The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-10 00:00:00

LATEST PARTICULARS THIS DAY.

The authorities at the Home-office have not up
to the present time granted any respite to the con-
vict.

The Last New Disease.

(From the Lancet.)

We have lately had to refer more than once to
the prevalence of parasitic disease in Germany,
arising from eating pork infested with the newly
observed trichina spiralis. Dr. Thudichum addresses
us with the following particulars of the outbreak at
Iledersleb en :

Reliable accounts of the epidemic of trichiniasis
at Hedersleben, in Prussian Saxony, show it to have
been the most extensive and fatal of all outbreaks
hitherto recorded. While the Hettstadt outbreak
caused severe sickness to upwards of 150 persons,
and the death of 28 out of this number, the epi-
demic at Hedersleben has already (up to Dec. 21,
1865) produced upwards of 90 deaths. From these
figures we may fairly conclude that the total 'num-
ber of persons attacked amounts to several hundreds.
All this havoc has been caused by one trichinous
pig ! The butcher, having recognised the abnormal
appearance of the meat of this pig, had carefully
disguised it by mixing it with the meat of two
healthy pigs, or added it in small pieces to larger
joints of pork to make up weight. He made this
confession shortlybefore his death, which was caused
by trichiniasis contracted from his own meat. His
wife also died of the disease.

The most lamentable part of the history of this
outbreak is, however, the circumstance that. the
practitioner resident at Hedersleben failed to diag-
nose the disease in the early stages of the first cases,
when there would have been time to seize and
destroy much of the fatal pork then exhibiting in
the butcher's shop. The sudden and simultaneous
seizure of many persons with vomiting and purging,
spasm, and collapse, effectually simulated a com-
mencing epidemic of cholera, and opium was used
freely to arrest the symptoms. When the course
and fatality of the outbreak at last led to a correct
appreciation of its nature, the time for prevention,
mitigation, or palliation had passed by.

Many physicians from all parts of Germany have
gone to Hedersleben to study the disease. The
public have been roused once more to a sense of the
danger. Panic impels to unreasonable propositions,
and reasonable measures are neglected. Ignorance
and folly form a grotesque background.
At Berlin, a meeting of town councillors, butchers,
doctors, and a sprinkling of the general public was
held shortly before Christmas. Professor Virchow
addressed the meeting, and urged the necessity of
instituting a microscopical examination of all pork.
At the conclusion of his speech, he handed to the
president a piece of smoked sausage and a piece of
meat from a pig which had been recognised as
trichinous. Thereupon a veterinary practitioner
named Urban rose and combated all that science
has acquired during the last five years as an un-
founded illusion. " Trichinae," he said, " are the
most harmless animals in the world. It is only
doctors without practice who make a noise about
them, in order to create some occupation for them-
selves," &c. (Great interruption ; the president is
obliged to stop the veterinarian.) Drs. Virchow
and Mason demand an apology from M. Urban.
Dr. Mason challenges Urban to eat some of the
sausage on the president's table. (Great applause.)
Urban wishes to explain. The meeting calls upon
him to eat. "He had not spoken of Berlin doctors
—(Eat, eat !)—but of those at Hedersleben. (Eat !)
He would first see whether the sausage contained
trichinae." (Great laughter, and continued shouts
of "Eat, eat, eat !") Whereupon M. Urban sud-
denly seizes the sausage on the president's table,
bites of a piece, eats it, and leaves the hall forth-
with, amid the applause and laughter of the
assembly.

About five days later (on December 23) the
Oelkszeitung reported that the veterinarian Urban
was ill. He was confined to his bed, and his arms
and legs were paralysed. A hope was expressed
that the illness was not caused by trichinae con-
tained in the sausage of which he had been bad-
gered to swallow a piece. Vain hope !
The Berlin butchers, finding their trade extin-
guished, held a meeting on the 30th of December,
and resolved, with 200 votes against nine, to make
arrangements for the miscroscopic examination of
all pork. They have petitioned for the co-opera-
tion of the municipality, and desire to make the
examination obligatory upon all.
The butchers in the exporting towns of North
Germany also instituted miscroscopic examinations.
Thus we learn that a butcher of Flensburg, in
Schleswig, who kills 15,000 pigs per annum, the
meat of which is mostly exported to England, has
adopted this measure of precaution. This is laud-
able, but no one should rely upon such examination
exclusively. All pork should be most carefully
cooked before use. Trichinae in man are prevented
with certainty only by careful and thorough
cooking.
Some say, " We in England do not eat raw meat,
and therefore the danger of trichiniasis does not
affect us." This is an error. In at least one county
the agricultural labourers do eat raw bacon. But
the strongest proof of the possibility of trichiniasis
breaking out among us at any time is the circum-
stance that the common tapeworm from pork, Tapia
soliunz, is always infesting a number of persons
throughout the kingdom. Now if measles survive
salting, smoking, and cooking (so-called), and after
ingestion, become tapeworms, a fortiori it is clear
that trichina will survive these processes, because
they are much better protected against their influ-
ence than measles. The trichina has been discovered
in this country ; cases of trichiniasis have unques-
tbnably been observed, and instances of encapsuled
trichinae are constantly being discovered in our
anatomical theatres. Only last year a subject with
millions of trichinae in its flesh was dissected in the
Middlesex Hospital. Why, therefore, disguise or
deny the danger? Let us prevent it. Let us be
ready to meet it at all stages. Let us search for the
source whence the pig • receives the trichina, and
endeavour to close it up.

Mr. MASON JONES, who recently fought two
losing battles in the Liberal cause at Coventry, was pre
sented with a testimonial at that place last evening. There
was a densely crowded meeting in the Corn Exchange, and
the proceedings were of an enthusiastic character.