Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-01-19
From the Boston Post Pork and Tapeworms

From the Boston Post.
 Pork and Tapeworms
 The following communication has been crowded out for some days by other natter It was suggested to the writer by an "All Sortsv paragraph which stated that a woman out west had been relieved of a tapeworm forty feet lonq: the subsequent publication of note from "Na- tlve," attrbuIing the worm to the use of pork as an article of food, and the remarks rebuking Native" made by the Post
 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be coven-footed, yet he cheweth not the cud; he IS unclean to you,' and alludng, at the same time, to other unclean animals beforemen- carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you."-Leuticus, chap si, verses and 8.
 Native" MT. Editor, is entirely right in his opinion. The woman got the tapeworm from pork in some way; there can be no doubt about that. She may not have eaten at all of this abomnable flesh, but her butcher surely had measly pork in his shop. To explain-the tapeworm before arriving at maturity must pass through numerous stages of development, which will briefly explain, for this is subject of high importance to the producer as we'll as to the eater of pork.
 The species of tapeworm to be described i. (T@nia Eoum) nhabls the intestinal canal of man, and Is composed of SIX or seven hundred joints which, when fully matnred, contain my rads of eggs, and escape singly or many at once into the outer world. These eggs being set free find their way into waLer or manure and are thus scattered far and wide. By chance one oc- casionally enters the stomach of man on lettuce, fruit or unwashed vegetables, but more general y they are swallowed by the hog, the filthy and omniverous habits of which animal need | only be mentioned to show how readily 1t may become infected. In either case the egg shell IS destroyed by the process of digestion, and the embryo minute, glObular vesicle, armed in front with three pairs of sharp spnes emerges and begins its active mgrations. It sets out on ills travels by boring into the blood or lymph vessels of the stomach or intestine, and is borne along by their currents till it reaches the capil- lares, where it renews its activity, and bores it's way out of the circulatory system into any or gan to which chance has carried it. Having reached thus a proper situation for higher de- velopment 1t becomes stationary again. and sur rounds itself with cyst, within mich by pro. cesses too elaborate to be described here, the head of the future tapeworm is formed If seated in the muscles, this encysted stage of tafeworm seldom Is of injury to man, but if by chance 1t take upits dwelling place in the brain or within the eye or other delicate organs, which Is not unfrequently the case, results most serious l follow. In the hog however, the case is ditfer- ent, for many eggs being devoured at once, the embryos invade nearly every organ of the body and produce the disease known as measles or slaggers.
 We have still left to consider the last and highest stage of development in life of tenia, viz: the conversion of these cysts or measles into the mature intestinal worm. Let us accom- pany then the embryo from its cradle prison into the outer world. To chance is given over tine guidance of these blind wanderings. and therefore nature has so ordained it that those animals which are the hosts of the encvstial forms shall become the prey of those bearing the mature worms. When one of these cysts is accidentally swallowed by man, the little pea like vesice bursts, and the head of the worm protruding tastens itself to the intestinal walls by it's booklets. From this head bud out, one after the other, numerous joints, which finally make up the mature tapeworm. It may be easily understood how these small white cvsts gain entrance into the stomach of man. for measly pork is often sold in markets, and al- though thorough cooking and curing destroy the larva, still the cysts may adhere to the knife, and be thus transferred to vegetables, butter, cheese and the like, which are eaten uncooked. It may often be the case, too that pork i. so slightly measly that the butcher does not know the disease Is present.
 But It may be asked, how is all this known? Is 1t not matter of theory merely? Not at all: every step have described has been ascertain ed by direct experiment. It had long time been noticed that in those places where measles In pork were most abundant, there tanie was of most frequent occurrence and that when the use of this flesh was forbidden or avoided among nations or sects, there tapeworm was scarcely ever found. Moreover, it was we'll known that butchers and their families, cooks. and those having the handling of raw meats, were most afflicted in this way All of this led to the beef especially after the experiments performed in regard to the tania and cystic worms of the lower animals, that the measles in flesh were the cause of tapeworm in man. To settle this point kuechenmeister fed con- demned criminal three days befosa his execu- ton on measly pork, and on examination after death the young tapeworms were found attach ed to the walls of the intestine. This of course establishes as fact that measles do cause tape- worm In man. One other point. however, re- mains to be proved, viz: that the eggs of the tapeworm produce the measles in swine. For thls purpose experiments were undertaken by the Saxon government, under the direction of kuechenmeister and other scientific men of Ger many. Young and healthy pigs were kept con- lined separately, and to them were given to eat the eggs of the tapeworm. At various inter- vas afterwards they were killed. and the en. cysted forms were found in m yriads throughout the body
 These experiments have been repeated often with the same success, so that the result is be- yond question:
 To recapitulate--The tapeworm of the hu. man intestine discharges millions of eggs. a single one of which need only reach maturity to produce millions more; therefore. it is evil dent that the vast majority of these embryos perish undeveloped. These eggs must be de- Voured oy some other host to reach their sec- ohd or encystial stage This stage is known as measles Tn swine. Measles being eaten by man Ill turn produce the tapeworm. These two iorms never produce each other in the same in. dividual
 put you have not heard all the story. With Tn ten days have had the opportunity of ex- amlnlng the body of a man, whose whole mus. cuiar system was so infltrated with the larym of another parasistical entozoon, that every square inch of flesh contained some fifty little cysts' ID each of which worm lay coiled up. Fms animal is probably the encystial embryo or an intestinal worm, the Tricocephalus dispa-. wnicn occurs not unfrequentlv in man. Where else do we find this now? Why, in the flesh you sing so fondly, and here only. The cysts are no larger than pins head. and probably no butcher knows aught of their, existence. It seems really as if the hog were created merely as foul nursery for some of the parasites which infest man, and think Moses knew fuil well the facts l would impress upon your read