TEICHIM IN RELATION TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

As a contribution to the subject of diseases of animals dangerous to the public health, the following paper is offered, embracing some original investigations on trichince in hogs slaughtered in Massachusetts. The inquiry has necessarily been limited, this year, to one branch of the subject, on ac�count of want of time and opportunity to study the others.

The literature treating of trichinosis

igt;

or tricJiiniasis is of comparatively mod�ern origin; but we have no reason to doubt that the disease prevailed in swine at a very early date, and the con�sequential disease in man must have existed for years, if not for centuries, before it was recognized, perhaps dat�ing back as far as the use of pork as food. The principal workers in this important field of investigation have been Owen, Cobbold, Bristow, and others in England; and Leuckart, Virchow, Gerlach, Haubner, Fursten-berg, Zenker, and Kuchenmeister in Germany.

quot; Trichina spiralis is an extremely minute nematoid helminth, the male in its fully de�veloped and sexually matured condition meas�uring only one-eighteenth of an inch, while

the perfectly developed female reaches a

length of about one-eighth of an inch ; body rounded and filiform, usually slightly bent on itself, rather thicker behind than in front,

Flo. 1. Male Trichina, Female in process of giving birth to Embryos, and Embryo from Intestines. (Heller.)

especially in the males; head narrow, finely pointed, unarmed, with a simple, central, minute oval aperture; poste�rior extremity of the male furnished with a bilobed caudal append-

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age, . . . female stouter than the male, bluntly rounded posteriorly; . . . eggs measuring ₁^_T7y of an inch from pole to pole; mode of repro�duction viviparous. quot;¹

The illustrations in this paper are from Leuckart and Heller. quot; The ova develop into minute embryos immediately on fructifi�cation, completely filling the uterus of the female, and are born in im�mense numbers. Scarcely have they become free

from maternal protection, before they begin their migration over the invaded organism by penetrat�ing the parietes of the intestines, in order to settle themselves in the muscles of the same, as muscle trichinae: here, under the protection of a gradually calcifying, structureless capsule, the emigrated em�bryos, or muscle trichinas, retain their vitality for years, while the sexually matured, or intestinal trichinse, perish, as a rule, in the course of about five weeks. The embryos, which sometimes pass

Fig. 2. Calcified encnp-

away from the intestines with the faeces, may, under

Buled Trichinae from favorable circumstances, also give occasion to the the muscles of man. development of muscle trichinae in a second animal, ( euc art.)nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;^ g_ai_ni_ng _acCess to its intestinal tract.quot;²

As said above, these parasitic pests assume two forms, i.e., they may be met with as intestinal trichinae and as muscle tricliinse, the first represent�

ing the sexually matured, the latter the embryonal (usually capsulated), stage of their existence. In or�der to offer even a very con�densed sketch of the evolu�tion which these parasites undergo, it is better to begin with the non-matured, or muscle form. The parasite, in this stage of develop�ment, limits its abode entire�ly to the striated or motory muscles. They have not

been found in the non-stri�ated or involuntary muscles, ^FlG- ³- Trichina Capsults, with contents and con-^Jnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; _tnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nective tissue. (Leuckart.)

nor in the purely adipose

tissue. The capsulated parasites may be met with in the

¹nbsp; Cobbold, Entozoa, p. 035.

²nbsp; Leuckart, Menschlichen Parasiten, vol. ii., p. 512.

1880.]

TRICHINAE.

striated muscles of all parts of the body; the heart seems, however, to be exempt, for they have been found in its tis�sues only in isolated cases (Leuckart, Fiedler).

In making examinations of the oesophageal muscles of a rabbit fed with trichinous pork, I was much struck with the abruptness with which one met with the trichinae, in passing from the involuntary muscles of the stomach to those (vol�untary) of the oesophagus; in fact, trichince could be seen where the fibres of the two interlaced, but in no case could I find a parasite in the non-striated fibres.

These parasites are not, however, equally distributed over the muscular system, but, on the contrary, seem to have their favorite places of abode. They appear to have a predilec�tion for the muscles of the anterior part of the body. Among these, those of the tongue, larynx, pharynx, eye, and masti�catory muscles are especially favored. The muscles of the body are more frequented than those of the extremities. Very few are found in the inferior portion of the tail of any animal. In the extremities, the parasites are found to be more abundant where the muscle-fibres begin to lose them�selves in their tendinous extension, than in the body of the muscle. The following interesting and valuable statistics, with reference to the dispersion of the trichinee over the organism, are taken from the quot; Mittheilungen aus der Thier-�rzlichen Praxis im preussischen Staate,quot; 1877-78, p. 99. Department Veterinarian Johow, and Army Veterinarian Maximilian, having four trichinous swine at their disposal, have endeavored to establish the relative dispersion of the trichina) in the different muscles of the body. To this end they prepared a great number of microscopic specimens from the different muscles of the body, which were on an average two centimetres long and one centimetre wide.

Eighty preparations from hog No. 1 gave the following results: �

a from the pillars of diaphragm.

6 from the muscles of diaphragm

c from the laryngeal muscles .

d from the iutercostals .

e from muscles of the tongue .

/from muscles of the neck

g from muscles of the eyes and humerus

12 trichinaa 4 trichinae 1 trichina

-no trichina)

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Sixty preparations from swine No. 2: � a from pillars of diaphragm . 6 from muscles of diaphragm c from laryngeal muscles d from intercostals. e from tongue /from muscles of eyes, humerus, aud neck

Forty preparations from swine No. 3

a from pillars of diaphragm .

6 from muscles of diaphragm

c from laryngeal muscles

d from intercostals .

e from tongue....

/from muscles of neck, eye, and humerus

Forty preparations from swine No. 4

a from pillars of diaphragm . 6 from muscles of diaphragm c from muscles of larynx d from intercostals . e from tongue . . ' . . /from muscles of humerus .

10 trichina� 6 trichinae 2 trichinae

no trichinae

40 trichinae 25 trichinae 4 trichinae 6 trichinae 8 trichinae 2 trichinae

40 trichinae 30 trichinae 10 trichinae 10 trichinae 6 trichinse 2 trichinae

Leuckart estimates that in some of the cases which have come to his observation, a single gram (fifteen grains) of flesh lodged, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred trichinse. Assuming the muscles of a man to weigh forty pounds, the number of these parasites infesting a human organism, at such a ratio, would sum up some thirty millions. In Zenk-er's case,�to be noticed later, � Fiedler calculated that the woman lodged some ninety-four millions; and Cobbold assumes that a hundred millions may sometimes infest one organism at the same time. Leuckart says that no one would look upon the above as exaggerated estimates, who, like himself, has found some sixty trichina! in ten millimetres of muscle. In a report of the Chicago Academy of Sciences, noticed in quot; The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,quot; vol. 75, it was estimated that one cubic inch of pork, examined under their auspices, contained some ten thousand, and that a person consuming the ordinary amount of such meat used at a single meal would introduce into his organism more than a million of these parasites. District Veterinarian Rauch¹¹ Preuss. Mittheilungen, 1. c, p. 100.

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(Wittenberg) found, in three hundred microscopic prepara�tions of the flesh of an infected hog, that trichinae were pres�ent in all hut three. In some cases, there were thirty in one focus; in others, but five or six. In seventy specimens weigh�ing one gram, three hundred and fifty trichinae were found: at that rate one pound would contain a hundred and seventy-five thousand, and, if the flesh of a hog weighs a hundred pounds, it would, at such a percentage, contain seventeen million five hundred thousand trichinae. In many cases, however, the parasites are much less frequently met with; and one has to search through many microscopic prepara�tions before meeting any, and then only isolated examples.

When sufficient time has elapsed from the invasion of the muscles, and formation of the capsules, the hitter become cal�cified, and may be recognized with the naked eye as small white specks, the infected muscles appearing as if sprinkled with grains of fine salt or white sand. The calcification of the capsule begins about the fifth month after the invasion of the mus�cles. In the ordinary pork which is generally offered for inspection, this is not the case, sufficient time not having elapsed for the calcifying process to take place, and the para�sites, or, more correctly speaking, the capsules, are not to be seen with the naked eye, a magnifying power of fifteen to twenty diameters being suf- _FlG. 4. Encapauiea and cammed ficient to their recognition by the musoio-triohiniB from num.

. , ,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; pnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; quot; .nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;(Heller.) X 10.

practised observer; but tor exact in�spection a power of fifty to seventy-five diameters is always to be preferred. The capsules do not always present the same form to the eye of the observer: sometimes they are well elon�gated ; while at others they are more round, the usual exten�uations at the ends being almost entirely wanting. Their average dimensions may be said to be 0.4 millimetre in length, and 0.26 millimetre in breadth. They not infre�quently contain two, and sometimes three, parasites.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

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The Intestinal Teichin^e.

So long as the trichinae are in their capsules in the fibre of the muscle, their condition remains unchanged except to die or degenerate after the lapse of a long time; they make no progress in their development. They have been seen in an active condition, � i. e., capable of progressive development under suitable circumstances, yet encapsuled,� thirteen, twenty, twenty-four years, from the time at which their invasion had taken place. In 1861 a woman was ad�mitted into the hospital at Altona, a suburb of Hamburg, Germany, suffering from a cancer of the breast which had been developing for some twelve years. On excision of the same, and subjecting portions of its tissue to microscopic examination, the presence of trichinse was made manifest. On inquiry, it was ascertained that in 1856 the woman re�sided at Davenport, la., where she was taken suddenly very ill; gastric and rheumatic phenomena being the most mani�fest, together with oedema of various parts, and loss of power of motion of the limbs. Her brother, with whom she resided, was attacked in a similar but not in so severe � a form, at the same time. The woman died at the hospital in question in 1864, and the examination of her flesh revealed the presence of great numbers of encapsuled trichinse. A cat fed with pieces of the same died after the lapse of six�teen days, its flesh being completely filled with these para�sites.¹

Virchow relates a case, where, after the lapse of thirteen and one-half years, the parasites moved in their capsules on prolonged exposure to the heat of the sun.

Dr. Klopsch reports a case of trichiniasis, and complete recovery, which took place in 1842. The discovery of the parasites in this case was also made at the time of excision of a mammary tumor, which took place May 6, 1863, twenty-one years after the time of invasion. At the same time that the woman was ill (in 1842), two persons in the same house presented similar phenomena, and both died.²

Professor Damman, formerly of the Eldena Agricultural Academy, now at the Hanover Veterinary Institute, Ger-

¹ Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 18G6, vol. 74, p. 186. ^a Archiv, f�r path. Anat. u. Physiologie, vol. xxxv., p. 609.

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many, reports an interesting case of the longevity and encap-suling of trichinsc in the muscles of a pig. This hog was fed by Von Behr, in Schmaldow, quot;with trichiuous pork in November, 1804, and in February, 1865, was presented to the experiment station at Eldena. Since that time the ani�mal had been kept isolated in a pen of its own, unless taken out for ex�inination. A second feeding with trichinous meat had never taken place. On the 3d of February, 1875, and 20th of February, 1870, he removed a small piece of flesh from the muscles near the shoulder. In both cases the micro�scopic examination demonstrated the presence of trichinae. Rupture of the capsule and the application of moderate heat demonstrated that they still lived. A considerable piece of flesh was removed, and fed to two rabbits; eighteen daj^s sub�sequently their muscles were found plentifully invaded. In this case we have unquestionable proof of the presence and continuance of living trichinae capable of development for a period of eleven and one-quarter years from the time of the infection of the swine.¹

Although the capsulated trichinEe suffer no changes while conflned in the muscles of a living organism, yet the intro�duction 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 embryo�nal parasite free from its capsule, three to four hours being sufficient to the purpose; the freed parasites rapidly complete their development, becoming matured trichinae. Thirty to forty hours are in general sufficient to complete this meta�morphosis. In cases of fresh invasion, when the capsules have not become hardened to any great degree, twenty-four hours have been found sufficient to demonstrate the presence of sexually matured trichinaj in the intestines of animals fed with such flesh by way of experiment. Nevertheless one often finds parasites still enclosed in their capsules on the third day after feeding such flesh to an animal. There is scarcely another worm in which the matured stage is reached in so brief a period. Under these circumstances it must be evident that the changes necessary to maturity for these par�asites are not very great.

As a rule, sexual connection takes place within two days

¹ Zeitschrift f�r Thierheilkunde, vol. iii., p. 92.

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from the time the trichinae become free. The parasites in�crease in length and thickness, and, in the female, the uterus fills with fructified ova, which soon develop into embryos enclosed in the body of the female. Leuckart states that the female intestinal, or matured, parasite lives from five to six weeks, and produces at least fifteen hundred embryos. In the intestines of the animal invaded, the females ^!j*reatly pre�dominate over the male parasites.

The newly-born embryos are at first buried in the mucus which lines the intestinal tract, as free and movable para�sites. They soon, however, begin their migration and dis�persion, the first act being the penetration of the intestinal walls. It seems still to be a matter of discussion, as to the means or ways by which further migration takes place. Some authorities, and among them the most eminent, as Leuckart, Furstenberg, and Gerlach, favor the view that the parasites proceed by way of the mesenterium and connective-tissue tracts over the system, and penetrate the sarcolemma, or connective-tissue membrane of the muscular fibres, to lodge in the substance of the same. Here the parasite devel�ops a capsule or bed of finely granulous character for itself, the sarcous elements of the fibres of the muscles becoming wasted, or used up, and their striation lost so far as the cap�sule of the parasite extends. The sarcolemma of the muscle fibres forms a thickened secondary capsule around the parasite.

Another view, the possibility of which is conceded in a minor degree by the above-named authorities, is that the parasites gain access to the circulation, and arc transported over the system by the moving fluid, boring through the smaller vessels at convenience, and by this means gaining access to the muscular tissues. An enthusiastic defender of tliis theory is Dr. Thudichum, an English observer. Were the blood the principal path of dispersion, we ought to be able to find numerous examples of the embryonal parasite in the circulating fluid of living animals which have been sub�jected to feeding-experiments. This has not been the case, however.

Thus it is- evident that the consumer of trichinous flesh provides the means for its own infection. While this is in general the manner by which infection takes place, it by no means excludes the possibility of the infection of an animal

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by intestinal trichinae which have passed from an already infected organism with its fasces. In this way an infected swine may infect others, or in fact give occasion to a sec�ondary infection of itself, by rooting in the manure of its pen. In the same way swine may become infected from infected men when, as is too often the case, the out-houses for the family are placed over the piggery, 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 infec�tion may frequently continue from swine to man, and from man to swine.

Trichinas have been discovered in Germany, England, Scotland, Denmark, France, Italy, North America, and South America, Africa, India, Australia, Spain, Egypt, and Syria. They have been found infecting man, cats, rats, dogs, mice, foxes, badgers, wild-hogs, and, according to the quot; Gazette Medicale,quot; a young hippopotamus which died the 10th of May, 1879, at Marseilles, France.

Teichxniasis among Swine.

Although the recorded obserA'ation of the calcified trichinae in the muscles of man may be said to date back to about 1821 (without any knowledge of their nature, however), and although the capsule was described by Hilton in 1831, and the parasite by Paget and Owen a few years later, still it was not until 1847 that Leidy described similar formations in the flesh of swine; the connection between those of man and swine being unquestionably established by Zenker of Dresden in 1860. Previous to this discovery of Zenker, these parasites were looked upon chiefly as curiosities excit�ing the interest of naturalists. Their direful nature was soon, however, established beyond all question by numerous epidemics to be hereafter mentioned.

It is to German investigators that we must look almost entirely for any authoritative statistics with reference to the numerical percentage of infection with these parasites, not only in the human family, but among swine; for in no other country is there at present any thing approaching a syste�matic examination of pork; and even in Germany there is much room for improvement, as there is in this entire field, viz., the relation of animal diseases to human health

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Dr. Petri of Rostock gives the following statistics¹ with reference to the swine slaughtered in that city for a number of years: �

In 1869 the number of swine examined was 5,457, trichi-nous, 1; in 1871, 6.520, trichinous, 2: in 1872, 6,555, tri-chinous, 0; in 1873, 6,441, trichinous, 3; in 1874, 6,731. trichinous, 2; in 1875, 7,222, trichinous, 5; in 1876, 7,165. trichinous, 0; in 1877, 7,562, trichinous, 2. Total exam�ined, 53,653 ; trichinous, 15 : infected, 1 in 3,543.

In 1872, 622 American sides were examined, and 12 were found trichinous.

For Pgt;riin�wick, Dr. C. W. F. Uhde gives the following interesting figures: �

From April, 1871, to 1872, number of swine examined, 93,707, trichinous, 7; from April, 1872, to 1873, 92,605, tri�chinous, 19; from April, 1873, to 1874, 102,580, trichinous, 20; from April, 1874, to 1875, 105,484, trichinous, 8. Total number of swine examined, 394,376; trichinous, 54: in�fected, 1 in 7,303.

In Prussia, from April, 1865, to 1866, 49 trichinous swine were reported. In Brunswick, from 1864 to 1865, 17,865 swine were examined, and only 1 infected. In Blankenberg, from 1864 to 1865, 7,000 to 8,000 swine examined, and only 1 infected. In Hanover, from 1865 to 1866, 18,656 swine were examined, and 12 found infected; for the years 1867 . and 1868, 40 trichinous swine were reported for each year. In Sachsen-Weimar, from March, 1868, to 1869,19,611 swine were examined, and but 1 found trichinous. In 1872 and 1873, numerous American sides and hams were found in�fected at Frankfort. At Liegnitz, 26 American hams were examined, and 2 found infected. In 1873 and 1874, at Mag�deburg, between 7,000 and 8,000 swine were examined, and but 2 found infected. At Stettin, Erfurt, and other places, American pork came in for its share of condemnation. In 1875 and 1876, at Frankfort, of 8,000 swine examined, 4 were found infected; at Geslen, of 1,800, 1 was found in�fected. In 1876 and 1877, at one place 110 swine were examined, and 10 found infected. At Minden, 59 pieces of

¹ Virchow's Archiv, f�r path. Anatomie, etc.; Viertcljahrsschrift f�r gericht�liche Medicin ; Deutsche Zeitschrift f�r TMeimedicin ; Veterinary Reports of Saxony ; Magazin f�r Thierheilkuncle, and its successor, Archiv, f�r Thierheilkunde, and Mittheilungen aus der Praxis im proussischen Staate.

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American pork were found diseased. In Schleswig-Holstein, from 1865 to 1874, 24,690 swine were examined, and 68 found infected, � 1 in 348.

The later Prussian reports indicate that the authoritative r examination of pork is becoming better organized and more systematically executed, giving the following statistics of Dr. Eulenberg for 1876 to 1877, in all Prussia : �

Number of swine examined in 1'876, 1,728,595 ; trichinous, _v800 ; infected American pork, ^20; number of inspectors, 11,915. In 1877, number of swine examined, 2,057,252; trichinous, 701 ; infected American pork, 243; number of inspectors, 12,865. Total number of swine examined, 3,785,-847; trichinous, 1,501. Ratio of infected, 1 in 2,522.

In 1875, at Charkow, Russia, 3,910 swine were examined, and 5 found infected. Of 210 pieces examined at Gothen�burg, 8 were found infected.¹ At Elbing, two per cent of those examined were found trichinous. In Schleswig-Hol�stein, of 5,673 pieces examined, 47 were infected.

Examinations made in Germany in 1877 report 343 cases of infected American pork, and 183 cases of trichinosis among human beings. At Hamburg, in 1878, 297 American sides and 85 hams Avere found trichinous.

Statistics with reference to the percentage of infection with trichince among swine in England and France, as well as other Continental countries, are almost entirely wanting; at least, I have been unable to find any of value. German journals, however, are frequently enlivened with reports of the prevalence of these parasites in American pork.

Austria lays claim to a great immunity among her swine,²an explanation of which, it seems to me, must be sought in insufficient examination of slaughtered hogs. Professor Franz Mueller, of the Royal Veterinary Institute at Vienna, says that for years, neither in Vienna nor in its vicinity, has a single trichinous swine been found, notwithstanding inves�tigation at the hands of experts, nor has a case of trichiniasis by man taken place.

On the 18th of February, 1879, a special meeting of the Royal and National Veterinary Association of Italy was held, to receive a communication from Signer Volanti, the muni-

¹nbsp; Heller, Ziemssen's Handbuch d. Pathologie, iii., p. 411.

2nbsp; Oesterreich. Vierteljahrssohrift f�r Veterin�rkunde, vol. 51, p. 176.

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cipal veterinary surgeon of Turin. Volanti reported that trichinae had been discovered in some American hams from Cincinnati, which had been sold at Turin, and that four per. cent of the lot were infected. The association addressed a memoir to the Minister of the Interior with reference to a general measure towards organizing an efficient meat-inspection throughout the kingdom.¹

The report of the Chicago Academy of Sciences gives, as the result of examinations instituted by them nine years ago among swine slaughtered at that place, that, of 1,394 exam�ined, 28 were found infected. A recent examination,² insti�gated by Health-Commissioner De Wolf of Chicago, resulted in finding 8, of 100 swine examined, trichinous. A more detailed and laborious search among the medical journals of our own and other countries would doubtless greatly multi�ply these statistics.

The following interesting letter from the health-officer of Erie, Penn., shows how readily the disease may be over�looked without the careful scrutiny which he has exercised. Indeed, he says, in another note, that his finding trichinEe was for some time considered a hoax.

Ekie, Penn., Jan. 1,1830. Dk. C. F. Folsom.

My dear Sir, � For six years I have examined, almost every day, pork, but could not tell the exact number of pigs examined. Since that time -1 am city physician and inspector of the market, amp;c. I had my office for eleven years just near the meat-market, which is held twice a week; and it was an amusement for me to look over a hundred farmers' teams, loaded with fresh meat. One day a butcher killed a very fine pig, in his estimate: he sold a fresh ham to a banker, who wanted me to look at it quot; just for fun.quot; I put a small piece under the microscope, and found it full of trichinae. It was a home-fed and corn-and-milk-fed pig. A German milkman killed four nice pigs, and had the meat examined: one of them was trichinous. A farmer D. sold two pigs to a Mr. K. He and the family of K. got very sick, and I found one of the pigs full of trichinae. From a drove of Western pigs which were raised here I found several trichinous, and I think your estimate ⁸ is correct. I know only one case of death produced by trichinosis, � a young man nineteen years of age: others may have occurred under other names. Six years ago, at a German ball, smoked ham was served at midnight, and over a dozen people got very sick. Some blamed the beer and wine, but it was the

¹ Veterinary Journal, vol. ix., p. 286.

� Report of Chicago Board of Health, 1878.

s Somewhat less than the eight per cent observed in Chicago.

ham, full of trichinae. In 1872 I observed two cases in Southern Cali�fornia : they were rancheros. In 1873 I found two families very sick in this city, and they recovered; also a tailor's family, who partook of the same meat. . . . From about twenty cases to my knowledge, all but one recovered, some only after a good deal of sufiering.

Yours truly,

E. W. GERMER.

Dr. Germer adds, under date of Jan. 9, 1880, that he had recently examined a great many pigs without finding any trichinous. He'reports a number of fatal cases in Warren, Penn., which occurred a few years ago, from frequently eat�ing raw ham or sausages. One hundred and nine Western hogs were examined in Boston by Dr. Folsom, Dec. 24, 1870, with the result of finding none containing trichinae.

At the request of the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity, I have made an examination among swine slaugh�tered in the vicinity of Boston, extending over a period of five months. These examinations were not made upon any selected lots of swine, or upon those from any one place; but the pieces to be examined were collected at such days and times as I could find time and opportunity to examine them. The swine came from different parts of the country, mostly from the West, however. It is greatly to be regretted, that the exact place from which some of them came could not be ascertained, and exact examinations made as to their manner of feeding, surroundings, amp;c.; but such systematic work must await a future day, and abundant material sup�port from the different State governments.

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The following is the result of my examinations: �


	Kmnber of
LOT.	Swine Examined.	Non-infected.	Infected.
1.......	47	44	3
')	48	46	2
3.......	72	62	10
4.......	60	56	4
5.......	226	210	16
6.......	192	179	13
7 .......	100	96	4
8.......	81	80	1
9.......	95	94	1
10.......	93	89	4
n.......	98	90	8
12.......	300	275	25
13.......	201	188	13
14 ...... .	192	187	5
15.......	200	184	16
	237	252	5
17.......	238	225	13
18.......	103	154	9
19 !.......	26	25	1
	12	11	1
Total.....	2,701	2,547	154

Percentage, 1 in 17.54.

I have also examined eighty-nine hogs' tongues, freshly pickled, with the result, of finding three trichinous. The trichinae in these tongues were found, upon careful micro�scopical examination, and application of heat, to he dead; but the tissues of the tongue are very loose, and more easily penetrated by the pickle than the more compact muscles.

According to the previously given statistics with reference to trichiniasis among swine, it is evident that there is an enormously greater percentage of trichina-infected swine in this country than in Germany, if their statistics can be relied upon. It should be remarked, however, that our investiga�tions were made with very great thoroughness, and that those portions of the swine were examined in which trichinae are most commonly found (see p. 27). It has been ascertained, too, in Germany, that the percentage of hogs reported tri�chinous is increasing in that country (quot; Deutsche Viertel-jahrsschrift f�r �ff. Gesundheitspflege,quot; v. 638).

i Vermont hogs.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;² Swine killed for owners near Boston.

There is no doubt that the greater part of the swiue which I examined were from the West; yet no one well ac�quainted with the circumstances would, I think, assert that the general hygienic conditions under which our Western swine are raised are not superior to those of the famed quot; home-fed porkersquot; of the small New-England farmer, raised, as they are in only too many instances, in dark, loathsome, poorly-ventilated pens, only too frequently under stables, with the house-vaults and sink-drains emptying into them.

Again, whoever has been upon a tour of observation among the agricultural districts of Germany must have been most forcibly struck with the absurd non-hygienic condi�tions under which not only hogs, but the majority of the domestic animals, are raised and surrounded, in comparison with those of our own country, especially of the great stock-raising West.

It is of the greatest importance to statistically establish, by means of a large number of exact examinations at the hands of competent and strictly honest observers, whether this great percentage of trichinte-infected hogs is to be found among those fattened under the more unfavorable conditions offered by the large Western distilleries, in comparison with those offered by the open-air feeding, limited almost entirely to corn, of the Western farmer. The rigid inspection which has been begun, and is in the future to be still more rigidly executed; the numerous cases of infected American pork which are yearly being reported in Continental, especially German papers, and which are noticed in those of Great Britain; the too-numerous cases of disease among human beings traced to the same, � are gradually serving as an embargo, at least as a heavy import duty, which can but influence our foreign markets in this immense American agricultural product.¹ We have, then, as a nation, to dis�cover why it is, that our Western swine, raised as they are under what appear to be more favorable hygienic condi�tions, are so much more infected with trichinaj than those of Germany, which are nearly all penned, and often given the contents of the out-house to root over.

¹ The census of 1S70 gives the number of swiue iu the United States as 25,134,509.

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It is well known that trichinse have been found among the wild swine of Europe. It would be interesting to knownbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; ,\f

the facts, in this regard, as to our own wild swine of the Southern and Western States, as well as the peccaries ofnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;_r

Mexico and Central America.

The following¹ is given as an attempt at explaining the greater per cent of trichinse among our swine : �

quot; The swine -which are brought to the large slaughter-house are al�lowed to feed upon the refuse from slaughtered swine, and in this way have time jnd opportunity to infect themselves. Such infected swine are themselves slaughtered, and again infect those that may remain, or which may have arrived later. Accordingly this evil must go on con�stantly extending, and all persons must be earnestly warned against the consumption of raw American pork. By the so-called ' rapid smoking process,' practised in America, the trichinse in the peripheral, or outside parts, of the hams, are doubtless killed, but those more deeply seated are not.quot;

While the above assertion is absolutely false with reference to the large establishments, it is as strictly true, not only of many small ones where hogs are killed for home consump�tion, but also where they are kept, fattened, and killed by the farmer, or raiser, for the use of his family.

Dr. J. Meyer, sen., a very competent veterinarian at Cin-nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; /

cinnati, writes under date of Oct. 16, 1879: �

quot; During the time that swine are quartered at the large regular pack�ing-establishments,�which is generally from one to three days in the ' summer months, and one to six days in winter months,�they are fed upon corn and water exclusively. There are slaughter-houses, however, in which both cattle and swine are killed for the local trade, where the offal collected from the whole house is cast to the swine awaiting their doomed moment. This food is consumed in an uncooked state. The ofial from the larger packing-houses is collected daily by the fertilizing-company, and transferred to their factory, where the fats are extracted by the aid of steam, the residue dried and made into fertilizing-material.quot;nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; gt;

Dr. N. II. Paaren of Chicago writes under the same date:�

quot; No hogs are fed within many miles of the stockyards and packing or slaughtering establishments, except it be an occasional one kept by an Irish or German person and fed from the family kitchen. No part of the offal of the slaughtering-houses is used for feeding animals of any description.quot;

¹ By Dr. O. Bollinger, professor in the Royal Veterinary Institute at Munich, in Deutsche Zeitschrift f�r Thiermedicin.

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Dr. Bollinger's remarks continue as follows: �

quot;If we assume that one in ten thousand swine is infected, and from the refuse of the same two more become infected, the following geomet�ric progression may take place: the first year, one swine trichinous ; the second, two ; the third, four; the fourth, eight; and so on, until in the course of fifteen years we have 10,384 swine infected from a single nucleus of infection. It is therefore right to warn the people against the consumption of American pork; and the microscopic examination of the same must in no case be neglected, as, in the American slaughter�houses, the breeding of trichinae seems to be so regularly and thoroughly carried out, that no organized attempt could be hoped to equal it.quot;

With reference to the disease itself among swine, I have taken the following from the quot;Magazin f�r die gesammte Thierheilkunde,quot; xxxi. 6; being a report written by Professor Mueller of the Royal Veterinary Institute at Berlin, with ref�erence to the results of a long-continued series of feeding-experiments with trichinous pork upon swine themselves. These experiments have demonstrated the fact that the con�sumption of trichinous flesh by swine, with the consequent development of the embryos in their intestines, and their migration and lodgement in the muscles, may indeed cause disease, but the symptoms of the same have neither that con�stancy nor character which will admit of their being con�sidered as peculiar to this disease alone, during the life of swine so infected. All the swine which were fed with the trichinous flesh became ill within a few days after its con�sumption. The most constant phenomena presented were as follows: diarrhoea, not constant, but interrupted frequently by the passage of more solid fajces; appetite irregular, some�times more, sometimes less, sometimes entirely wanting; indications of abdominal pains; turgidity of the lining mem�brane of the eyelids.

These symptoms, either singly or collectively, may appear in swine, or any other animal, entirely aside from any tri�china-infection : most of them are simply evidence of the irri�tation caused by the parasites in the intestinal canal. Hence swine dying or killed at this stage of the invasion would present the same pathological phenomena as those suffering from an intestinal catarrh of like grade. As the migration of the embryonal trichina) gradually ceases, so do these abdominal phenomena relax in their severity, and finally dis-

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appear, unless a second invasion takes place. The invasion of the several muscular systems is indicated by pain, swell�ing, and disturbance of the motor functions. If these do not lead to death by exhaustion, they in their turn gradually cease with the encapsuling of the trichinre.

The experiments of Professor Leisering, of the Royal Veterinary Institute at Dresden, entirely agree with the above. He says (quot;Bericht ueber das Veterin�r-Wesen im K�nigreich Sachsenquot; 1862, p.. 118), quot;One cannot speak of a trichina-disease in swine, which is characterized by distinct and pathognomonic phenomena. In this relation, the tri-chinse deport themselves in a manner similar to the cysticerci (measles).quot; Leisering made some feeding-experiments with trichinous flesh by a horse, but the most exact examinations failed in discovering a single parasite in his flesh. It may also be casually remarked that fowls present some unknown hinderance to an invasion of their flesh by embryonal tri�chinae. I made quite a number of experiments with hens, feeding them for two weeks almost entirely upon pork pro�fusely infected, but was unable to find a single trichina in their flesh.

How do swine become infected under the natural order of things? or, in other words, whence do they derive the trichinae? That the parasites gain access to an organism by means of the mouth and alimentary canal, is placed beyond all doubt. Notwithstanding the apparent negation of the above-quoted Berlin experiments, other authorities affirm, from positive observation, that intestinal and embryonal trichina) do leave the invaded animal with the faeces, as is attested to by such observers as Leuckart, Vogel, Kuhn, Geiiach, and others. It is this form of migration, which under favorable circum�stances also contributes to the distribution of the trichinae. In fact, Haubner and Gerlach mention cases where they in�tentionally caused infection of young non-infected swine, by placing them with those known to be infected. Such em�bryos and pregnant females become mixed with the manure and bedding of the hog-pen, and may be taken up by any swine, even by those first invaded, thereby leadmg to a sec�ond infection, self-induced.

Is there no other factor in the question? We have previously remarked that wild swine have been found in-

1880.]nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;TRICHINA..nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;43

fected with trichinae, also cats, dags, foxes, and other wild ^xnbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; animals. Dr. Clendemin of Ostend examined a pike¹ caught

in the North Sea, and found its flesh infested with trichinaB.

,nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;He conjectured that the fish must have fed from trichinse-

infected refuse in the harbor of Ostend, and by this means

*nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; have become infected. But, of all animals in which these para-

sites have been found, none have that interest to the hygienist and experimental pathologist which is enjoyed by the rat, on account of a hypothetical setiological connection between the trichinae which have been found to infest them in large num�bers, and those of swine. Leisering is the originator of this hypothesis.

The following figures sufficiently prove that the rat lodges trichinae in its flesh, even to a greater extent than any other animal which has as yet been subjected to examination. Of 704 rats from different parts of Germany, which have been subjected to examination, 59 were found trichinous, 8.3 per cent; of 208 rats from German Knackers, 46 found trichi�nous, 22.1 per cent; of 224 rats from slaughter-houses, 12 found trichinous, 5.4 per cent; of 272 rats from other places, 1 found trichinous, 0.4 per cent; of 326 rats from other places, 39 found trichinous, 12 per cent.

Of 51 rats caught at the Knacker establishment at Spec�tacle Island, Boston Harbor, 39 were found by myself to be trichinous, the tongues having been used for examination. The proprietors of this establishment kindly gave me an opportunity of examining 28 hogs which had been kept and fattened by them at the island in question. None were found trichinous. These hoys received no city swill of any kind. What flesh they received had been subjected to the heat necessary to extract the fats; otherwise they received nothinri but corn-meal.

Forty rats caught at one of the large pork-packing houses near Boston were all found trichinous. Of 60 rats caught for me at different stables in the city of Boston, where no hogs were or had been kept, but six were found trichinous.

The results of these examinations are sufficient to strength�en my scepticism with regard to the rat-infection theory, and seem to indicate that the rats get the disease from eating pork, or from the swine, and not the swine from the rats. ¹ Archiv, f�r Thierheilkunde, Berlin, vol. v., p. 447.

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If this is true, we are no nearer solving the question as to how swine become infected, than we were before the trichinse were found in rats. Some hog-keepers say that they have seen swine hunt and kill rats, while others assert that such a thing never takes place; but they all admit that a hungry hog would undoubtedly eat a rat if it had it. Admitting that hogs may become infected from eating a trichinous rat, we have still before us the questions, �

1. Is this the only source from which swine become in�fected? 2. Is there no common source from which not only they, but wild animals, especially omnivora and carnivora, may become infected ?

As American pork, and, according to my observations, American rats, are much more infected than similar animals in Germany, it seems as if here in America were the place to decide these important questions.

The Mickoscopic Examination of Poek.

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. Almost the first, and at the same time by far the most profusely infested muscles, are the so-called quot; pillars of the diaphragm.quot; The same are to be always found, as two small stumps of flesh immediately above the kidneys in the dressed hog, when hung up to quot; cool out.quot; If there is a single trichina in the organism, it is probably to be found there. These pieces belong to the trimmings, and are always to be had without in the least disturbing the appearance of the hog.

As nearly all our hogs are killed young, i.e., about a year old, it is seldom thatquot; one meets the capsules of the trichinae in a calcified condition. Hence they are generally invisible to the naked eye. Of the twenty-seven hundred swine which I examined, none contained calcified capsules.

Although a power of fifteen to twenty diameters is suffi�cient to demonstrate the parasites to the proficient observer, still it is much better to use a power of fifty to seventy-five diameters. Good microscopes for such a purpose are to be had from American makers for from fifteen to twenty dollars. If the stand were fixed, they could be shorter and far more suitable for such purposes. A large table to the microscope

1880.]

TRICHINA.

#9632;

is of advantage for such examinations. Further, a few slides or object-glasses, some strong covering glasses, a pair of small curved scissors, and two teasing needles will complete the outfit.

The next step is, to take the piece of muscle to be exam�ined, and, if at all dried, to make a fresh cut into its (lf|||iiMi^^

substance, then with the curved scissors cut one, two, or three thin slices length�ways to the fibres, i.e., with them, and with a needle place them upon the object-glass a little distance apart; the covering glass is then placed upon them, and gently pressed with a slight rolling motion in one direction and back if necessary. This will make the sections thin enough for examination. The free trichinse, as shown in figure No. 5, are seldom found in swine, as they are not often examined after a fresh inva�

sion.

To determine if the trichi-

Fia. 5. Fresh Trichlnous Invasion. (Heller.)

nse still live, place the object-glass over heat, a spirit-lamp, a second, and then place again upon the microscope, and they will be frequently seen coiling themselves in their capsules. It is better, however, to finely tease out the preparation first, when individuals will frequently become freed from their capsules, and their movements can be better observed by the application of heat. Salted pork is best examined by taking the cuts from the scissors, and soaking them in fresh water for a second or so before placing upon the slide. They press out much easier and thinner, when such a procedure is resorted to.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

[Jan.

Objects which may be mistaken foe Trichinae oe not eecognized as such.

There are some possible sources of mistake in examining for trichinae, as indicated below, but which can readily be

Flo. 6. Normal encapsuled Trichinae. (Leuckart.)

Fig. 7. Pathologically changed Trichina-capsules. Trichina; dead. (Leuckart.)

avoided with care. It not unfrequently happens that the capsules of the parasites formed by the sarcolemma, or em�bracing membrane of the muscle-fibres, become abnormally thickened, the trichinae being dead within them. These cap�sules do not present exactly the same appearance as under normal circumstances, as may be seen by comparing Figs. 6 and 7.

In other cases the calcification is of such a character as to almost entirely change the appearance of the capsules and contents. (See Figs. 8 and 9.)

In some cases cystioerci (measles) perish and become cal�cified ; but these formations are very much larger than those of trichinae, and are often filled with a caseous mass. The quot; sacks of Rainey,quot; or, as they are sometimes called, quot; psoro-

1880.]

TRICHINAE.

spermia,quot; are elongated bodies, like the trichinae, situated within the sarcolemma, the true nature and pathological

Ilaquo;

. m. -fe';;

Fig. 8. Encapsnled concretions with dead Trichinre. (Leuckart.)

Fig. 9. Trichina-capsules, with calcified and disintegrated capsules. (Leuckart.)

importance of which are not yet well determined. Some of the points distinguishing them from trichinae are, that by the latter the striation of the muscle-fibre, or better the plasma, sarcous elements, is destroyed within that part of the sarcolemma which is included in the capsule of the trichina: by the psorosperms, however, it is retained, and only displaced by the

object itself, limiting it on each side, and continuing directly from its poles. Bruch, Virchow, and Leuck�art have described pe�culiar roundish o r oval masses of a whit�ish color, of variable

dimensions, which oc-

casionally appear in

Fig. 10. Psorosperms in muscle of s-wine. (Leuckart.)

the flesh of hams. The same have been microscopically demonstrated to consist of agglomerates of needle-like crystals. They fill the muscle-fibres to a #9632;variable degree, without otherwise disturbing its structure, and disappear upon treatment with muriatic acid,

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the normal transverse striation again becoming apparent. Figs. 10 and 11 will give an idea of these objects.

Trichinae in Man.

It has been previously stated, that for some thirty years subsequent to the first description of the capsule by Hilton, and some twenty-five years after the identification of the parasite itself in man, the same were looked upon as mere harmless curiosities, and, that, although Leidy discovered the parasite in the flesh of swine in 1847, still it was not until 1860 that the connection was established between them, appearing, as they had, in two totally different species (men and swine). The honor of this important discovery belongs to Dr. Zenker of Dresden, Germany. The disease was dis�covered in a servant-girl admitted as a ty�phus patient to the City Hospital in Dresden. She died, and her flesh was found to be com�pletely infested with trichina}. At the same time that she became ill, other persons of the same family, and a

Fio. 11. Deposit of Tyrosin crystals in ham.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;i . inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; i i i inbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;i

(Leuckart.)nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;butcher who had slaugh-

tered a pig for .them, were taken sick also; similar phenomena, but in a modified form, appearing in their case. An examination of the pork at the house revealed the presence of numerous trichinae in its fleshy portions.

Dr. Thudichum (Seventh Report Med. Off. Privy Coun�cil, London, 1865) sums up the principal phenomena of trichiniasis in man as follows: quot;Sudden swelling of the face, particularly the eyelids, after the patient has for some days felt prostrate, and lost his appetite (this swelling causes a feel�ing of tension, but no pain) ; fever, with a quick pulse and copious perspirations, which not rarely have a repugnant odor; painfulness and immobility of arms and legs; the mus�cles are swelled and contracted, and give great pain when set in motion by the will or touched from without; in the worst

1880.]nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;TRICHINAE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;49

cases, the entire body is perfectly immovable and highly sensitive; there is gastro-intestinal catarrh (diarrhoea) with a red, somewhat covered tongue, inclining to dryness ; Avhen the swelling of the face has subsided, oedema of the feet, legs, and thighs comes on; shortly afterwards, anasarca, swelling over the trunk, makes its appearance.quot;

From the time of the above-mentioned case of Zenker's, numerous others have been observed in different countries; and even epidemics of the disease have been reported, name�ly, at Corback 1860, Flauen 1861-2, Calbe 1862, Hettstadt 1862-3, Hanover 1864, Dessau 1864, and at numerous other places in Germany. The most remarkable outbreak was, however, at Hedersleben, a place of some two thousand inhabitants, of whom three hundred and thirty-seven were sick at one time, and one hundred and one died of trichi-niasis.

Cobbold communicated to Heller, that the first authentic case of this disease, observed in man during life in England, was in 1871. Several most interesting examples of the dis�covery of the parasite in the muscles of living persons have been recorded in the annals of medicine. We have already alluded to,the case of a woman suffering from cancer of the breast, trichinae being found in portions of it on its removal (p. 30). The case of a stout and apparently healthy man entering a hospital at Calcutta with a tumor on his neck, and � the subsequent discovery of trichinae in the tissues of the same, is reported in quot; The Boston Medical and Surgical Jour�nal,quot; vol. 72, p. 167. Langenbeck of Berlin also removed a tumor in which the parasites were discovered. Frofessor Fitz of the Harvard Medical School lately reported to me a sim�ilar case, and remarked, that these parasites are probably more frequent in human beings in Massachusetts than is supposed.

Forty persons became diseased at one time at Bremen, from eating trichinous American pork. At Lissa five mem�bers of one family became infected from eating of a ham, which, it was said, had been pickled, then smoked, and boiled for two hours.¹ A poor woman became infected from the consumption of dog-meat, to which her necessities had driven her for nourishment.² At Linden, a suburb of Hanover, four

¹ Boston Med. amp; Surg. Jour., vol. 90, p. 491.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;2 Ibid., vol. 91, p. 471.

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hundred persons were infected at one time, and twenty-one died, from eating tricliinous pork.¹

Dr. Kiefer of Detroit reports a fatal case of this disease, the patient dying at the end of the fourth week: he also refers to cases reported by Dr. Kronpein of New-York State, and Dr. Dingier of Ohio. Dr. Asa Herr of Dubuque, lo., reports fifteen cases and five deaths, from eating raw smoked ham made into sausages. Several cases are also reported as occurring in Philadelphia.² (American Journal of the Medi�cal Sciences for 1869, p. 565; 1870, p. 283; and 1878, p. 434.)

Dr. Sutton of Aurora, Ind., reports nine cases of trichi-niasis, three of which ended fatally.³ All of the persons had eaten uncooked smoked sausages from a pig, the flesh of which had never been examined: the sausages were found full of trichinae.

The resemblance of the symptoms, both in the fatal and milder forms, to those of simple inflammation of the intes�tines, is of great moment in considering the disease in man.

The following is taken from quot;The Veterinary Journal,quot; vol. ix. p. 212, but originally appeared in quot; The Rochester Democrat,quot; N.Y., May 1, 1879: quot;Another case of trichinia-sis has appeared in the vicinity of Rochester, death resulting from the disease. . . . The disease appeared mysterious, and baffled all remedies administered. A sister of the woman was also taken sick with symptoms somewhat similar in nature. The physician, though unacquainted with the dis�ease, made up his mind that the patient was suffering from trichiniasis. The investigation of a portion of the muscle, removed after death, demonstrated the presence of numerous trichinae in its fibres.quot; Cases in Michigan, at Otsego, De�troit, and Port Huron, are recorded in the Reports of the Board of Health of that State for 1875 and 1877. Of the Port Huron cases, a mother and father in one family died.

quot; In Saxony,⁴ from 1860 to 1875, thirty-nine outbreaks of trichiniasis have taken place. The whole number of persons diseased, reported to the officials, was 1,267; of these 19 died, or 1.5 per cent. In a proportionally small number of

¹nbsp; Boston Medical and Surgical Jour., vol. xci., p. 627.

2nbsp; Ibid., vol. Ixxiv., pp. 208, 582.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; laquo; Lancet, vol. ii., p. 24, 1875. laquo; H. �einard, Archiv, d. Heilkunde, 18 Jahrg. p. 241. 1877.

1880.]

TRICHINiE.

cases, the infection took place from eating raw pork; in most cases, however, Knackwurst and Bratwurst were the causes. The sausages are made from raw chopped meat, and smoked for one to two days, and eaten either cold or slightly fried. Of the 19 persons who died, 3 (of 8) were infected from raw meat, 2 (from 630 infected) from cold hacked sausage, 8 (from 340 diseased) from Bratwurst (fried sau�sage), and 2 (of 48) from ham: with reference to the other 4 there is no information. Of the 6,959,964 swine, which were slaughtered in Saxony during these 16 years, only 39, or 1 in 178,462, caused trichiniasis in man.quot;


	Table showing the Observed Cases of Human Trichiniasis in					Bavaria.¹
i 1	Place.	Tear.	No. of Cases.	AUTHOK.	Where described.	Nature of Flesh eaten.
1	WUrzburg .	1853,	2	Virchow .	Archiv., vol. 81,1853,
2	W�rzburg	1861,	1	K�lliker	W�rz.Med. Zeit., vol. il., p. 12,1861 .	Fresh raw
t)	Erlangen	1870,	8	Maurer	D. Archiv. Klin. Mcd., vol. 8, p. 368 .	meat.
4	Erlangen	-	1	Zenker.	D. Archiv. Klin. Med., vol. 8, p. 388 .
i	Zweibr�ckon .	1S70-71,	1	Friederick .	D. Archiv. Klin. Med., vol. 9, p. 459 .	Swine from
8	Speyer .	1873,	5	David .	Communicated to Dr. Goring	Baden.
J	Hof .	1878,	6	Koth .	Ref. Aerztl. Kammer von Oberfranken .	Home-made
8	Bamberg	Feb. 1878,	302	Roth .	Ref. Aerzll. Kammer von Oberfranken .	pork. Raw home-
V	N�rnberg \	May, '78,	10	Merkel.	Ref. Aerztl. Kammer	made ham.
10	(	June, '73,	3		von Oberfranken .	Salted pork.
11	Frcuchtbingen	June, '78,	i	Merkel.	Ref. Aerztl. Kammer von Oberfranken .	Spiced pork.
12	Marktlcutcn .	July, '78,	19	Roth .	Polizeiliche Zeitung .
13	Burgsinn	1879,	7³	Roth .	Polizeiliche Zeitung .

It is much to be regretted that the statistics of our medical schools and hospitals do not give us the exact number of cases where trichinae have been found at autopsies of human beings. Dr. Bowditch reported three cases in quot; The Boston Medical and Surgical Journalquot; of 1842-44. Turner says of Scotland, that in five years one to two per cent of the human bodies were found trichinous. Fiedler found in Dresden 2 to 2.5 per cent to be in the same condition. Wagner in Leipzig reports one to every thirty or forty as infected. Virchow reports them as quite frequently met with. Zenker

¹nbsp; Bollinger, Zeitschrift f�r Thiermedicin, Bd. 5, Heft. 3 and 4, p. 204.

²nbsp; One died.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;laquo; Three died.

52nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;[Jan.

reports 1.79 per cent for autopsies seen at Dresden hj him. Reports of like nature come from Italy, Russia, Sweden, and other countries.

Peeventiok.

1.nbsp; The examination of slaughtered pigs by competent per�sons.

2.nbsp; All pens and places for keeping hogs should be defi�nitely regulated with reference to situation, contents, clean�liness, amp;c.

3.nbsp; All sick hogs should be properly isolated from healthy ones, under the supervision of sanitary inspectors.

4.nbsp; State boards of health should seek to educate the peo�ple in a knowledge of the subject.

5.nbsp; As it has been demonstrated by my examination of the rats and hogs from the Knacker establishment at Spectacle Island, Boston Harbor, that while the former were nearly all trichinous, � thirty-nine out of fifty-one,�twenty-eight hogs were entirely free from trichinae ; as they receive neither city swill nor uncooked meat, it is indicated that these two questions can be very well studied at such places, and that, at very little cost to the State, valuable experiments can be made.

6.nbsp; Boards of health should instigate exact researches into the hygienic conditions under which swine are reared; and

� no means should be spared, in the endeavor to discover the real source from which swine obtain these parasites.

7.nbsp; There should be continued examinations of rats in dif�ferent parts of the country, at piggeries, and at places where no hogs are, or have been kept, until this rat theory of infec�tion is absolutely settled.

8.nbsp; No contents of water-closets, out-houses for human beings, or drainage from house-sinks, should be allowed to enter hog-pens, on penalty of the law.¹

9.nbsp; Feeding the offal from slaughtered swine to .other swine, cooked or uncooked, or having slaughter-houses over places where swine are kept, should be forbidden by law.

10.nbsp; Competently educated veterinary inspectors should be appointed by the State boards of health of each State, after

i Zenkor reports a case where twenty-three swine were infected with trichinae from consuming the drainage of a sink from a castle.

1880.]nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; TRICHINiE.nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;53

having passed a special examination in the principles of pre�ventive medicine, to see that these various regulations, and others, with reference to other diseases, as well as contagio-infectious diseases strictly limited to animals, are strictly attended to.

Leuckart's and other experiments have shown that a tem�perature of 140deg; F. is necessary to securely render trichinae inert. Direct heat applied to the slides holding specimens of trichinous pork, by means of the Schultz heating-table, has demonstrated, under the microscope, that a temperature of 50deg; C. (122deg; F.) is necessary to the certain death of the trichin�e.

Leisering's experiments with trichinous pork, made up into sausage-meat and cooked twenty minutes, gave positive re�sults when fed to one rabbit, and negative by another. He sums up his experiments as follows: �

1.nbsp; Trichinae are killed by long-continued salting of infected meat, and also by subjecting the same for twenty-four hours to the action of smoke in a heated chamber.

2.nbsp; They are not killed by means of cold smoking for a period of three days, and it also appears that twenty minutes cooking of freshly prepared sausage-meat is insufficient to kill them in all cases.

The various kinds of cooking, however, are quite differ�ent in their effects on trichinous pork. Frying and broiling are most efficient, roasting coming next. Boiling coagulates the albumen on the outer surface, and allows the heat to penetrate less readily; it should bo kept up therefore for at least two hours for large pieces of meat.. Whether boiled, broiled, or fried, pork should always be thoroughly cooked.

Practically speaking, the cooking, salting, and hot smoking which pork in its various forms receives in the United States must be in the vast majority of cases sufficient to kill the tri�chinae, and prevent infection of the persons consuming the meat. Epidemics like those reported in Germany are un�known here, and trichiniasis in a fatal form is undoubtedly a rare disease. In the vicinity of the great pork-packing estab�lishments near Boston, the quot; spare-ribs,quot; containing the inter�costal muscles, are very largely bought and eaten by the people near by; and trichiniasis among them has not in a

64nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; nbsp;DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. [Jan.'80.

single case been reported, so far as I have been able to le�rn. The cuts being thin and well cooked, any trichinse in them are quite certain to be killed. Even when trichinse are introduced into the intestinal canal, too, they are sometimes expelled by diarrhoea, and the invasion of the system by a small number does no harm.

In this connection it seems not inappropriate for me to suggest that a most useful adjunct to the Health Department of Massachusetts would be an experiment station, situated within a convenient distance of Boston, probably in its suburbs, fitted up with a stable and suitable laboratories for pathological and chemical investigations. Such a station should not be a transient, but a permanent, attachment to the Board.



ig*

s pbom thlaquo; Supplement to the First Amtoai, Report op tbk Mabsachusetts State Board of Health, Lunaot, araquo;d Cbabitt, CONTAINING THE REPORT AND PAPERS ON P�BMC HEALTH.]

PAPER

IfilCHIM IN EELAT10N TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

BY

F. S. BILLINGS, M.V. (Rotal Vet. Inst., Berun),

OF BOXBTJRY.




^		*'mm*

BOSTON: laquo;lanD, abttg, amp; Co.. printerlaquo; to tfte Commontoealtb, 117 Franki-in Street.

3471	1880.



	^	*V/r*



	T�lCHINJl IN EELATION TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

	BT

	P. S. BILLINGS, M. V. (ROYAL VET. INST. BERLIN), OF ROXB�RY.

	-

	^



30	DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.	[Jan.

The Intestinal Teichin^e. So long as the trichinae are in their capsules in the fibre of the muscle, their condition remains unchanged except to die or degenerate after the lapse of a long time; they make no progress in their development. They have been seen in an active condition, � i. e., capable of progressive development under suitable circumstances, yet encapsuled,� thirteen, twenty, twenty-four years, from the time at which their invasion had taken place. In 1861 a woman was ad�mitted into the hospital at Altona, a suburb of Hamburg, Germany, suffering from a cancer of the breast which had been developing for some twelve years. On excision of the same, and subjecting portions of its tissue to microscopic examination, the presence of trichinse was made manifest. On inquiry, it was ascertained that in 1856 the woman re�sided at Davenport, la., where she was taken suddenly very ill; gastric and rheumatic phenomena being the most mani�fest, together with oedema of various parts, and loss of power of motion of the limbs. Her brother, with whom she resided, was attacked in a similar but not in so severe � a form, at the same time. The woman died at the hospital in question in 1864, and the examination of her flesh revealed the presence of great numbers of encapsuled trichinse. A cat fed with pieces of the same died after the lapse of six�teen days, its flesh being completely filled with these para�sites.¹ Virchow relates a case, where, after the lapse of thirteen and one-half years, the parasites moved in their capsules on prolonged exposure to the heat of the sun. Dr. Klopsch reports a case of trichiniasis, and complete recovery, which took place in 1842. The discovery of the parasites in this case was also made at the time of excision of a mammary tumor, which took place May 6, 1863, twenty-one years after the time of invasion. At the same time that the woman was ill (in 1842), two persons in the same house presented similar phenomena, and both died.² Professor Damman, formerly of the Eldena Agricultural Academy, now at the Hanover Veterinary Institute, Ger- ¹ Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 18G6, vol. 74, p. 186. ^a Archiv, f�r path. Anat. u. Physiologie, vol. xxxv., p. 609.