Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-06-22
The Trichiniasis i'm IOwn-CIr-
cumstantiaI Account of the Ca
Iamity I'm Marion COunty-NIicrO-
scOpic observations, sc.
Correspondence Chicago Times.l

Correspondence Chicago Timesl
MARION, Linn County, Iowa, June Ia.
A most intense excitement in this COM
munity has been created-and notice from
the papers considerable attention attracted
throughoutthe country-by the occurrence
of that mysterious and dreadful disease
known as trichiniasis, or pork disease; and,
believing that true and complete report of
the facts would not be uninteresting to
your numerous readers, l am induced to
furnish the following history of the case:
A family OF ten in this place. composed
of Mr.. Bemis, aged ~; Mrs. Bemis, 81; Hem
ry Bemis, 90; Whittier Bemis, 20; Mr.. Lam
sing (son-in-law of Mr.. Bemis), his wife,
two little sons and two little daughters,
were all, with the exception of Mr.. Lam
sing, peculiarly and seriously attacked,
about the 10th of April, with disease of
an unusual and remarkable set of symp-
toms, such as vomiting diarrhea, pains In
the bowels, profuse sweating, swelling of
the face, stiffening of the muscles of the
jaw, with fever of a typhoid character
After week or so great pains were felt in
the muscles of the arms, legs, &C., similar
to muscular rheumatism, accompanied with
considerable swelling of the limbs and a
general dropsical effusion throughout the
cellular tissue.
In the absence of positive knowledge
that the patients had eaten trichinous meat,
and the fever assuming a somewhat typhoid
character, the attending physician, DR.. E.
M. Smith, was induced, in the absence of
better name, to diagnose the disease ty-
phoid fever, and treated the cases accord
ingly, combating the symptoms as they
presented themselves. .. ...
On April 80, Drs. H. Ristine and T. S.
Bardwell were called in consultation with
DR.. Smith, and, after thorough investiga-
ton, all three of the physicians came to the
conclusion that the symptoms clearly in
dicated trichiniasis. In the meantime, 1t
had been ascertained that all the family
except Mr.. Lansing had been eating more
or less of raw ham. the severity OF the disease
being in proportion to the amount eaten
by each. Mr.. Lansing, who ate none at
all, was not affected, he being the only one
that was not. The second day after the
consultation, June l, MIR. Lansing's little
mis- died. and Mr.. Lansing's other little
boy died on the 9th-three in all, up to
the present date. The old people, Mr.. and
Mrs. Bemis, are hourly expected to die. A
post mortem was held over the body of the
first that died, and portion of the muscle
from different parts of the body were OBJ
tained and thoroughly examined with the
microscope by all the doctors of Marion
and several from Cedar Rapids, who found
the parasite in large numbers, variously es-
timated by different ones on different pieces
of muscle, to contain from 10000 to 26I,-
600 to the square cubic inch. Portions
were also sent to Prof. j. Adams Allen, M.
D., LII. D., J. w. Freer, M. D., Ephriam
Ingals, M. D., and DR.. Laskie Miller, MD,
of the Rush Medical College, Chicago; to
nets In N nF W., k<
Prof. Ludium, of the Haaneman School,
Chicago; and to Asa How, M. D., of Du-
buque, Iowa, for examination. AS far as
has been heard from, these gentlemen have
all found the muscles swarming with tri-
chine-the average of the whole being two
hundred thousand to the cubic inch. The
motions of the parasite were plainly dis
cernible in almost every specimen placed
beneath the microscope. A piece of the
ham of which the family ate could not be
obtained for examination, but portion
of the same hog that the family partook of
was previously given to healthy SOW,
which resulted in its death. The muscles
of the SOW were examined and found to
be full of trichiD@. l8tg ss'r 10 COZ
will here state that the hogs, from one
ofwhich the ham that the family ate was
obtained, were raised by member Of the
family living in the country, and that some
of his hogs had had "hog cholera" last fall,
but, recovering from the disease, as was
supposed, were fattened and butchered with
the rest. Doubtless the meat eaten by the
family was from one of the hogs that had
the cholera last fall. The inference is clear,
then, that "hog choleran In the hog is the
same disease as trichiniasis in man, aud
that, ifmar eats the raw flesh of swine in
fected with cholera, he will have trichini-
asis; and If the hog should eat a portion Of
the muscle of a man infected with trichin@,