The daily clarion. [volume] (Meridian, Miss.) 1863-1866, 1866-03-20
From the Philadelphia Age.J
TrIchinal SpiraIis'


In the year 1903 Warenius published
treatise de LulRbricis, al d IN 1904 trey GahuS
issued another on the 81 me subject ana both
mention certain capillary worms between
the skin and muscles, which sometimes
enter the latter, causing sn ppuratloh. lhelI
nature is doubtful, but they were piopaoly
not TrichinT,
In February. 1928, Mr. Hilton, OF Guys
Hospital London recorded disease OF the
human muscles which he attrl buted to
species of entozoa and two years later the
English anatomist, Richard Owen, sent as a
communication to the Geological society OF
London, a Description Of a Microscope En-
tozOon inrestiRg the Muscles Of the Human
Body. upon which he founded his gems ana
species TJichina SpiraIis, pronounced trik-
ee-na spir-ah-is.) The name is from Inc
Greek fhrir a hair, from the resemblance 10
Il minute hair. Professor Owen describes IL
rs a minute, transparent, thread-llke WoIm'
with the head tapering little for about one
fifth the entire length, the remainder being
of uniform thickness both ends are oDtuse,
the size one-twenty- fifth of an inch long, and
one-seven hundredth of an inch IN diameter,
wound in coils of two and a halt turns.
Each worm is wholly contained in Il liquid,
enclosed in a cyst or capsular cavity, much
as the yolll of an egg Is contained III the
CLAIR, and this in the shell, and IN tact the
cysts have gritty mineral particles, winch,
by turning the edge of the dISsectIng knlI' ,
led to their discovery. In rare cases two OF
three Trichin8 have been detected III
single cyst.
The structure of this worm Cat least in
this condition. is much simpler than that OF
the GOrdiHS, or hair worm, found III puddles,
and believed by school-bOys and poets to be
horse hairs which have turned into living
worms The TrichinR exhibited signs OF
life after the muscle had commenced to de-
cav. and had been left three days in alcho-
hol to arrest putretactlon. Experiments
are wanted to show the time required to
kill them in salt, but their vitality in hams
which have been cured i'll the ordinary mode
is extremely doubtful. Other entozoa have
been found alive when taken from herTngs
which had been frozen, and Professor owen
mentions "a large and lively round worm
which was released in carving piece OF
boiled Goldfish at table.
Although of microscopic size, the Trichl'
nB are so abundant in the muscles they IN
fest that they cause debility in the sufferer
and may result fatally.
In newspaper articles it has been recon-
Inended TO export American pork to Europe
overlooking the fact that trichlnsed porA
was first detected in America by the dis
tinCuished anatomist Professor JOSEPH
Leidy who announced the fact in the pro
ceedings of the Academy of Natural Sci
ences, October, 1916, page l0S. He states
that he found TriChina Spirahs in the Eek
tensor muscles of the thigh of the hog.
The EntozOon he supposed to he the 1rl
china Spiralis heretofore considered as pc
culiar to the human species. He could pei
ceive no distinction between it and the spec
linens of Trichina Spirahs which he had me
with in several human subjects IN the dis
SeCtIng room
As this worm was found in the hog, Dlesln
in his Sgstcma HelmiHthOrUm, 1851, vol. =
ia. supposed it might be different troI
10 = nd lnl
which Kucheumeister Tin his work on huma
Parasites, Leipzig, 1861 thinks Leidy wa
correct in considering the same as IrIemn
Spralis.
Thorough boiling or frying will destroy a
entoZoa by the COagulatiOn of the albumeI
but it requires three or four hours to boil
ham, and a roast beef may have the Outsld
charred and the inside raw, with the bloc
uucOagulated.
Besides Trichna, the hog gives lis the tap
worm in the roundabout way in which man
worms are now known to be produced. III
tapeworm in man produces millions OF mil
ute eggs. some of which fall in the way
the omnivorous hog, either with food {
drink. The eggs develop into minute ere
lures, which make their way through II
system and lodge in the cellular tissue of II
muscles, where they do not become tap
worms, but what was formerly supposed
he a distinct species of worm which WI
named cysticercuS cellulos8, better know
as the so-called measles in pork. Meas
pork being swallowed as human food, Il
''cvsticercus" becomes a tapeworm (I9n
soiium) somewhat III the manner thrt a larN
becomes an insect.
Tape worms are almost unknown VINE
pork is not in use, rs among Jews and M
hommedans. Where it is used much cautl(
is necessary, because cysticerci have be-
found in water in which Sausages had bet
washed, and upon knives with which meas
pork had been cut. When travelling IN +
ropean localities where tapeworms are col
mon and where gardens are cultivated wit
night-soil, l have abstained from sala'
and similar raw vegetables.
S S. HALDEMAS.
Columbia Pa. Feb. "a, 1866.