous system, which in the form of an oval enlargement, cervical ganglion, is to be distinguished from the cy- lindrical mass." " With the progressive development of the internal organs comes a corresponding increase of the external dimensions of the parasite. It increases more in length than thickness, and its previous rotund form becomes more slender. At the same time the body becomes curved, and after a while assumes an irregular, spiral position — trichina spiralis. They begin to assume this position the earliest in the larger fibers ; but it occurs in all, even when the lumen scarcely exceeds the transverse diameter of the parasite. In the vicinity of the parasite the sarcolemmatous sheath invariably becomes dis- tended, owing to the lateral pressure exerted by the parasite. The spindle shape of the tube is due to the elasticity of the sarcolemma ; but, as it becomes thicker and clouded, proliferation must take place as well. The intra-sarcolemmatous, or capsular, development of the parasite terminates in about three weeks from the time of its in- vasion of the fiber." " The enlargements of the sarcolemma — capsules — vary much in form and size. Sometimes they are far more cylindrical and elongated than at others, and again one end may be elongated and the other bluntly rounded." " The capsules are surrounded by a rete of capillaries, which can be injected. A growth in length and thickness, due to the irrita- tion caused by the parasite, gives them a very ramified character." In this condition the parasites are known as " muscle trichinae " ; but when in the intestines of an autosite, as " intestinal trichinae." In the first form they make their abode entirely in the striated, or motory, muscles — the flesh. They have not been met with in an encapsulated condition, either in the non-striated muscles or in purely adipose tissue. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 7 While this seems to be the opinion of almost all observers, during my observations in 1879, and again in 1881, I frequently- found encapsuled trichinae in the midst of purely adipose tissue, between muscle-fibers of very fat hogs ; never, however, in the adi- pose tissue which lies upon musculature. Since then, other observ- ers have reported the same thing. In a letter, read at the ninth annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, held at Savannah, Georgia, in 1881, emanating from the Department of Agriculture, dated October 29, 1881, the author, with the custom- ary ignorance and consequent impudence of an American politician, says, in answer to the question, " Are trichinae found in the fat ? " " I have until now thought not. Professor Taylor, of this depart- ment, tells me that in the ' Journal of the Microscopical Associa- tion ' he has recently seen that they have been found in fat. I should rather see than believe without so doing" I think this is easily explained. The great amount of fatty in- filtration had caused absorption of the plasma, and atrophy of the fibers by compression, which was, however, resisted by the greater density of the sarcolemma in the vicinity of the parasite, and also by the latter itself. No other explanation seems to me possible, for the capsules were comparatively perfect. The encapsuled parasites may be met with in the striated mus- cles of all parts of the body, such as the digital muscles, those of the abdominal walls, of the extremities, the eye, the ear, the larynx and pharynx, the tongue, oesophagus, and the diaphragm ; but the heart seems to be a favored locality, for they have only been found in its flesh in very isolated cases. In making examinations of the oesophageal muscles of a rabbit that had been fed with infected pork, I was much struck with the abruptness with which I met trichinae, in passing in review a mi- croscopical section of the oesophageo-cardiac portion of the stomach, when one passed from the fibers proper to the stomach to those of the oesophagus ; in fact, trichinae could be seen in the striated fibers of the latter, where they intruded between the non-striated of the former ; but in no case were there any to be seen in the smooth, or inorganic fibers. These parasites are not, however, equally distributed over the musculature of the autosite, but, on the contrary, appear to have their favorite places of abode. They have a predilection for the muscles of the anterior part of the body; of these, those of the tongue, larynx and pharynx, and masticatory muscles are especially favored. The muscles of the rump are more profusely invaded 8 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. than those of the extremities. Very few have been discovered in the tail of any animal. In the extremities, the parasites are found to be more abundant where the muscle-fibers begin to lose them- selves in their tendinous extension than in the body of the muscle. Numerous estimates have been published by different observers as to the percental invasion of the different muscle-groups, several of which may be given here. Microscopic specimens,* of an average length of two centimetres and a width of one centimetre, were taken from the flesh of several hogs which had been found trichinous. Eighty specimens taken from hog No. 1 gave the following : a. Pillars of diaphragm 12 trichinae. 5. Muscles " 4 " c. " larynx 1 " d. " ribs None. e. " tongue " /. " neck " g. " eye and overarm " Sixty specimens from hog No. 2 : a. Pillars of diaphragm 10 trichina?. h. Muscles " 6 " c. " larynx 2 " d. " ribs None. e. " tongue " /• " eye g. " overarm and neck " Forty from hog No. 3 : a. Pillars of diaphragm 40 trichina?. 5. Muscles " .... 25 " c. " larynx 4 " d. " ribs 6 " e. " tongue 8 " /. " neck, eye, and overarm 2 " Forty from hog No. 4 : a. Pillars of diaphragm 40 trichinae. 1. Muscles " 30 " c. " larynx 10 " d. " ribs 10 " e. " tongue 6 " f. " overarm 2 " * " Mittheilungen aus. d. tliierarzliehen Praxis im Preussisehen Staate," 1877-"78 f p. 99. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 9 According to Gerlach : * One grain of flesh taken from the Psoas muscle contained 161 trichinae. Diaphragm muscle " 129 " Laryngeal " " 126 " Tongue " " 105 " Orbital " " 64 " Abdominal " " 54 " Masseter " " 45 " Lips, near snout " 43 " Serratus magnns " 39 " Pectoralis major " 33 " (Esophagus, anterior to the diaphragm " 31 " " posterior " " 1 " Peivi-femoral muscle " 26 " Tibial " " 26 " Longissimus-dorsi muscle " 20 " Scapulo-humeral " " 18 " Eadio-ulnar " " 17 " Metatarsal " " 9 " Intercostal " " 8 " Small muscle of ear " 2 " " tad " 1 " Kramer f gives the following as the results of examining one gramme of flesh from different parts : Prom the biceps contained 420 trichinae. " masseter " 213 " " genio-glossus " 188 " " gastrocnemius " 186 " " sterno-mastoid " 171 " " pectoral " 148 " " diaphragm " 129 " " crico-thyroid " 124 " " intercostal " 113 " " rectus abdominis " 106 " " psoas " 105 " " tongue " 58 " " laryngeal " 21 " Not having any opportunity to make detailed examinations of the muscles of any whole or single hog, I could not make any per- sonal observations of the percental dispersion of the trichinae over the different muscle-groups or parts of the organism. Coming upon a piece of a pillar of the diaphragm which was wonderfully infected, I made the following numerical observation * " Die Tricliinen." f " Deutsche Klinik," July and August, 1872. 10 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. (in fact, I never saw among all my examinations a piece of pork so completely filled with these pests ; capsules with four trichinae in them were by no means seldom) : *05 (5 centigrammes) contained at least 50 trichinae. One gramme would therefore contain 1,000, and 4 grammes, or a drachm, 4,000, and a pound of such pork would contain at least 400,000, and, if we assume the muscles of a hog to weigh 100 pounds, its organism — were equal dispersion pos- sible—would contain 40,000,000. The immense multitude of these parasites which may be found infecting a single organism is still more wonderful than their wide dispersion over the autosite. Leuckart estimates that, in some of the cases which have come under his observation, a single gramme of flesh lodged from twelve to fifteen hundred ; and assuming the muscles of a man to weigh forty pounds, the number of these parasites infecting a human or- ganism at such a ratio would sum up some thirty millions. In Zenker's case — to be especially noticed later — Fiedler calcu- lated that the woman must have lodged some ninety-four millions / and Cobbold assumes that one hundred millions of the encapsulated parasites may sometimes infect one organism at the same time. Leuckart again says that no one would look upon the foregoing as exaggerated estimates who, like himself, had found some sixty trichinae in ten milligrammes of muscle. In a report of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, it was esti- mated that one cubic inch of pork, examined under its auspices, contained some ten thousand, and that a person consuming the ordinary amount of such flesh, taken at a single meal, would intro- duce into his organism more than one million trichinae. Rauch found numerous trichinae infecting the muscles of a hog. Of three hundred microscopic specimens, they failed in but three. In some he found thirty in one focus ; in others, but five or six ex- amples. As in seventy specimens weighing one gramme three hun- dred and fifty trichinae were found, one pound would contain one hundred and seventy-five thousand ; and one hundred pounds, sev- enteen million five hundred thousand. In many cases, however, the parasites are much less frequently met with; and one has to search through many microscopic specimens before meeting with any, and then only with isolated examples. When sufficient time has elapsed from the invasion of the mus- cles and formation of the capsules, the same may be recognized microscopically as small, white specks. Such muscles appear as if sprinkled with grains of white salt or sand. The calcification of TRICHURIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. H the capsule begins about the fifth month subsequent to the invasion of the muscles. It has been said by some observers that the trichinae capsules in the hog do not calcify ; others affirm the contrary. The polari- scope, however, will reveal the presence of calcareous salts in the capsule if sufficient time has elapsed since invasion. The reason they may not be easily recognized microscopically must be sought in the influence on the salts of the fatty oils in the porcine organism, which renders the crystals less visible. The Intestinal Trichinae. So long as the trichinae remain encapsulated in the fibers of the muscle, their condition remains unchanged. They make no progress in their development, irrespective of the number of years that they may have been imprisoned. They have been seen in an active — i. e., capable of progressive — development, under favorable conditions, thirteen, twenty, and even twenty-four years from the time invasion took place. a. In 1861 a woman was admitted into the hospital at Altona, Ger- many, suffering from a mammary cancer, which had been develop- ing some twelve years. On its removal and subjection of its tissues to microscopic examination, the presence of trichinae in the muscle- fibers was manifested. On inquiry, it was ascertained that in 1856 the woman had resided at Davenport, Iowa, where she was taken suddenly very ill, gastric and rheumatic phenomena being the most prominent of any, together with oedema of various parts and para- lytic phenomena. Her brother, with whom she resided, was at- tacked in a similar but less severe form at the same time. The woman died at the Altona Hospital in 1864, and an examination of her muscles revealed the presence of great numbers of encapsulated trichinae. A cat fed with pieces of these muscles died in the course of sixteen days, its muscles being repletely infected with these parasites. o. Yirchow reports a case where, after the lapse of thirteen years and a half, the parasites moved in their capsules on prolonged ex- posure to the heat of the sun. c. Klopsch reports a case of trichiniasis, with complete recovery, which took place in 1842. The parasites were discovered in the muscles of the individual twenty-four years afterward. This dis- covery was also made on the excision of a mammary cancer. At the same time that this woman was ill, two persons in the same house became sick under similar conditions. Both died. (Yirchow's " Archiv," Bd. 35, p. 609.) 12 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. d. Professor Dammau* formerly of the Eldena Agricultural Academy, reports a very interesting case, illustrating the longevity and tenacity of life of embryonal trichinae in the muscles of a hog. This hog was fed with trichinous meat in November, 1864, and in February, 1865, presented to the experiment station at Eldena. Since that time the animal had been kept isolated, unless removed from its pen for examination. On February 3, 1875, and February 12, 1876, Dammau removed a small piece of flesh from the shoulder. At both times trichinae were found. A considerable piece of flesh was removed and fed to two rabbits, and eighteen days subse- quently their muscles were found to be plentifully invaded with trichinae. This case demonstrates, beyond all question, the presence of living trichinae, which were capable of maturing, fructifying, and developing young when fed to other animals, after a period of eleven years and a quarter from the time that the invasion of the hog took place. Although the encapsulated trichinae suffer no changes while confined in the muscles of an autositic organism, yet the introduc- tion of portions of such muscles into the intestinal tract of man, or other suitable animal, causes rapid changes in their condition. The processes of digestion soon set the imprisoned parasites free from their capsules, three to four hours being sufficient for the purpose. The freed parasites rapidly complete their development to mature trichinae, thirty to forty hours being enough. In cases of fresh in- vasion, when the capsules have not become very hardened, twenty- four hours have been found sufficient to demonstrate the presence of sexually matured trichinae in the intestines of animals fed with such flesh by way of experiment. Still, we may often find trichinae inclosed in their capsules on the third day after feeding infected flesh to an animal. There is scarcely another helminth by which this matured stage in its development is reached in so short a period. Under these circumstances it is self-evident that the changes necessary to maturity by these parasites must be of a very insignifi- cant character. As a rule, sexual connection takes place within two days from the time the trichinae become free. The parasite increases in length and thickness, and in the fe- male the uterus fills with fructified ova, which soon develop into embryos still inclosed in the maternal worm. * "Zeitschrift fiir prac. TMerheilkunde," 1876, vol. iii, p. 92. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 13 The female intestinal or matured parasite lives from five to six weeks, and produces at least fifteen hundred embryos. (Leuckart.) The newly born embryos are at first buried in the mucus which lines the intestinal canal ; a microscopic examination of such mucus, at this time, will reveal them as free and movable parasites. The embryos soon begin their migration and dispersion over the organ- ism, the first act being the penetration of the intestinal parietes. It seems to be still a matter of discussion as to the means or ways by which further migration takes place. Some authorities, in fact, all the most eminent, favor the view that the parasites proceed by the way of the mesenterium and connective-tissue tracts over the or- ganism, and penetrate the sarcolemma, or sheath of the muscle-fibers. Another view, the possibility of which is conceded by the above-named authors to a minor degree, is that the embryos gain access to the circulation, and are transported over the organism by the moving fluid, boring the smaller vessels at convenience, and thus gaining access to the muscles. (Thudicum.) Were this the principal path of dispersion, we ought to be able to discover numerous examples of the parasite in the circulating blood of living animals that have been subjected to feeding experi- ments. This has not been the case, however. Thus it is evident that the host, or consumer of trichin-infected flesh, provides the means for its own invasion. While this is, in general, the manner in which invasion takes place, it by no means excludes the possibility of the infection of an auimal taking place by intestinal trichinae (embryos), which have passed from an already infected organism with its faeces. In this way an infected swine may infect others, or, in fact, give occasion to a secondary invasion of itself, by rooting in the manure of its pen. In the same way swine may become infected from infected human beings where, as is too often the case, the out-houses for the family are placed over the pig-pen, or lead into it, or where the contents of the same are thrown into the piggery for the swine to work over. Thus we see the cycle of invasion may frequently continue from swine to man, and from man to swine. Trichinae may be assumed to be regular cosmopolitans. Whether Noah took a pair of them with him into the ark will probably con- tinue to be an open question. They have been discovered in Ger- many, England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, France, Italy, North and South America, Africa, India, Australia, Spain, Egypt, and Syria. 14: THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. In fact, it may truly be said that they have been found infecting pork in whatever land, and wherever they have been sought for. As to their presence in other animals than man and the hog, they have only been unquestionably found in warm-blooded ani- mals, such as cats, dogs, rabbits, rats, mice, the marmot, the wild hog of Europe, and even the hippopotamus. Gerlach has produced invasion in calves and horses, while Leisering was unable to in the latter animal. Several reports have been published with reference to the dis- covery of trichinae in the flesh of fish and other cold-blooded ani- mals, but they all fail of experimental proof, and are non-conforma- ble with our knowledge of the physiological activities of the parasite, which becomes torpid in a temperature a few degrees below that of the ordinary living mammal. For some unknown reason they do not seem to be able to invade the muscles of fowls, though some authors claim to have found them in the intestines. A case is reported of invasion of some soldiers from eating a goose (" Philadelphia Medical Times," April 13, 1878), the accuracy of which is very questionable, as pigs are fully as easily stolen as geese; and no evidence exists that they were seen in the flesh of the goose. With regard to hens, I made quite a series of experiments. 1. I fed them with highly infected pork, in the natural way. Eesults negative. No trichinae, either in the intestines or mus- cles. 2. Assuming that the triturating powers of the gizzard might be sufficient to destroy the parasites before they could gain access to the intestines, I caused a quantity of infected pork to be chopped for several hours, until it became a veritable mush; microscopic examination of this mass revealed the presence of numerous free trichinae. This mass was stirred up with warm water, so that it could be drawn into a coarse syringe ; the intestines of the fowls were then washed out as cleanly as possible with warm enemas, and time given for the water to flow off again. Several syringefuls of the mass were then injected, and the outflow stopped artificially. After forty-eight hours this obstruction was removed. Eesults absolutely negative, so far as producing muscle-invasion was con- cerned, at an examination made four weeks from the time of the experiment. "No trichinae in intestines. 3. The abdominal cavity of six other fowls was opened, and two tablespoonfuls of the watery mass, but thicker than the preceding, poured in. The aperture was then sewed up. The hens drooped TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 15 a few days, but recovered, and ate well. Examination at the same time witli the others gave negative results, although a queer-looking condition of the abdominal cavity existed. Why these hens did not die of septicaemia I do not know. I had hoped to carry on numerous feeding and therapeutic ex- periments during my examinations of pork in 1881, but lack of means on my own part, as well as on the part of the Board of Health of Massachusetts, prevented their accomplishment. Teichiniasis in Swine. As we have previously mentioned, the disease was discovered in swine by Leidy, in 1847. It is to German observers that we must look almost entirely for any authoritative statements with reference to the percental infection of swine with these pests, for in no other country is there at present anything approaching a systematic examination of pork, and even in Germany there is much room for improvement. To make the statistics valuable, it is necessary that the law should require that, at least so far as domestic consumption goes, all hogs should be examined before being cut up, and that only one part — viz., the pillars of the diaphragm, or psoas muscles — should be used for examination. There is no evidence that this is the case in Germany, hence I much doubt whether it would not be possible to largely increase their present ratio of infection. The following statistics have been gathered at random, with no attempt at com- pleteness, but simply as illustrations, from the books in my own library, such as Yirchow's " Archiv," the " Vierteljahrsschrift f iir gerichtliche Medicin," the " Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Thiermedicin," " The Veterinary Eeports of Saxony and Hanover," the " Magazin fur Thierheilkunde " (Gurlt u. Hertwig), the " Archiv f iir Thier- heilkunde," and the " Mittheilungen aus d. Praxis d. Preussischen Staate." For Eostock, Germany, Petri gives the following : 1869 Number hogs examined, 5,457 ; trichinous, 1 1871 " " " 6,520 " 2 1872 " " « 6,555 " 1873 " " " 6,441 ' l 3 1874 " « « 6,731 " 2 1875... " " " 7,222 " 5 1876 " " " 7,165 " 1877 " " " 7,562 " 2 Total 53,653 15 Trichinous, 1-3543. 16 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. For Braunschweig, Ulide reports : Whole number examined between 1866 and 1880, 111,806 ; trichinons, 29. 1866-67 there was found 1 hog of every 6,700 examined, trichinous. 1867-'68 1868-'69 1869-'70 1871-'72 1872-'73 1873-'74 1874-'75 1875-'76 1876-'77 1877-'78 1878-'79 1879-'80 5,700 14,500 15,300 13,387 4,874 5,129 7,004 13,183 7,127 5,879 10,397 3,857 PRUSSIAN STATE STATISTICS. No. examined. Trichinous. Measles. No. of state examiners. 1876 1,728,595 2,057,272 2,524,105 3,164,656 3,342,303 800 701 1,222 1,938 2,284 4,705 5,434 6,165 9,669 11,379 11,915 1877 12,865 1878 16,251 1879 17,413 1880 18,332 Total 12,816,831 6,945 Trichinous, 1 to 1,845. Eulenburg's report for 1880 deserves some special consideration. The ratio of trichinae in swine in Prussia has, we see, constantly- advanced with each year since 1876. In 1879 it was 1 to 1,632 ; and in 1880, 1 to 1,460 ; which must be attributed to greater exact- ness in the observations. The great number, constantly increasing, of appointed examiners is also worthy of notice: from 11,915 in 1876, they have been increased to 18,332 in 1880. In Berlin they found 1 to 1,247 swine trichinous, while in Posen the ratio was 1 to 138, which more nearly corresponds to the conditions in this country. There does not seem to be at present any endeavor on the part of the Government to make investigations into the cause of these things. Three hundred and twenty-nine cases of trichiniasis among human beings, and four deaths, are reported. In all cases it was traced to the consumption of either uncooked or improperly examined pork. In Berlin there were but sixteen cases during the year, a much smaller number than in previous years, which is at- tributed to the greater stringency with which the examinations are carried out. One of these cases is interesting from the fact that TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 17 the person who died, consumed, raw, a piece of pork known to be trichinous, in order to show that the idea that trichinae caused dis- ease in man was a fallacy. Of examinations of American pork, the report says 3,030 trichinous pieces, sides, were found. Such an examination has no statistical value, as it does not show whether the sides were all from different hogs or not ; further, were they all American ? The average of trichuriasis in American pieces, not hogs, was found to be 4 to 100. It was found that the abdominal muscles were only serviceable for examination, or such as were at- tached to the shoulders. More than twenty sides a day should not be examined by one person (?). In Schleswig, of 782 " Amerikanischen Eouladen," 8 were found trichinous ; of 1,952 sides, 64; 3,903 hams, 66 ; and 13 shoulders, 3. In Stettin, of 72,230 sides, 1,124 were found trichinous. The number of swine affected with measles was 1,710 more than in the former year. From Hamburg, Germany, we have a few statistics which may have an instructive comparative value : In 1878, of 35,510 American hams examined, 397 trichinous. " " 14,003 " sides " 85 " " " 17,113 European hams " 3 " " " 222 " sides and 10,838 hogs examined, none trichinous. In 1879, of 79,864 American hams examined, 1,087 trichinous. " " 22,749 " sides and shoulders examined, 196 trichinous. " " 28,710 European hams examined, 2 trichinous. " " 16,204 " hogs " 1 " In 1880, of 55,008 American hams examined, 566 trichinous. " " 23,589 " sides " 270 " " " 49,943 European hams, sides, and hogs examined, none trichinous. At Blankenhurg, from 1864-'65, 7,000 to 8,000 hogs examined, and hut 1 in- fected. At Hanover, from 1865-'66, 18,656 hogs examined, and 12 trichinous. In Sachsen-Weimar, from March, 1868-'69, 19,611 examined, and 1 found trichinous. In 1875-76, at Frankfort, 8,000 hogs examined, 4 trichinous. " " Gulen, 1,600 to 1,800 hogs examined, 1 trichinous. At Copenhagen, 1867, 8,174 examined, 15 trichinous. At Cbarkow, Eussia, 1876, 3,550 examined, 5 trichinous. These statistics could be multiplied ad libitum, but they are sufficient to show the results of Continental examinations. It is to be regretted, however, that we have no reliable statistics from either England, Scotland, Ireland, or France, or other Continental coun- tries, since they have commenced to lay so much stress upon the infected condition of American pork. 2 18 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Trichina in American Pork. We have already noticed the examinations of American pork made at Hamburg during several years, and will follow with a few more quotations of the same nature : At Kostock, 12 of 622 American sides were found trichinous. At Gothenburg, 8 of 210 American sides were found trichinous. At Ebbing, 2 per cent of the pieces examined were found trichinous. In Schleswig-Holstein, of 5,673 pieces examined, 47 were found trichinous. In 1877, 343 cases of infected American pork were reported, and 183 cases of the disease in human beings. In the early part of the year 1881, badly infected American pork was reported as having been found at Lyons, France. Professor Mueller, of the Berlin Veterinary Institute, wrote me, under date of December, 1880, that of eighty-eight live American hogs (constituting a part of a shipment) that had been slaughtered at Dresden, fourteen were found trichinous. Dr. Loring * says, " I do not know that Germany or France has even examined for this disease in live hogs." The foregoing was reported by me in American papers at the time, and subsequently in the report of the Imperial Board of Health of Germany, and several German medical reviews ; and could have been as well known to our agricultural department as the presence of pleuro-pneumonia in the District of Columbia, a fact that ocular demonstration of diseased lungs could scarcely force upon our agricultural commissioner. At Turin, Italy, February, 1879, four per cent of a lot of Cin- cinnati hams were found trichinous, which led to the Government putting restrictive examinations on all further importations. A continual recurrence of such facts has caused a more or less strong feeling on the Continent against our pork, a feeling which nationalism and the public prints have fostered to the fullest extent. The result has been that in many countries restrictive measures regulating the importation of American pork have been introduced, which to a certain measure have acted as an embargo against further importations. In some countries these measures have even been extended to American lard, and a great alarm created about some kind of hydraulic pressing out of the same instead of trying it out ; in fact, everything possible is being done to keep out the competi- tion of American products. * Letter to Health Congress, Savannah, 1881. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 19 With regard to our pork, I think the assertions of the Germans and their restrictive measures are just. Naturally enough the old adage, " Touch a man's pocket and you touch his heart," found an illustration on this side of the Atlantic. The pork-producers of every variety became very much alarmed, and called upon the Government to assist them. Our consuls all over Europe were requested to make inquiries as to the true nature of these reports, and to report to their own Government. It is not within the nature of my work to consider these reports in detail; but, suffice it to say that they displayed fully as much patriotism for the purity of American pork as the Continentals did for their own. Some went so far as to call the whole thing a humbug. A real desire to know the truth pervaded neither our representatives at home nor abroad. As with pleuro-pneumonia of our cattle, so with trichiniasis of the hog, our Government adopted a prevaricating and false course. It sought to "bluff down" the results of foreign examinations, and either did not seek to discover, or ignored the results of, home ex- aminations. In the face of a report of the State Board of Health of Massa- chusetts — numerous copies of which were sent to Washington — which contained a paper on the subject of trichiniasis, and statistics of the examination of the largest number of hogs which had until then been made in the country, the State Department published a singular document, which requires attention. It utterly ignored the statistics of the above report. Clauses 8, 9, and 10 are as follows : 8. That the percentage of American hogs infected with trichinae is, in all probability, by reason of the superiority of the breed (which ?) and feeding, much less than that among the hogs of any other country. 9. That freedom from trichiniasis of the two great pork-consum- ing centers of the West, Chicago and Cincinnati, furnishes the strongest possible evidence of the purity of American pork. In Chicago, of forty thousand deaths, with causes, reported for a series of years, only two were from trichiniasis. During the same time none were reported in Cincinnati. 10. The reported cases of trichiniasis among human beings have resulted from eating uncooked pork, etc. With regard to trichinae in American hogs, the above-quoted sections from a state document have no foundation whatever. They have nothing to stand upon. 20 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. In clause 8 it does not stand upon facts, but upon a mere asser- tion — that " probably," etc. Again, the person who instructed the Government knew abso- lutely nothing about trichinae. Neither the breed of the hogs nor corn-feeding, or any manner of feeding as commonly practiced, aside from swill-feeding, need have anything to do, pro or con, with tri- chinae in the hog. The hogs at the two great packing centers have never been thoroughly examined for trichinae, and at the time this document was published neither the Interior nor any other depart- ment had organized any proper examination of American pork. The percentage of deaths among human beings has nothing to do with the percentage of infection among swine. Luckily for the American people, it has not. Even though cooking will kill trichinae, and thus render infected pork harmless, it does not prove that American hogs have " much less trichinae than those of any other country." A German has as much right to indulge a taste for uncooked smoked ham or spiced hashed pork as an American or Englishman has for rare or raw, warm or cold roast beef. The German may be invaded by trichinae for his cannibal- ism, and the American by a tape-worm (tcenia medio-canalata). Examinations of American Poke. At Chicago, April, 1881, a Dr. Paton is said (newspaper report) to have examined twenty specimens each, from four hundred hogs, and found none trichinous. The Chicago Academy of Sciences (" Boston Medical and Surgi- cal Journal," vol. lxxiv, p. 136) reports the examination of thirteen hundred and ninety-four hogs, and finding twenty-eight trichinous. Health Commissioner De "Wolff reported (1879) finding eight out of a hundred trichinous. In 1879 I commenced my examinations of pork for the State Board of Health of Massachusetts, and again during three months of the summer of 1881. These examinations were not made upon any selected lots of swine, but the specimens were taken at random from the hogs as they hung up. No attempt was made to discover whence the hogs originally came, though, with the exception of about fifty, they were all bought at Chicago, and hence were emphatically Western hogs. In making these examinations, the pillars of the diaphragm were inva- riably used, one pillar representing one hog. But three microscopic specimens were taken from each pillar — a rule which I invariably adhered to. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 21 1879. LOT. Number ex- amined. Non-infected. Trichinous. 1 47 48 72 60 226 192 100 81 95 93 98 300 201 192 200 257 238 163 26 12 44 46 62 56 210 179 96 80 94 89 90 275 188 187 184 252 225 154 25 11 3 2 2 3 . 10 4 4 5 16 6 13 7 4 8 1 9 1 10 4 11 8 12 25 13 13 14 5 15 16 16 5 17 13 18 9 19 1 20 1 2,701 2,547 154 Trichinous, 1 to 17*54. From the same source as the preceding : 1881. LOT. Number ex- amined. Non-infected. Trichinous. 1 127 130 153 120 124 100 119 127 160 125 127 122 124 100 122 120 120 127 150 115 123 99 113 123 152 118 122 118 118 100 115 114 7 2 3 3 3 4 5 5 1 6 1 7 6 8 4 9 8 10 7 11 5 12 4 13 6 14 15 7 16 6 2,000 1,929 71 Trichinous, 1 to 28. 22 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. From another source : LOT. Number ex- amined. Non-infected. Trichinous. 1 129 130 140 105 73 130 119 127 132 182 93 128 ' 112 124 81 84 120 59 120 123 130 102 71 125 115 120 130 175 93 125 110 120 80 80 117 57 9 2 7 3 10 4 3 5 2 6 5 7 4 8 7 9 2 10 7 11 12 3 13 2 14 4 15 1 16 4 17 3 18 2 2,068 2,199 75 Trichinous, 1 to 27. From a third source LOT. Number ex- amined. Non-infected. Trichinous. 1 105 45 65 80 61 63 96 100 100 98 90 101 121 103 76 102 130 130 131 122 85 105 45 64 78 60 60 92 99 99 96 86 98 121 100 75 100 124 125 128 120 84 2 3 1 4 2 5 1 6 3 7 4 8 1 9 1 10 2 11 4 12 3 13 14 3 15 1 16 2 17 6 18 5 19 3 20 2 21 1 2,004 1,959 45 Trichinous, 1 to 44. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 23 RESUME. Number of hogs examined. Non-infected. Trichinous. 1879 2,701 2,000 2,068 2,004 154 71 75 45 1 to 17 1881. Same source 1 to 28 " Second source 1 to 27 ii Third source 1 to 44 Total 8,773 345 1 to 25 The above figures do not certainly serve to support the words of our state document, that there are " less trichinae in American pork than in that of any other country." They do speak in no uncertain terms that our Government has a duty which it owes to a large national interest, and that is, to spare no expense until the original source whence our swine become invaded be discovered. As has been already said, all but about fifty of these eighty- seven hundred hogs were bought at Chicago, hence were Western hogs, though killed and examined at Boston. They were purchased at the same yards whence the Chicago packing-houses get that pork which our State Department declares to be so " free from trichinae." Further, the percentage of infection of the hogs from the differ- ent sources is interesting, but not very instructive. In 1879 we had a ratio of infection of 1 to 17 hogs, and from the same place 1 to 28 in 1881 ; while by the hogs from a third source we had an infection of 1 to 44. Yet they were all "Western hogs. This variation in the ratio of infection between those examined in 1879 and 1881 called forth the following remarks from Dr. Lor- ing, the present Commissioner of Agriculture : " A veterinarian of New England informed me on the 14th of April last that he had examined portions from 2,701 "Western hogs, obtained in Boston, 154 of which he found infected, i. e., one case to each 17 T 5 o 4 o- hogs examined. He tells me that he will make a statement to this meeting that he has examined portions of 8,773 Western animals, and has found one case to every 25 animals. Yoic will see that there is a great difference between his first {April) ex- amination and this one, and his result is so greatly different from the English examination of our hogs, above mentioned, and so much above any known proportion among animals of every other country, that I can not but entertain doubts of the value of his examina- tion." * * See letter to Health Congress, Savannah, 1881. 24 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. The English examination spoken of reads as follows : " The inspectors of the Veterinary Department examined two hundred and seventy-nine separate portions of swine! s flesh, which were sent from Liverpool, and detected living trichina} in three specimens''"' (1 to 93). As to the discrepancy spoken of between the results of my ex- aminations, made about a year apart: it is not greater than that between any two lots taken at random in the same examination, nor so great as between very many lots examined on two consecutive days; for instance, in my series of 1881, lot 14 (source the same as in 1879) consisted of 100 pieces, of which none were infected, while of lot 13, 124 pieces, six were trichinous. In two different epidemics of small-pox, the number of deaths is never the same, or even the number of cases. Are we, then, to say a later invasion is not small-pox, because the number of cases or deaths is less or more than in a previous ? I never for a moment expected similar results, and should have been as pleased to find none as any one in the country. "With reference to the English examination, 1 to 93, it is greater by far than the ratio of infection found in the hogs of any other country, and greater than I found in some lots examined by me ; for instance, lots 1, 2, 3, 4, of my third series, 1881, con- tained, respectively, 105, 45, 65, and 80 specimens, representing 295 hogs, of which three were trichinous, 1 to 98. Further, we do not know the parts that the English examined ; had they been pillars of the diaphragm, the proportion might have been greater. As to the correctness of my results, I will simply say that Dr. Eolsom, of the Massachusetts Board of Health, went over a large part of those examined in 1879, and that competent physicians and a gentleman whom I educated to work with me, continually revised my other specimens as I examined them. Again, if the Commissioner of Agriculture doubts my results, let him send a competent man, or men, here, and examine with me the same specimens, be it one or ten thousand, and I venture to say we shall find a percentage of infection larger than that reported in any other country, and large enough to satisfy any one. Further, the Germans might well doubt the figures of their own examinations, as, from the Prussian statistics, we see the ratio of infection is steadily augmenting. I wish now to refer to the report of Dr. Jansen T. Payne,* from which I quote the following : * Eeport of the American Public Health Association, 1881. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 25 " The method of conducting the researches was as follows : ' The examples procured one afternoon were examined the following day by the aid of a good microscope, capable of magnifying objects two hundred diameters. A low power was found to give greater satis- faction than a higher one could have done, and observers in this field would do well to bear this in mind. When it is taken into ac- count that each of the specimens had to be separated into minute shreds before they were placed upon the stage of the microscope, and consider the number of fibers examined in such cases ' " (he exam- ined in all 21,600 specimens from 5,400 hogs), "' it will readily be perceived that it is impossible to make anything like an ac- curate guess as to the whole number of pieces of muscle-fiber ex- amined? " Result : Number examined, 5,400 ; trichinous, 22. " By this series of examinations, it has been ascertained that Southern-bred hogs are free from trichinw" If there is anything I dislike to do, it is to criticise the work of another observer ; but one would like to know if two hundred di- ameters is considered a low power. For myself, when looking for trichinae, should I use such a power, I should not expect to find many trichinae, but boa-constrictors ; in fact, many would escape me. The male trichina measures one eighteenth, the female one eighth of an inch, in length — magnified two hundred diameters, what would one have ? Again, dividing specimens into shreds may be highly technical, but eminently unpractical ; for with crush-specimens one can easily recognize the parasite, and it is done quickly ; while in this way, and with such a high power as two hundred diameters, one would be sure to miss many. I doubt the statement that " Southern hogs are free from trichi- nce" as much as I do that " corn-feeding' 1 '' has anything to do with trichiniasis. But Boston is not the place for anything but statistical examina- tions. We must go nearer to the fountain-head. At Chicago it would be possible to examine large lots of hogs that have come directly from the breeder or fattener to the packer. Here lots could be examined and traced to the breeder. If highly infected, it would be easy to go to such places and make all manner of ex- aminations of the remaining hogs, of the earth, worms, grubs, etc. Some unknown living thing lodges trichinae before they enter the porcine organism. The scientific questions are : What is it ? where is it ? and what are its modes of life % 26 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. These tilings discovered — and they must be — we can put an end to porcine trichiniasis, and every other kind. American Hogs much mobe Infected than Continental. A comparison of the statistics here given shows beyond all ques- tion that American hogs are more liable to trichiniasis than those of Germany ; for we have seen that in those examined at Rostock we had but 1 to every 3,543 ; at Braunschweig, 1 to 8,963 ; in Prussia, 1 to 2,032, as trichinous ; while of the American examinations, from authentic sources, we have 28 out of 1,394, or 1 to 50 ; 8 out of 100, and 345 out of 8,773, or 1 to 25, as infected. These were Western hogs, yet no one well acquainted with the circum- stances would, I think, assert that the hygienic conditions under which our "Western swine are raised are not superior to those of the famed " home-fed porkers " of the small New England farmer, raised, as they only too often are, in dark, loathsome, poorly ventilated pens, only too frequently under stables, with the house-vaults and sink-drains emptying into them. I should here mention that it has seemed impossible to make any valuable examinations of Massachusetts-raised hogs, there being no authorities to co-operate with me in procuring specimens. It will finally become necessary for each State to organize an exact statistical examination of the hogs raised within its limits, as to the proportion infected with trichinae. As to German hogs, whoever has been upon a tour of observa- tion through the agricultural districts of Germany, must have been most forcibly struck with the absurd non-hygienic conditions under which, not only hogs, but all the domestic animals are, in general, raised, in comparison with those of our own country, especially of the great stock-raising "West. In making examinations of hogs, with reference to tracing them back to the raiser, an important question will be whether the great- est proportion of trichiniasis is found among the hogs fed at the large distilleries, or under the apparently more favorable open-air feeding of the farmer ; or, again, as many farmers pasture their hogs in woods, etc., before the corn is ready for fattening, is it among such that we find more trichiniasis than among those kept con- stantly in pens ? It would also be of interest, and perhaps of practi- cal value, to know if the wild swine of our Southern forests are much invaded, as well as the peccaries of Mexico and South America. The following freely made translations of published remarks of an eminent German, will show the opinions which are gaining ground TRICHURIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 27 in Germany with regard to our pork, and also how well posted even specialists are with reference to the true conditions in this country. Bollinger* (pathologist of the Veterinary School at Munich), writing on the " Trichinae in American Pork," in a review of an article by Roeper on the same subject, says : " The author of the paper ' Die Trichinen der americanischen Schinken ' has made numerous examinations in order to contradict the opinion held in America " (by whom 1) " that the trichinae of American pork are an entirely different species from those found in the swine of Ger- many, and are harmless. Also to contradict the opinion that the peculiar process which 'American sugar-cured hams' are passed through, is sufficient to render the parasites harmless." He found both these assertions without foundation. The curing process does not in all cases kill the trichinae in the deeper seated parts of the ham. The following absolutely erroneous explanation is given for the greater proportion of trichiniasis in our hogs in comparison with those of Germany : " The swine that are brought to the large American slaughter- houses are allowed to feed upon the refuse from slaughtered swine , and in this way have time and opportunity to infect themselves. Such infected swine are themselves slaughtered, and again give cause to infection of those that remain, which may have arrived later. Accordingly, this evil must go on constantly extending, and all per- sons must earnestly be warned against the consumption of ravj American pork." This German author certainly betrays ignorance of the true conditions at any large American packing-house. The refuse from the slaughtered swine is never fed to other swine that may be at such places, at any large packing-house in this country. It is sold for fertilizing purposes, or prepared for that purpose, and that only. According to the best German authorities, it takes from five to seven days for the newly introduced trichinae to bring forth young. No large American packing-house keeps a lot of swine on hand for from five to seven days, for they are killed as soon after arrival as possible. It would be impossible for them to kill from one to three thousand a day and do otherwise. While these assertions are abso- lutely false with reference to the large packing-houses, they are as strictly true, not only of many smaller establishments, where hogs * " Deutsche Zeitsclirift f. Thiermedicin," vol. i, p. 220. 28 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. are killed for home consumption, but also where they are fattened and killed by the farmer, or raised for the use of his family. This report says further : " This refuse from slaughtered sivine at such large establishments is sold to the neighboring farmers as food to fatten their swine, and thus helps to swell the percentage of trichiniasis in American hogs." This is false also ! The report ends as follows : " It is therefore right to warn the people against the consumption of American pork" — and recom- mends the most stringent microscopic examination of the same. The Disease in Swine.* Numerous feeding experiments with trichinous flesh were made at the Berlin school, the results being given in an able paper by Professor Mueller. It was proved that the consumption of such flesh by swine, with the sequential development of the embryos in their intestines, and their migration and lodgment in the muscles, may indeed cause disease, but that the phenomena of the same have neither that constancy nor distinctness of character which will ad- mit of its recognition during the life of the animal. All the swine thus fed became ill within a few days after con- suming the meat. The following were the most constant phenomena presented : Diarrhoea, but not constant, being frequently interrupted by the passage of more solid faeces; sometimes it did not come to pass at all. Phenomena, indicating abdominal pains, were frequently ob- served ; such as uneasiness, burying themselves in the straw, etc. Such phenomena, either singly or collectively, may be observed in swine, entirely aside from any anticipatory trichin-infection. They simply indicate the action of some irritant within the intes- tinal canal, and in this case, it being trichinae, if the swine die, or are killed, we should have the same phenomena as in an intestinal catarrh of like grade, plus the trichinae, which could not, however, be recognized macroscopically. With the gradual cessation of the migration by the trichinae, the abdominal symptoms become less marked, and finally disappear, to be followed by those indicating some disturbance of the motor functions. If the latter do not lead to death, they in their turn gradually cease with the encapsulation of the parasites. Although the presence of trichinae within the intestines causes * Taken from the "Magazin f. d. gesammte Thierheilkunde," vol. xxxi, p. 6. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 29 diarrhoea, yet, in these animals, it was impossible to find any em- bryos in their feces. This by no means excludes the possibility of finding them in other cases ; yet their passage away with the feces must in a meas- ure be retarded from their being buried in a profuse layer of mu- cus, which is the product of the irritation caused by them. In none of these swine was it possible to discover anything resembling the subcutaneous oedema which comes to pass in man under the same circumstances, and which serves essentially to the confirmation of the diagnosis. Leisering, of Dresden, has also made numerous experiments with swine, of the same nature.* He says : " One can not speak of a trichin-disease in swine, which is characterized by distinct and pathognomonic phenomena. In this regard the trichinae deport themselves similarly to the cysti- cerci, measles." Gerlach f says : a. " About two fifths of the hogs fed were either not affected or but slightly indisposed ; the remaining three fifths were visibly sick. h. " The light cases presented nothing of diagnostic value, while in the severe ones the symptoms were of such a character that, with the aid of the scalpel and microscope, a diagnosis could be made." (This is no more than saying that, with diarrhoea and abdominal pains, followed by disturbances in the motor functions, the scalpel and microscope would reveal the true cause, if trichinae.) c. " After an attack of trichiniasis, the hog again becomes well, and can be raised and fattened, as if nothing had happened. d. "In cases which apparently pass over symptomless, as the animal betrays but slight constitutional disturbances, the infection is still sufficient to make the flesh a dangerous article of food. e. " Hogs are most susceptible to trichin-invasion in early age. Old hogs are not easily infected ; i. e., the muscles are not very much invaded by the parasites. f. " Death results in over one half of the extremely severe cases. g. " Death is caused by means of intestinal irritation, as well as the severe muscular disturbances. Forty-one per cent die by the former, and fifty-nine by the latter." That trichinae can only gain entrance to an organism by means of the mouth and alimentary canal is beyond all question. * "Bericht u. d. veterinair Wesen im Sachsen," 1862, p. 118. f " Die Trichinen." 30 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Notwithstanding the apparent negation of the quoted Berlin experiments, we have the very highest authorities affirming, on the strength of positive observations, that intestinal and embryonal trichinae do leave the invaded organism with the faeces. Leuckart says : " As the usually matured trichina accumulate in great numbers in the intestines, and as the irritation caused by them leads to the development of a more or less intense diarrhoea, it is evident that the young must be taken up and pass off with the faeces ; and not only free embryos, but also pregnant females, are subjected to this removal, which has been sufficiently attested by my own observations and those of Yogel, Kuhn, Gerlach, and others. This form of migration, under favorable circumstances, also contributes to the further distribution of trichinae. Haubner and Gerlach give cases where they intentionally caused the invasion of young — non-infected — swine by causing them to live in the same pens with known infected ones. Such embryos and pregnant fe- males become mixed with the manure and bedding of the hog-pens or on the grass of pastures, and may be taken up by other swine, or even by the original autosites, thereby leading to renewed inva- sion." In the above we have a course of invasion in which the swine are the only factors. Is there no other factor (or factors) in the question ? We have previously remarked that wild swine have been found trichinous ; also that rats, dogs, foxes, and other wild animals serve as autosites to them. Of all animals in which these parasites have been found, none have that interest, aside from swine, to the hygienist and patholo- gist which is enjoyed by the rat, on account of a hypothetical etio- logical connection between the trichinae which infest them and those in swine. Leisering appears to have been the originator of this hypothesis. The following statistics will suffice to show that the rat is even more favored with trichiniasis than swine : Of 704 rats from different parts of Germany, 59 were found trichinous — 8*3 per cent. Of 208 rats from German knackers, 46 were found trichinous — 22 "1 per cent. Of 224 rats from German slaughter-houses, 12 were found tri- chinous — 6 per cent. Of 272 rats from other places, 1 was found trichinous — 0*3 per cent. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 31 Of 326 rats from other places, 39 were found trichinous — 11 per cent. Of 51 rats caught at a knacker establishment at Spectacle Island, Boston Harbor, I found 39 trichinous. The proprietors of this place kindly gave me opportunity to examine twenty-eight hogs, which had been kept and fattened by them at the island in question. 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; other- wise, they received nothing hut corn-meal. Forty rats caxight at one of the large packing-houses near Boston were all found trichinous. Of sixty rats caught for me at different stables in the city of Bos- ton, where no hogs were or had been kept, but six contained trichince. I can not see any just grounds for accepting the rat-infection theory ; i. e., that swine become invaded in the majority of cases from eating trichin-invaded rats. In fact, I am strongly inclined to think that quite the contrary is the case ; though I willingly admit that an occasional hog may become invaded in this manner. My own observations would seem to prove that whenever rats have opportunity to get at the trimmings or refuse of slaughtered hogs, there the rats will be found to be most profusely trichinous ; while in other localities it will not be so. Admitting that an occasional rat may lead to trichin invasion among hogs, we have still the open question, Is there no common source from which not only swine and rats, but wild animals, may derive this parasite f As, according to my own observation upon American pork, and my very limited examinations of American rats, they are both more largely invaded by trichinae than similar animals in Germany, it seems as if here in America were the place to study and decide these important questions. It will not do for us to falsify or ignore true facts. The man- ner hitherto adopted of asserting, by way of pure negation, that "American pork has no trichinas," as the pork interest has done, will not do. We must stand on facts gained by accurate and trust- worthy observers. "We must accept them. "We must search for the cause. Any other course is absurd, and equally ruinous to self- respect. Prevention of Teichtn^ tn Swine. 1. Boards of health should take means, looking to the better education of the people in relation to hog-raising, as well as all the principles of animal hygiene. 32 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 2. Boards of health, should instigate exact statistical researches into the percentage of trichiniasis among swine raised in their re- spective States, as well as the hygienic conditions under which hogs are raised, in relation to this and other diseases. 3. Continued examinations of rats should be made in all parts of the country, and their slaughter encouraged in every legal way. In this regard we can look upon the rat-pit as serving a public pur- pose ; and the rat-invasion theory, with reference to hogs, will re- ceive a final settlement. 4. All sick swine should be peremptorily isolated from healthy ones, under the supervision of a competent veterinary inspector. 5. All swine suffering from diarrhoea should be isolated, and singly. The greatest care should be taken in cleansing the pens of such swine from all fecal masses and refuse. a. The faeces from such swine should be subjected to micro- scopic examination. h. On cessation of the diarrhoea, whether motor disturbances appear or not, the muscles, tongue, etc., should be harpooned, and the specimens thus gained subjected to microscopic examination. 6. Hogs in which trichinae had been found should be branded and fattened singly, or together ; but they should never be allowed to be sold for human food. Their lard could be tried out and sold. 7. All hog-pens should be kept scrupulously clean, and the turn- ing of compost-heaps, or the drains from water-closets or houses, into hog-pens should be forbidden by law. 8. Feeding the offal from slaughtered swine to others, cooked or uncooked, or having slaughter-houses over places where swine are kept, should be forbidden by law. 9. Each State should have a board of animal hygiene, and a corps of competently educated veterinary police. The Miceoscopio Examination of Poke. Numerous elaborate essays have been written upon this subject ; but the entire process is so easy and simple, that such extended labor can well be looked upon as useless. Among the first, and at the same time most profusely invaded muscles, are the so-called "pillars of the diaphragm." They are always to be found as two small stumps of muscles — flesh — imme- diately below the kidneys in the dressed hog when hung up to " cool out," or in front of them when the hog is laid down. If there are any trichinae in the organism, examples will surely be found here. These pieces belong to the trimmings, and their re- TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 33 moval in no way interferes with the value or appearance of the dressed hog. Although a power of fifteen to twenty diameters is sufiicient to demonstrate the presence of trichinae to a proficient examiner, still it is much easier and safer to use one of from fifty to seventy-five. Fair microscopes, but by no means as convenient as the Hartnach model of Continental makers, are to be had from Americans at from fifteen to twenty dollars. A large table to the microscope is a con- venience. A few glass slides, or object-glasses, and some strong covering- glasses, a pair of small curved scissors, and two teasing-needles, are all that is necessary to complete the outfit. The first step is to take a piece of muscle and cut into its sub- stance, in order to have it as moist as possible, and with the curved scissors cut several thin slices lengthwise to the fibers, and with a needle place them on the object-glass a little distance apart; the ijl/i':'- ''■ M Fig. 1. — Fresh Trichinous Invasion Fig. 2. — Normal Encapsuled Trichinae. (Leuckart. ) covering-glass is then to be placed upon them and gently pressed with a slight, rolling motion, which will invariably make the speci- mens thin enough for examination. 3 34 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. It is not necessary to cleanse the glasses for each specimen to be examined. To determine if the trichinae still live, place the object-glass over heat — a spirit-lamp — for a second, enough to warm the slide, and then place it under the microscope, and they will be seen to move in their capsules. Salted pork is best examined by cutting it into thin pieces and soaking for a time, although the specimens can be at once placed in water for a few moments. Objects which mat be mistaken foe Trichinae, or not recog- nized as SUCH. It not unfrequently happens that the capsules become abnor- mally thickened, and the parasites dead within them. They do not then present the same appearances that are generally observed under normal conditions. Fig. 3. — Encapsuled Concretions with Dead Embryos in them. Fig. 4. — Trichina -Capsules with Calcified and Disintegrated Con- tents. In other cases the calcification is of such a character as to almost entirely change the appearance of both capsule and contents. Treatment of such capsules with hydrochloric acid will render the diagnosis easier. TRICHINIASIS OF MAX AND ANIMALS. 35 Fig. 5. — Psorosperms in a Hog's Muscle. (Leuckart.) In some cases cysticerci, measles, perish and become calcined. These objects are somewhat larger than trichina-capsnles, and often contain a caseous mass. The sacs of Kainey, or, as they are also termed, " psorospermice," are elongated granulous bodies, like the trichinae, situated within the sarcolemma of the fiber. Their true nature or pathological im- portance is not yet well determined. Some valuable diagnostic points are, that in the latter — trichinae — the striation of the fiber is entirely destroyed with- in the capsule, while by psoro- sperms it is retained, limiting the objects laterally, and con- tinuing directly from their ex- tremities. Bruch,Virchow, and Leuck- art have described peculiar roundish or oval objects of a whitish color, having varying dimensions, which sometimes appear in the flesh of hams, and which have been demonstrated to consist of agglomerates of needle-like crystals. They fill the fiber to a variable degree without otherwise disturbing its contents, and disappear upon the addition of muriatic acid, the normal striation again becoming visible. Teichiniasis est Man. It is not my purpose to write an essay on the pathology of trichiniasis, either in man or animals, but to give the necessary natural historical facts of its life, and to illustrate its prevalence, with short notices of the phenomena of the disease in the above species. Treatment being so unsuccessful, it would be folly to notice it, and it also belongs more to works on medicine than in an essay on hygiene, or a contribution to preventive medicine. It has been previously mentioned that the honor of confirming the causal nexus between trichinae in pork and in man belongs to Dr. Zenker of Dresden, Germany. This was in the case of a ser- vant-girl, admitted to the city hospital at Dresden, as a typhus patient. She died, her muscles being found completely infected with trichinae. At the same time that she became ill, other per- sons of the same family, and the butcher that slaughtered a hog for them, were ill also, but in a modified form. An examina- 36 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. tion of the pork at the house revealed the presence of numerous trichinae. Thudicum * sums up the principal phenomena of trichiniasis in man as follows : " Sudden swelling of the face, particularly of the eyelids, after the patient has for some days felt prostrate and lost his appetite — the swelling causes only a sense of tension, but no pain — fever, quick pulse, copious perspiration, which not rarely has a repugnant odor ; painf ulness and immobility of the arms and legs ; the muscles are swelled and contracted, and give great pain on being moved, or pressed severely ; in the worst cases the entire body is perfectly immovable and highly sensitive ; there is diarrhoea, with a red, somewhat coated tongue, inclined to dryness ; when the swell- ing of the face has subsided, oedema of the feet, legs, and thighs comes on. Shortly afterward anasarca and swelling over the trunk makes its appearance." From the time of Zenker's case, numerous others have come to pass in different countries, and epidemics have caused a shudder of horror among reflecting people. Epidemics have been reported at Corbach, 1860 ; Plauen, 1861- '62; Calbe, 1862; Hallstadt, 1862-'63 ; Hanover, 1864; Dresden, 1864 ; and other places in Germany. The most remarkable outbreak is that of Hedersleben, a place of some two thousand inhabitants, of whom 337 became sick at one time, and 101 died. Cobbold communicated to Heller that the first authentic case of the disease, during life in man, occurred in England in 1871. "We have mentioned several cases illustrating the intra-vital dis- covery of the parasites in human beings on the excision of tumors, and numerous others are reported in medical literature. Forty persons became infected with trichinae at one time at Bremen from, it is said, eating American pork. At Lissa,f five members of one family became infected from eating of a ham which, it was said, had been pickled, smoked, and boiled for two hours. A poor woman £ became trichinous from eating the flesh of a dog, to which her necessities had driven her. At Linden,* a suburb of Hanover, four hundred persons were dis- eased at one time, and twenty-one died from eating trichinous pork. Dr. Keifer, || of Detroit, reports a fatal case of this disease, the patient dying at the end of the fourth week. * " Seventh. Report of the Privy Council," London, 1865. f " Boston Medical and Surgical Journal," vol. xc, p. 491 ; vol. xci, pp. 471 and 627 ; vol. 1, p. 208. % Ibid. * Ibid. || Ibid. TRICHINIASIS OF MAN AND ANIMALS. 37 Dr. Herr, of Dubuque, Iowa, reports fifteen cases and five deaths from eating raw smoked ham made into sausages. Several cases are reported for Philadelphia in the " American Journal of Sciences." In January, 1881, a case occurred at Blackwell's Island, New York. Two cases were reported at Chicago during the same month, and two at Milwaukee. Dr. Germer, health-officer at Erie, Pennsylvania, reports by letter of January 27, 1881, that the preceding Christmas he discovered seven cases in a place eight miles distant, which were traced to the eating of home fed and cured pork. The most interesting American case is one that occurred at Brooklyn, Long Island, September, 1879. Seven of a family were affected, and two persons died from the disease. This case came to trial at Brooklyn, the family suing a packing-house from which they had bought a portion of a ham two days previous to the erup- tion of the disease. As they had been continually in the habit of eating raw ham and sausages, and as they had purchased the ham only two days previous to the first appearance of illness, it was self- evident that the plaintiffs did not have any case, especially as no microscopic examination of the ham had taken place. Further, it does not seem as if retailers of pork can be held responsible for its containing trichinae in a country where neither the law nor the com- munity recognize any such disease of the hog. Even our boards of health simply recognize the existence of trichinae in pork as a scientific fact. All the hogs, specimens from which I examined, were cut up and sold, even though the Massachusetts Board of Health knew that I was continually finding them trichinous. Until the public becomes alive to its own interests, we may be sure that no steps toward prevention will be taken by the State. A German judge has ruled differently. A provision-dealer at Berlin was declared " guilty " for selling trichinous pork, which had not been subjected to microscopic examination, but which had caused disease among a number of persons, some of whom died. The judge ruled that such a decision was justifiable, even though the microscopic 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 nine cases of trichiniasis with three deaths from the consumption of uncooked sausage. The meat of the same was found to be trichinous. A cubic inch of the * "Lancet," vol. ii, 1875. 38 THE DISEASES OP DOMESTIC ANIMALS. flesh, taken from the bone of one of the persons that died, was as- sumed to contain one hundred thousand trichinae. Dr. Sutton says that " microscopic examination of thousands of swine slaughtered in Indiana reveals three to sixteen per cent of them as trichinous." This is an unfounded statement, there being no authentic statistics of the examination of thousands of swine in Indiana even now, nor at the time the above was written. The " Kochester Democrat," May 1, 1879, reports several cases of trichiniasis in that vicinity. Cases have also been reported in the " Annals of the Michigan Board of Health," at Otsego, Detroit, Port Huron, and other places, several of which terminated fatally. In Saxony,* from 1860 to 1875, 39 different eruptions of the disease had taken place. The whole number of cases reported was 1,267, with 19 deaths ; of the 19 that died, 3 out of 8 acquired the disease from eating raw meat ; 2 out of 630 diseased from cold sau- sage ; 8 of 340 from fried sausage, and 2 of 48 from eating raw ham. Of the 6,959,964 swine which were slaughtered in Saxony in these sixteen years, only 39, 1 to 180,000, gave occasion to trichiniasis in human beings. TABLE GIVING THE OBSERVED CASES OP TRICHINIASIS IK BAVARIA. No. Place. Tear. Number of cases. Author. Where described. Nature of trichin- ous meat. 1 Wurzburg. 1853 2f Virchow. "Virchow's Archiv," vol. Ixxxi, 1853. ] 2 a 1861 It Kolliker. "Wurz. med. Zeit.," vol. ii, 12, 1861. Fresh meat }■ and raw ham. 3 Erlangen. mo n Maurer. " Deutsch. Arch. f. klin. Med.," vol. viii, 368, 1871. 4 m (?) n Zenker. Ibid., p. 388. 5 Zweibriicken. mo-"7i it Friedreich. Ibid., vol. ix, p. 459, 1872. 6 Speyer. 1873 5 David. Communicated to Dr. Goring. Swine from Ba- den. 1 Hof. 1878 6 Roth. "Bef. Aerztekammer v. Oberfronken." Home - made pork. 8 Bamburg. Feb., 1878 30, 1 died. (i