The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1866-06-11
The CriChfna Disease

Mr.. George R. Hansen, U. s. concul at
Elsimore, has sent to the state department a
eport::concerning the disease which has re-
Gently caused so much discussion and pro-
duced no little alarm among the consumers
of swine's flesh Mr. Hansen's letter, dated
at Elsimore, May 9. 1866, is subjoined:
From our American papers l notice that
the question of trichina In hogs also com
mences creating some excitement In the
states The report of the terrible mortality
in Germany, caused by the eating of pork in
fectsd with..trichina, created great excitement
here, and many examinations of pork and
hams, as well as in the raw state, as sailed,
smoked, and cooked, have been made. From
the careful manner in WHICH these examina-
tions have been made, and from the publish
cd results, I am fully persuaded that pork
thoroughly sailed and smoked, and well
cooked is ss harmless as pork ever has been.
1t is the eating of the unboiled or but very
imperfectly smoked and sailed meat, as sau-
sages, &C., SO largely consumed in Germany,
where the presence aad danger of live trichi-
ma may BIO expected.
I shall take the liberty here to alude to a
| few OF the examinations which have been
| M ade here and their results, not so much be
cause they may add anything new, but that
LuSV u az DC USEFUL Al IhCtc I'LL cdo y
| reported upon.
| One of the first experiments was made with
a smoked ham, which was found to contain
trichina IN the capsules, Notwithstanding the
| ham had been smoked and sailed. The find
| ing of these trichina created great panic at
the time, and.the police finally succeeded IL
| finding the counterpart of the ham. ExperI
ments were made of both. L merely give the
| general result.
! One pound of this ham was fed to q pig
which previous examination had satisfied
the examiner to be perfectly free from trio
hina. The meat was eaton by the pig with
| great avidity After expiration of some
length of time the pig was killed and exam
ined, and found to be perfectly free from trio
4 hina. A piece of raw pork was next examln
ed, aud found to contain live trichins. Tit
experiment with this pork was made on rab
bits. The two rabbits which were fed Will
this msat were afterward found to contain
trichina. but to no very great extent.
4 third experiment was made with {
smoked ham, and the animal eating thereo
was found to contain an astonishing numb
of trichina, the examiner calculating thu
number to have reached couple of hundred
thousand The weight of the muscles of thu
rabbit was nearly pound, and it is certainly
! remarkable how so small an animal, contain
ing SO enormous number of parasitical in
scots, nevertheless felt as well as the othe
rabbits and bad as good an appetite as any
| of them. 1t became query how such 9
arge quantity of triehIna could have devel
| opsd themselves from the small amount OF
which had been fed to the rabbit, and the ex
aminer therefore concluded that the rabbit
must have eaten some other meat infected
with trichina aside from that fed to it, thu.
causing greater infection. This opinion
was further strengthened by the fondness o.
the rabbit for meat. Some of the rats found
on the premises were therefore killed and ex
| amiued and found to contain trichina, and
.oua of them to an astonishing degree.
1 number Of examinations of rats hav.
\ tatar rI.ce with the same results, and Their
can be no question that the rats are grea
; cause to injecting the hogs with trichina.