Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1864-08-10
TRICHIRR sPIRALts.
From the Boston Postl

are rspoThd In numher OF localities In this
eonntIy. The existence of thie i,t,le worm AZ
ceni1en Of the muscular syst. m of man ard
other ANNALS has been Ano wn for some tine-
eat he re rscognition Of aspecisi dis ease due x
pby sioloeists -szzs1
AEatomists In all countries have occasiou-
ally mad their attention called TO peculiar
tPoted appearance presented by human mus
Gle, ana portions Of t'ssue thus marked have
revealed, unoer the microscope, minute cotled
worm, surrounded wnh q Caicareous enyei-
ope, reposlng qnietiy in its singular pos tisn-
AS cases OF this kind that could be traced wer0
Presumed 10 have died of well recognized dis.
ease ses, and as nosymptoms W hich could b. re-
tIred 10 the presence Of these worms were rec
sLd described merely as objects Of seIentliis
curiosity.
But within q few years the medical profes.
81 on "a Serp,ahy has had Its attention called
10 certain anomalous causes of disease arst
tuspectd d to he cases OF acute noisanIne
,in.ln Snt miea. investgaton nulliiying this sus-
the subjects examined the presence - r.;
chlfa IN large numners. As tha Tv.sa.
were known 10 exist also In the flesh OF swtna'
AID as previous investigation had shovn thS
pI SIS ibility OF the transference of eutoxor tro.
animals to man, suspicious were awakensd
experim. nts tried, and 1t was finally Demon
suated that these worms were not killed nv =
heat of I4G deg, and thus in imperfrctfy cooked
meat containing them might be transferred
alive TO the digestive organs. Careful in yes.
nsation revealed also that each one OF these
animals thus released from Imprisonment, in q
few days gave birth 10 hundreds Of others,
which imnedIstaiy commenced to perforats
their way through the intssiines and surrounds
ing parts, making straight path to tue mus
rts OF All portions OF the BODY, specially those
Of the limbe. 49,
The pertoration Of the parts by milltons os
Ioscopic worms was attended with svmn.
toms more or less violent, depending upou
their I umbers. and the strength and health 81
the victims. While passing The coats of the
bowels violent purging often arose, sim ulstine
haV n
been unjustly suspected Of this crime when
persons eating food prepared by them had been
their way into the muscle, pains like those OF
rheumatism Icra mps, weakness or entire loss OF
power resembling paralysis, ensued, and when
the number OF trichena We're large, wasting.
exhaustion and death followed. Pereons es.
Gaping with few Of these disagreeasle tenants
suffered in smaller de gree from similar syrnp.
toms, but gradually recoveIea, and q small
portion OF their muscles, removed and magni-
fled, revealed the trichene arrived a. their
destir alton and undergoing the various stages
OF calcar.ous encystment.
No effectual remedy TOR This disease has YET
been discovered. Attempts have been made tn
remove them from the intestines by emeucs
and purging, hut unless resorted to early, be-
fore any symptoms have appeared, this Is in
effectual Parasitecide medicines have NOT
been found to afford relief, and all that science
has been able to do for public protection as vet
is to point out the source OF danger swine
and cats are the animals chiefly inhabited by
the parasite. The former only is supposed to
be used for food, but cases are said 10 have
been traced to ragouts, ostensibly Of hare or
rabbit, sold in the Parisicn restaurants, and
which were shrewdly suspected to be cases Of
dishonest substitution Sausages from swme'g
flesh, smoked but uncooked, are favorite arti.
cles of diet among the Germans, and in these
Trichin@ are often found. Under. done pork
may contain them living, but if the entire sub
stance of the meat be raised to the emperaturo
Of boiling water, the vitality OF the worms is
destroyed.
The appearance OF this disease in this coun-
try makes the above facts of value to the public.
We annex the description of q case recently
occurring in New ork, (erroneously stated to
be the first in hts country taken from the
Buffalo Courier. The June number OF the
rial detailing the facts concerning q newly dis
covered disease which has appeared in Cheek.
towaga, Erie County, New York. The dis.
covery was recently noted in Germany, but
the cases described in the Journal are The frst
which have been positively identified in this
country. The disease is caused by the preeenc0
in The muscles OF worm or parasite, Known
as the TriehinG spirilas ard In the cases re.
corded, the victims have become infec Ted from
eating he flesh of swine, IL which the worm
CT al ced to abound. The credit of discovering
the disease is due to DR.. Krom helm, of Buffalo,
who, in connection with DR.. Duyler, OF Ian.
caster. in the middle of May last attended
two patie nts, man and his wife, In Oheekto.
waga. Both of these died. Another family OF
seven members, at Merrila, in that county,
was attacked in the same way. The parents
died, but the children are reported alive,
n.
throp writes the res ult OF microscopic exami-
nation OF the case. He says:
1.-THE specimen of human muscle taken from
person after death, and also the sausage he
bad eaten, which you gave me, suppoeing them
to contain the trichiDa sPiralis carefully ex.
emined under the microscope, both alone and
wnb Dr. Hadley. The parasite was found in
both in great abundance, but in different states.
In the muscle taken from the human body the
worm was free, while in the sausage 1t was
encysted. In the first failed TO find the worm
or
less coiled, two or three turns Of an ellipticaI
form but often the shape was not regular,
though seldom straight The irregular form
Ia which the worm was found was probably
caused by tearing and scrapng the M uscle, To
render it thin enough to become Transparent
under the microscope, the normal shape being
more CT less colled. Under the microscope the
worm could be resdily seen with 3 low power
and presented uniformly pointed head, g
body increasingly in size to the tail, which had
somewhat of truncated appearance, with g.
slight fssure. There was an appearance of an
intestinal canal running the whole length of
the body, somewhat undulating, and filled
with granular m after.
sin the portion of the sausage examined the
worms were inclosed in an ovoid cyst and
here were found free. Even scraping the mus
Gle did not rupture the cyst. They were much
smaller than the free worm, were always
coiled. occupying the centres of the eyes, aud
in most cases single. One cyst only was OBJ
served in which were two worms, separate
from each other, each occupying the extremity
of the cyst; the cysts were closed by the mus
cular fibres, which had the appearance Of
having been pushed aside, and at either end
the space where the muscular fbres separated
W as filled with tat glObules. I did not find q
cyst without a worm. The appearance was,
as here represented, magnified over two hun.
dred uiameiers. The werm occupied about
one third Of the cyst space. In one small
piece of the muscular tissue Of the sausage,
should rather say small collection of scrapings,
nearly thirty cysts containing worms were
counted"
IMPORTANT FACT.-A gentleman who has
repeatedly suffered from the bites OF venomous
reptiles, while wandering through the ruins Of
Palenque Id Chiapas says ne was in the habit
of enlarging the wound with q lancet, intro.
ligature above the wound, and taking ten
drops Of ammonia i'm water every fifteen min
utes Theli Of himself and servant were
repeatedly saved in this way, while four
native attendants not using these precautions,
persisted.