ha patient the hours after slaughtering the animal it must would tel to the Superintendent, who directs to the locality a Sample would be personally extracts pieces of muscle from the following situataphragm, abdomen, thorax, and larynx. These specimens he of strom medies in a suitable ease adapted for this purpose. The muscles primarily prohit dan the dip, intercostal, cervical, ocular, and laryngeal The only stated muscle exempt from the invasion is the heart. and death the muscles of the exemities the trichinæ are less abundant in direct the ion as we from the trunk. They are usually found at the ards alfachments of the muscles, which is explained by the fact that evil is the compassive density of the tendons, their tendency to wander thened. The Inspectors are well versed in the preceding facts, and venly apply their theoretical learning in the pursuit of their profeswh for in Germany in constitutes a distinct means of livelihood. After anche samples are resumed to the Superintendent's office, at least six sections Simple are made, and all are carefully examined with the microsoupe. Should the meat be found to contain no trichinæ, then a certificate to that effect is issued and the hog receives the official stamp. Should the the case, then the hog is condemned and disposed of as folTins It is subjectes for at least twelve hours to a temperature of 120° C. this thorough cooking process is accomplished, the fat can be used Be any purposes at the option of the owner, but the meat, bones, and vis ay for formining purposes. The vessels used in cooking condemned animate must be kept in a thoroughly isolated situation. All the details coumerated must be recorded in suitable books kept for this purpose, and says open for inspection to the proper authorities. It will suffice to say guy derelicton of duty on the part of the Inspectors or owners in ty following the strict letter of the law, is severely punished. The methods in vogue for the examination of trichinized meat are various, depend in many instances on contingencies. Only in the minority lances can the microscope be dispensed with, and then only when the triching have become encysted and infiltrated with calcareous salts. Under such conditions they are visible to the unaided eye. Hartnack has ssly constructed microscopes for the examination of trichinæ, and are slmost exclusively by the professional meat inspectors in Germany. When special cessions require, the muscular tissue can be extracted from living salmal, either by directly cutting down to the tissue or by har The specimen obtained in either way is carefully teased on an class after the addition of a few drops of a one per cent solution of m chloride Examining sausage and other preparations of pork for ine is more difficult procedure, and an inordinate amount of patience Only recently I had occasion to examine some sausage, sent to me by William & Groton, of Susanville, which he suspected contained trichnasmuch as certain members of a family were afflicted with a train mptons resembling trichinosis. The microscope sustained the doctor's nosis and in this instance, although two hundred sections were made the microtome, in only eight per cent of all the sections examined ching be found. Dr. Tyrrell has since then kindly sent me a of the same sausage, containing trichinæ in about fifty per cent of all tions examined. This case I deem to be of historical importance in nin, and I am assured by Dr. Groton that it will receive publication. xt step in the prophylaxis of this disease will enter into a brief on of the precautionary measures adopted by individuals against Mest should not be eaten without having first undergone was in a thorough cooking process. An argument usually urged in behalf of thorough cooking is, that in those countries where the inhabitants partake largely of raw meat trichinosis is more prevalent. But this is not the only factor concerning the etiology of the disease in question, inasmuch as the hog in different countries is infected in a greater or less degree; e. g., in Switzerland, France, and England, trichinosis in man and animals is rare. Cooking in order to effectually render trichinized meat inert must be very thorough, for, according to the experiments of Fiedler and others, such meat when exposed for many hours to a temperature of 160° F. many instances incapable of killing the entozoa. Trichinosis is less frequent in northern than in southern Germany, owing no doubt to the more thorough cooking process by which meat is prepared in southern Germany. Vallin has recently demonstrated that the encysted are more difficult to kill than the free trichinæ. He also determined that after boiling about three pounds of meat for one hour, the interior of the meat attained a temperature of 122° F., and only after three hours further boiling, 212° F. The experiments of Gibier prove that extreme cold will likewise destroy the trichinæ. Salting and drying of trychinised meat does not always militate against infection, however thoroughly done. Krabbe found that when ham containing trichina was introduced into a five and one half per cent solution of sodium chloride, they were found to be alive fifteen days after, and other observers record a much longer time. To prevent the dissemination of the disease among swine, it is necessary to provide for almost pedantic cleanliness in maintaining the abode of these animals in a proper sanitary condition. They should be fed on the most cleanly food, and provision must be made against the abominable custom of allowing them to be fed on the bodies of dead swine, a custom so prevalent in America. Under such circumstances, a more potent means of transmitting infection could not be devised. It would be folly to resent the recent action of the German Government, in prohibiting the importation of pork and its various preparations from America, when viewed in a thoroughly scientific light. The following statistics need no comment: In 1877, Eulenberg examined two million fiftyseven thousand two hundred and seventy-two slaughtered swine in Prussia with the view of ascertaining the extent of trichinosis among them. Only seven hundred and one were infected, i. e., about 0.04 per cent. Billings, in 1880, with a like object in view, examined in Boston, two thousand seven hundred and one, and found one hundred and fifty-four infected, i. e., 5.7 per cent. Rats infesting the localities occupied by swine should be strenuously exterminated. How the hog becomes infected is a question often discussed, and it would seem rather difficult, in the present state of our knowledge, to arrive at any positive conclusion. A few competent observers maintain that trichinosis is only peculiar to the hog, and that infection among swine is the result of the healthy animals consuming the excrement of the infected ones. Other authors dissent from this view, and as strongly contend that the rat is the primitive host of the trichina. As is known, swine often feed on rats, and it is claimed that in this way the former animals become infected. Still other observers maintain that trichinosis in the rat is due to its consuming the dung of infected swine. The more recent authorities hold the view that the rat infects the hog, without wholly denying the possibility of the transmission of infection from one hog to another. It is to be sincerely hoped that State protection will be afforded the laity against the invasions of this dread disease, and that popular treatises will be distributed, and lectures instituted among them, ference to trichinosis. Thus science will achieve her greatest tri prevention of disease. from trichinæ. Within twelve hours after slaughtering the ar 29.3 11.90 1 Fouts. R. R., Geo. A. Stone. Remington and Viers. .00 2.91 .10 17.05 3.86 .48 10.42 3.00 .30 .27 8.99 5.49 .20 .00 11.27 5.53 5.17 8858888888888 88 888888888 18 888888888888888888888 Humboldt .S. .99 15.64 9.90 8.23 3.95 .00 21.55 6.77 13.50 .00 6.95 2.22 7.08 8.66 17.8-1 2. 2.53 8.35 6.36 12.40 1.13 .00 2.55 20.23 7.98 13.49 1.78 7.45 3.65 4.75 .70 1.25 Samuel Hale. S. P. R. R., D. R. Nason. S. P. R. R., Geo. R. Crawford. 17.10 51.01 12.31 27.81 39.90 73.08 54.63 42.08 29.50 24.50 22.84 25.40 24.08 88888888888 41.72 28.22 34.74 29.07 25.14 |