The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-16
THE TR1CHINE DISEASE.
he Cause and IIistorY.

adventurous shell mclosing the Worm These,
Hilton, An English anatomist, supposed TO be
animals; but the zoologist Owen was the first
who described and named the worm itself
Triehina Spralis. Precisely as the yolk and
white OF hens egg are not visible through the
shell which contains them, so with the Trichjna.
1t is frequently from one-thiri to one-half line
long, measured wheR its body Is uncoiled; but,
from its transparency, II cannot with the
ture OF an animal This, however, can readily
be seen under q lens OF 80 or 60 dameters 1t
does not belong to the class of infusoria or ami
malcul@, but ent0zoa, and is only found under
peculiar circumstances. a number Of observers
have found this animal in the persons of natives
of England, France, Germany, Denmsrk, and
North America. The diseases 1t occasions, and
the deaths owing to its presence in the flesh OF
human beings, have for years engaged the atten-
hon OF the medical men Of Germany, and have
at several periods alarmed the people OF that
country. The epidemic OF this disease which
recently occurred in Edersleben is similar to
several epidemlcs, or groups Of cases OF the dis
ease, which have occurred since the year 1859.
They arise from the penetration into, and lOdg-
ment in, various parts of the living human body,
particularly the muscles, of the young Trichine.
The history of the Investigations of the last
ten years OF the life Of the ANIMAL and charac-
teristics Of its career, gives the accounts of
number of observers who unoertook to ascertain
both its natural history and the consequences of
its becoming an inmate of the human body. In
1860, Professor Virchord, OF Berlin, conducteda
series of experiments with the Trichin@ icon.
sisting of feeding the meat which contained
them to certain animals, under careful observa-
tion), by which he acquired all that we know OF
the mode and consequences of their Introduction
into the living body. 1t was thus ascertained
that the Trichlna was not sexess, as the earlier
observers had reported but were of both sexes,
and gave birth to young.
He found that the parent Trchine infect the
pig, lodged in the lean flesh of that animal; that
they reach the bowels OF the living creature by
having been consumed with the pork, and there
propagate, and that the brood to which they give
birth penetrate the walls of the intestineS and
thence migrate to other parts of the body. The
intestation OF the human body has as yet only
been found to occur from eating the flesh of the
pig. But the Trichin@ have been found in other
animals usually regarded as strictly herbiVorous,
as moles, etc. Special Investigations have, how
ever, proved that these animals consume smaller
animals, as feld-miCe, ground-worms, etc., and
hence are flesh-eaters-being ia this respect like
rats, mice, etc. Other animals, such as rabbits,
may be infected by feeding them with the Tri-
ChinRcontaining flesh, but nevertheless the
only hesh man consumes which contains the
Trichin@, in the order of nature, ls that of the
pig.
In the year 1868 there was widespread fear
derived from the opinion Of vaTious writers,
that the meat of plant-ieeding animals may
contain the Trichin@, and the authorities OF
Merse announced that beef was not exempt
from Trichin@, but as yet Trichine have never
been observed in beef, and even If, as sup
posed, the Trichin@ disease was contracted
from eating it, If il was obtained from the same
butcher who sold Trchine containing pork, it
must be ascertain6d whether the beef had not
become injected by lying in contact with the
pork. So far as scientific investigation teaches
us, neither in beef nor mutton have frichin@
been found.
From the fact that small, round worms, similar
to Trichine, exist in the muscles of the eel and
frog, various authors have supposed them to be
far more general in their distribution than Vir
chord and Leukhardt assert. The raiu-worm
was asserted by Laugenback to contain Trichine,
and the pig was supposed to become infested
from devouring these; but careful investigation
showed that the microscopic worm which in
tested the groundwork was that long known as
acaris mlnutissima. Again, Schachte he's stated
that some vegetables, and especially the root
of the sugar-beet, contained Trchine, but
although oxen fed upon bad beets have sick
ened and died IN numbers, the Trichlne have
never been found in their flesh, as before stated
We repeat that, so far as asceptained, the pigs
flesh is the only flesh which man consumes which
contains Irichin@. How, then, does the pig be
come infested? The supposition that they have
their genesis in his body, and are not taken in
his food, is totally inadmissible. Researches
show that there is every probability that tht
pig neither derives the Trichine from the ami
mails nor vegetables he devours, but from tht
focal matters he consumes. Hence, 1t is proba
BILE that at all times particular individual pig
have been affected, and that refuse matter from
the bowels of whoever may have consumed hi
flesh may have been consumed by other pigs
and the disease thus spread and involved larg
number of people. Most of the epdemiCs o
Trichin@ disease have occurred IN SaXony, wher
the pigs are led in styes. 1t is very probable
that pigs may infect pigs, for the contents of tn
intestines of one which contains pregnant Trl
chime may be eaten when expelled by anothe
pig. We may consider established, therefore
that, in the common course of affairs TrichinG
can only be found in the carnIvora For W
have seen that the intestinal Trichine produc
living young which migrate into the flesh an
then attain their further development. The
cannot leave the meat in any other way tha
after il has been eaten, and that this regular pro
gression from the intestine into the muscles, an
from the muscles into the intestine, is only Po
sible in meat-eaters.
The order of the iniestation may behere state
under three cardinal points,
/. The eaten Trichin@ remain in the inte
tines unless expelled by purgation,I and neye
enter the muscles.
2. They produce living young, which ente
the muscles.
8. The young which have entered the muscle
grow there, but do not multiply.
The chances OF injury to the meat-eater al
in proportion to the number which enter tn
intestines; and the danger is in the produc ito
of young by the intestinal TriRchln@.
Trichina mother has a hundred of livin
young in her body, and, after these young, sl
always bears more and more eggs. How Ion
she lives and produces young Is not eXaetl
known, but at least four weeks. 1t is, howeVe
certain that shc becomes liked in the inte
tine, and continues to produce new broods
young. If we calculate that one Triehiu
mother has 200 young, 10000 such mothers al
sufficient to produce a million Young and
many female animals may be contained in te
morsels of meat even If there is no high degrt
Of nfestation.
The more Trlchin@, therefore, and the longt
they remain in the intestine the more your
will be produced, and hence the greater u
danger. This has been eXperimsntally prove
rabbit which ate only small parts OF meat co