Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-04-17
Tne Tricbina Humbug.

AHe AElCAAAAA
We cannet recall an instance in the
history of disease where so much has
been made out of 80 little as in the case
of the recently discovered terror, Trich-
ina A Little village in Germany is at
tackled with q sudden and virulent cpl
demic; the learned Doctors of physic ex-
anime into the matter and pronounce that
It's cause is diseased pork they discover
that this pork is inhabited by a species of
minute parasite, hair-worm, entozoon,
called trichine, which they Immediately
proclaim to be most dangerous TO human
life. Those who eat this trichiniferous
pork are, fOrsoOth, in great danger Of
being dsvoured in detail by these terrific
animalcules. The world has rung with
the new horror, and Trichins vies with
Cholera in exciting the fears of mankind.
Part Of this sensation is caused doubtless
by the novelty of the disease, part by the
necessity entailed upon the newspapers by
the close Of the war to discover or create
new topics for excitement.
A new shudder Of horror will doubtless
be created by the announcement that q
Committee of the Chicago Academy Of
Science, who have been operating among
the pork packers for a month, have sub
mittsd q report to the effect that triehini-
ferrous pork exists ~sbundsntly in this
country. Out Of 1894 hogs examined, 20,
or about one In fifty, were diseased. They
also declare that persons eating diseased
pork render themselves liable to trichinia-
sis and that intheir opinion the disease has
actually occurred in this country. For all
Of that we should not advise our readers to
abstain from their daily pork and beans.
For if the trichins just discovered is in
reality fatal, it would have manifested
itself much more yEulently in this
try than it has in Germany. In Germany
the proportion Of infected swine is only
one in 10000. Out Of 10000 swine ex-
Amined in that country but two were
found to be infected, while one in fifty in
this country suffers from the disease. The
kwo epidemics in Germany, which startled
the civilized world and form the sole
foundation on which the whole trichila
theory has been built, were each caused
by eating the Aesh of q single animal, and
these two animals caused the sickness
Of 500 persons and the death of over L
hundred.
Now, is it not a curious fact that if
trichina exists in this country to the ex-
tent indicated by the examination of the
Chicago committee, there should never
have occurred here 6 well authenticated
ease of trichiniasis. If the facts ascer-
tanned by the Chicago committee may be
taken as a base for calculation, at least a
million trichinous swine must have been
consumed in this country during the past
year. If one hog in fifty is diseased, it is
probable that every mature pork-eater in
the country has Toasted on trichiniferous
pork And if Is the committee say, the
triohinR exist in these hogs to the num-
Der of from ten to eighteen thousand
70 the cubic inch, 1t is prob
able that 8 man of average appetite, with
s fancy for ham and eggs, has made him
self the living grave of quite an army Of
these interesting entozoa- And yet, star
ing these terrible figures in the face, is the
fact that no disease has ever been known
70 result from the eating of pork. Nor
can this be accounted for by the thorough
cooking which exists in this country. Our
soldiers in the field have consumed mil
lions of pounds of hams, either sliced up
raw or boiled so mildly that the intarior
was quite unaffected. And yet tricihiniasis
has been a. yet unknown.
A further fact is that not only the entire
human body is inhabited by e~ntOzoa, but
that the species Triehin1 Spiralis itself
may often be found in the human body.
1t lies along the muscular fbres, inclosed
In little cysts, or sacs, and has often been
noticed in dissecting-room subjectA giving
= sanded aspect to the red muscular tissue
Prof. Wood, Of Philsdelphia, in treating
ofthese sntosoG v "No evidence has
I" yet been produced OF any morbid infu-
/" n exerted by the trichin@ upon the
+" system during life. They have been
"found in subjects carried off by sudden
"desth (accident) and in the midst of
Hhealth."
We do not pretend to explain all these
seeming contradictions, or to say why
trichins should be fatal in Germany and
harmless in America; but we intend to
eat our pork tender loins and sausages
with unaffected Appetites entirely regard
of the possible triehina which we are
oomplacently~ devouring.