St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1866-03-01
the young in the act Of devopring the mus
cular tissue:
srR1cHalxz TN q SRsnsrArn, nXaslssaD y1I i,,,i
aRIoHrNH sELABoRATIN0R THEIR CAPSULES,
..Ea NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. lIETY anIANnrlRa. q ...s.G.

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= The brain, lung, and liver IL. ! they avoid, and
but q single trichina has been found in the
substance Of the heart. The wonderful in
stinct Of this parasite is equal to that shown
by the larvas Of the ichneumon fly, which is
Matched in the body Of the caterpillar and
Of her grubs, and there devours the cellular
and muscular tissue, but carefully, avoids
the nervous and circulatory systems which
are essential to life. In this way the fable
of Prometheus is realized, the poor t.worm''
eating and growing, only to be continually
consumed. u
! In order to reach the muscles, the coats
Of the stomach and intestines must first be
pierced, and this boring operation gives rise
/ to q train Of symptoms which closely re-
semble acute diarrhma and .dysentery, as
bloody stools frequently occur. liberation
and perforation Of the bowels are frequent
results Of this Inflammation. When the
Serious membrane lining the abdominal walls
Is attacked, the symptoms Of peritonties are
superadded. This inflammation of the
serious membrane, if it does not prove fatal,
leaves the intestines firmly glued together.
If the agonized patient should live through
these primary acute forms of disease, . new
train Of symptoms, closely resembling typh-
us or septic fever, will be ushered in. To
diarrhoea, dysentery and peritonities, will
be added intense pain in the muscles, great
nervous irritability from prostration. spasm
of the muscles, and finally paralysis and
death. The muscles Of the abdomen of
course, are first attacked, but the triohinse
very soon find their way to those Of the
chest and anterior portion Of the neck, and
bye s2saes reach the muscles of the back
andNe remities. aI@2sa& ia XII .essaf:t G-s,'i
The Track Of the trichina may be seen as
indicated in the last engraving by the white
line or band, which was once = striped
muscular fibre, but which is now only ."de-
tritus," or digested s muscular tissue, in
which the full-grown' larva may be seen
celebrating its shell, preparatory to- enter
ing the pupaA or 5quiescent state. 81 In this
stony prison house the sell. immured triohi-
pa remains, without doubt, SO long as the
animal into whose body it has found it's
way continues to live, which may be de-
cades Of years. In this state they are sex
less, and the further propagation Of the
species seems to depend solely upon the &C
Scidental circumstance of this parasite find
ing its way into the stomach of some living
animal, where it may develop its sexual
characteristics, and multiply its species. II
49,. In the transformations Of this parasitic
animal may be seen many analogies to in
sect life. The period Of wandering and
feeding is the "larva "3stage. The encap-
suled trichina is the 80 pups" or 6 chrys-
alis," in which state it remains until re-
leased in the manner already described
The muscles upon which this animal has fed
become useless in proportiongto the number
of ultimate fibres which are destroyed
When it is remembered that q single ounce
Of flesh may contain trichina' enough to pro-
duce in eight days 8, 0O0, 900 young, it is not
abdominal muscles should be sometimes
found consumed. 5t5Gs a'i "a
The symptoms progress, and the terrible
fatality Of the disease is we'll exempli6ed in
the history Of the .Hettstadt tragedy, which
is taken from . British medical Journal:
a This village is situated near the Hartz
mountains in Germany. An annual festi-
val was celebrated there, some two years
since, and l03 persons sat down to = din
ner. the third course consisting Of rosie
,ourste and genause sausage and vegetables).
The sausage had been prepared beforehand
for this special occasion. The steward who
had been commissioned to furnish the pig
for this purpose, gave the butcher lean,
i'll conditioned one, instead of the thrifty
one which had been bargained for. The
day after the festival, several persons who
had participated in the dinner were attack
ed with pain and irritation Of the intestines,
with loss Of appetite, fever and great pros
tration. The number increased from day
to day, and an epidemic Of typhus or septic
fever was; apprehended,as as the symptoms
began to assume that character. However,
as the disease progressed, the symptoms as
stunned 2 different type, and. to disrrhea,
dysentery and fever, were added peritip-
tits, circumscrlbed pneumonia and paralysis
of the abdomins1 and intercostal muscles
with those Of tho neck. Then the typhus
theory was abandoned, and some unknown
poison was assumed to be at the bottom Of
it. Under this conviction, every article of
food and material used in connection with
the dinner was rightly examined. By this
time the trichinm had reached the muscles
Of the calf Of the leg ii some Of the victims,
and Zenker's description Of the disease was
called to mind. The remnants of the sau-
sage were examined, and found to be liter
ally .swarming with trichina. Portions
! Of muscle from the calf Of the leg Of the If.
gfected ones were examined under the micro
scope, and were found literally full Of free
trichina. These were the progeny Of the
encapsuled ones, which had escaped the
smoking and frying process to which the
sausage had been subjected. -ess45#gs;s i3eEaEs