Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1866-02-17
FEARFUL SCENES IN A GERMAN
VILLAGE.
EFFECTS OF EATING UNLOCKED SWINGS
FLESH.

VILLAGE.
EFFECTS OF EATING UNLOCKED SWINGS
DR.. Pouchet. who has charge Of the
scientific department of the Ayenir Ma
t,ioaralee,y q Paris Journal; gives "a frightfui'
account of the plague which is committing
such havoc in Germany. The particulars
given by NJ, Ppucbet are taken from a
private letter from DR.. Karl Stein Of
frankfort, dated the 9th ult., as follows !:
"Edersleben is a little town in the in
virons of Madgeburg-one Of those little
German towns that seem tho abode Of
peace and rustic felicity, where nc noise
is heard save the merry clink of the
glasses at the bierbrauerei, and the jolly
tones of the drinkers calling for another
glass all around. Well, this little town,
so smiling and happy, is now filed with
mourning and desolation. For q whole
month past death has reigned there. A
fearful death after unexampled sufferings,
and those that are acquainted with the
nature Of their disease, know that they
are being eaten up alive by q legion Of
worms, hardly 50 thick as a human hair,
that have worked their way into the It's
sue of their flesh their muscles and their
nerves. Is not such a fate horrible to
dwell upon? On the 9th Of last month
DR.. Karl Stein, Of Frankfort, wrote to
one of our friends that upwards Of one
hundred children-for they appear to en-
joy an immunity--had been deprived of
their parents. There was hardly a house
in that vilA ;3e that Hntnpt lpnbep q vic
tim. At thatdate npwafdso three hun
dred patients were awaiting death, which
they knew to cn~ivitable-a prey to fear
full %sutferings. From seventy to eighty
Of the inhabitants, who at the outset of
the epidimic had felt unwell, had taken
to flight, to escape from what they con-
sidered to be the colera !; but they had
fallen down on the roads, and died with
out relief their corpses alone were pick
ed up.
The epidemic, DR.. Pouchet proceeds to
say, was caused by the ravages of the
worm called trichine, whence the epidimic
has received the name of trichinosis. The
trichine is one of the entozoa Of the pig,
and it is capable Of being transplanted
into and thriving in the human body. In.
Germany, pork flesh, imperfectly cured
and smoked, in the shape of ham and
German sausage, is a staple article of
food, and from the human stomach where
they penetrste with the ham and saucis-
SON, dear to Germanic palates, the larvae
OF these entozoa pass into the blood: their
seize being SO microscopic as to enable
them to penetrate even into the minute
est veins ; they lodge in the nerves, in
tile muscular and cellular tissue, and
feed upon those parts of the human Or
g%anization, causing great agony and fear
full Constitutional disturbance, whichen d
in death. No cure has been as yet dis
covered, but the preventive process is OBJ
vious. To abstain from such preparations
Of pork as are eaten in a simi-crude state,
is a sure means of avoiding trichinosis !;
but to eat half.smoked sauctsson and raw
ham, cut in thin slices, is as general a
custom in Germany As smoking or, beer
drinking. Hence the rapid propagation
Of the disease, as a simple slice Of ham
or German sausage may contain larvae
Of millions Of these parasites.
In Germany the morbid pathology of,
the ravages caused by this formidable
destroyer has been carefully investigated
within the last few years. DR.. Wirchow,
Of Berlin, known as the oponent of Herr
Won Bismarck, but whose scientific repu
tation far exceeds his political fame,) has
made conclusive experiments on the sub
ject, from which it appears that in addi-
ton to man and tne pig, rabbits and mice
are liable toCbe txiehinised; but that the
dog, sheep, * and pigeon are not.
A very short time ago, the Berlin Pork
Butcher Association summoned a meet
ing Of the faculty and the professors of
the University to decide on the proper
measures to adopt in order to prevent
The spread Of "trichibotis." The meet
ing was marked by a curious incident,
which has been unsupported by some of
your contemporaries. What really took
place was this: Professor Wirchow had
just spoken and set forth the best means
to prevent the spread of trichines, when
a veterinary surgeon, DR.. Urban, who was
present, loudly protested his disbelief in
all that the professor had stated, and by
way Of %clenching his argument, he offer
ed to eat any amount Of so-called "tri-
chinised" pork flesh. A rather noisy
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