The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-03-16

| haps, pass the active stage of these symptoms,
| recover slowly but remain weak, diseased, and
thin: or he may not recover, and may die by
| advancing disturbance of all muscular activity,
| especially that Of respiration.
We have found encapsuled TriohiRe in the
| bodies Of persons who had died OF other
! diseases, but only in particular muscles, and
| few. A fullgrown, old, muscle TrichinR Is
worm similar in shape to a rain.worm. 1t has
| an anterior pointed end, In which is the mouth,
| from which narrow tube 1.-THE @sophagus) pro-
| ceeds. The esophagus is surrounded by thick
| layer of cells, which stretch through a great
| part OF the body, and end in fine intestine.
The intestine runs to the poserior end. where it
| terminates in an oridce. The sexual canal occu-
| pies large portion OF the posterior part OF the
body. These two main parts the digestive and
! sexual, are held by strong cuticle which shows
! fine transverse wrinkles. The older observers
believed the Trichina to bo seXless, and hence q
| harmless inhabltant of the body Of man; but it
! is a fully organized animal Of the class worms.
1t is also to be remarked that it bears particu-
| lar resemblance to any other species Of worms,
and particularly not TO tho lary@ OF flies (mag-
| gotsJ which have quite another shape, and are
great deal larger And it is important to
| observe that the Trichina is the only member OF
| this clssstworm which enters the living body in
such nsmbers as to cause alarming illness and
| death. In instances OF fresh or recent migra-
| ton, the TrichinR have been found loose in the
fesh-that is, without the chalky or calcareous
| capsule. This marks the middle age of the
| animal. In older cases the animal becomes
| surrounded with the ehalky calcareous envelope,
with the naked eye.
What is the danger of the Trichinu to the
| human body? More than two decenums have
elapsed since their discovery The first cases OF
disease and death by them OF which we have
| proof, occurred IN the year 1916 The survivor
himself related the story, and 1t Is one curlousy
| interesting to the least curious of readers. 1t
| exemphtied also how, even though the infesta-
| ton may have been so serious rs to nearly prove
| fatal, and to have proved fatal to others who
ate of the same meat with the surviving or cured
1
| so closely confned by an adventitious shell that
| they are powerless to do further injury to the
patient, except what consequence survives in
| chronic form.
This process, however, does not occur lin less
| than three months, and in such instances the
disease is called "cured.n In this case, in the
| summer of 1863 person was being operated on
! for q tumor of the neck by German surgeon.
During the operation the barred muscles were OBJ
| served to be abundaDtly supplied with the char
acteristic shells or cysts OF Trichin@ The pa
tIent related in reply to question whether he
had ever been very sick, that in the year 1915,
| with the other six members of q commission for
the inspection of schools he ate meal Of ham,
| sausage, cheese, etc., at an inn: All who ate OF
| these provisions soon after fell sick and died,
except the relator himself. Suspicion fell upon
| the innkseper. judicial investigation was
| held, but without Tesult-preCisely as it would
be now if we had not that knowledge of the
Trichin@ we possess. And in this case the sur
vvor might have gone to his death and yet
nothing have ever been known, in his particular
case, of the infectation by Trichin@. which had
proved fatal to his six associates, had it not been
Tor the knowledge science had furnished many
years after that fatal meat was eaten. Similar
instances OF our coming, many years after, to an
understanding OF the causes OF death OF like
character, and which otherwise were with more
or less confidence attributed to suppositious
causes, might be cited, but another will suffice.
In June, 1851, in the neighborhood of Ham
burg, several we'll persons, having eaten ham,
fell sick. Three OF them died, and others were
long in q critical state. A judicial investigation
was held without satisfaction. Ham poisoning
was supposed: but leng afterwards it was shown
that the symptoms and other circumstances per-
tainlng to the sickness and death of these people
were precisely similar with those subsequently,
ascertained to be Trchine infestation.
| We come now to the occurrence OF epidemics
of this disease. Zencker first observed such an
epidemic III and near Dresden, and showed the
Trichina found IN the ham and sausage made
butchered on a farm near Dresden. The butcher
and owner of the farm, and other people, had
fallen sick, and previously perfectly healthy
servant girl had died. In her body an aoun-
dance Of TrichIn@ we're found. With the find
ing of the Trlchin9 in the muscles of her body,
Virchord commenced a series Of experimental
observations. These may be brieBy stated. A
rabbit fed with Trichina.hesh from this girl
died in month, and It's flesh was found full oi
them.
Some of this flesh was given to a second rab.
Bit which also died in a month. With this meat
three other rabbits were fed. Two of these died
at the end OF three weeks and the third in the
fourth week. Lastly, the flesh of these animal:
dead of TrichinGe was fed to another rabbit. II
I ate but very little, but died at the end of six
: weeks. In all OF these the muscles after death
were found filed with Trchine, and even in the
smallest particle OF the meat several were found
1t IS to be observed that Trichine had never
r been found in these animals unless they had
been previously fed with the Triehin@-contain
| ing meat. Their living flesh was examined
3 before they were fed, and no Trichin9 were
g found in them; yet few weeks after they were
1 fed with the meat, the muscles of the same ami
? mails were found hlled with Trichin@.
4 Though these experiments through five gene
= rations of animals all resulting in death, were
d perfectly conclusive, the chance OF any doub
+ arising as to the fact that the migration really
proceeded from the feeding Of the animals with
d TrChine, it was fUIther demonstrated that thu
Trichin@ in the fed meat became free in thu
J. stom ach and ntestines OF the rabbit; that the,
r became individuals OF both sexes, which in
short time attained length of from three II
white threads; that oya ARE produced in tn
s female, and from these embryos even in the bod,
of the mother; and that about week later thes
e are born and move about freely in the mucus o
e the intestine. The young are exceedingly
n minute. They are the very smallest of the elias
thTead-worms. 1t is the young which penetrat
e the body. They have been found in the lymph
G attic glands, in the peritoneal cavity, and in tn
g pericardiUm and muscles. 1t is in the latte
they find the suitable conditions for their dc
:, VelOpment.
5. In the district OF Madgeburg the cases of thi
u disease spread over period OF four years. Snc
a the year 1850 whole series of epidemics Of thi
o Plauen, Cable on Sale, Quedlenburg, Burg, nCa
W Aladgeburg; Welmar, and Hetdstadt near Eisls
e bier; and other places
If we come to inquire why il is that thes