The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-09-01
therefore % new body would b

produced.
The history of the development OF
the tapeworm shows that here again
were man sufficiently careful its exis-
tence within his body would be inn
possible, for it is generally, if not in
variably, though eating flesh infested
with the embryos and which is not
sufficiently cooked that they make
their entrances into his system. From
what exact source the animals in
question ATTAIN the eggsin which the
embryos are contained is not definite
~ known, but when they. do get into
their stomachs the egg covering is
broken the embryos are set free and,
not finding q congenial house, make
their way at once to various parts
of the body, especially the muscles
and flesh. There they remain quies-
cent, reaching no further stage of de-
velopment until they are eaten by
man. Then they awaken into activ-
ity, for they now find for the first
time in their existence the food which
is necessary to enable them to arrive
at maturity.
The armed tapeworm comes to us
through the pig, while the unarned
is acquired from eating the raw or
imperfectly cooked flesh of the OK.
This latter Ia frequently introduced
into the system through the grated
or finely cut raw beef which is given
to the sick persons. 1t is said that
In Abyssinia every person has his
tapeworm, because the people of that
country prefer to eat their beef in
raw state. 49,.
THE TRICHINA THE WORST.
But of all the parasites to which
man is subject the trichina is the
worst and the most to be feared, for
not only does 1t cause almost invari-
ably the death of those so unfor-
tunate as to be it's subject, but
through it the commerce of nations is
to q great extent impeded. Here
again the flesh Of the pig is the
medium through which it enters the
human system, and as the American
hog is either justly or unjustly re-
garded by European governments as
being above all others liable to be
infected, they unite to exclude our
pork from their territories How the
trichina get into the hog was for
long time matter of
great doubt, but the fact APP
pears to be now pretty well estab-
lished that the pig gets them from
his fondness for the flesh of the rat,
in which animal these parasites
abound. Where the rats get them
is still unknown. Both in the rat
and the hog the trichina remain un-
developed. They lie incisted in the
flesh with potential vitality which
would never be called into the body
of man. There they not only develop,
but they at once become migratory
and penetrate almost every organ OF
the body. When it is considered
that a single drachm weight may
contain 10000 trichina embryos We
may form some idea of the number
that might enter the human body
from even a single meal of raw or in
sufficiently cooked pork.
1t fs thus seen thatit was not with
out reason that Moses and other law
givers have prohibited pork as an
article of food. 1t is not to be sup
posed that they knew anything of
the cysticercus, the tapeworm or the
trichina, but it is quite certain that
they had observed cases OF disease
arise from the eating Of pork and
they therefore very wisely made the
hog what nature had already made
it, an unclean animal.
WILLIAM A. HAMMOND.