The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-09-29

4
the eye by surgical operation, but we
are not warranted In the present state
of our knowledge in perforating the
skull in search for these animals.
Prevention, however, Is very easy. In
the first place, the pork intended to be
eaten should be carefully examined
and, if even one or two cysticerci should
escape observation, proper cooking
would inevitably deprive them of
vitality. 1t is by our own neglect,
therefore, that they ever obtain lodg-
ment in the human body.
Among the earliest known of human
parasites the tapeworm occupies dis
tinguished place. Two kinds of these
animals evince their prediction for
man as habitation. Both of these
species have heads and long, segmented
bodies, but they are not equally trouble
some, for while one is armed with
either two or four suckers and with
crown of small hooks by means of
which it fastens itself to it's dwelling
place and is with difficulty dislodged,
the other is unarmed and is therefore
more easily gotten rid Of. The head OF
either of these varieties is the part
from which the rest of the body is de-
veloped, and therefore, If all the seq
ments should be expelled, SO long as
the head remained, new segments and
therefore a new body would be pro-
duced.
The history of the development of
the tapeworm shows that here again
were man sufficiently careful its ex-
istence within his body would be i'm
possible, for it is generally. if not in
variably, through eating flesh infested
with the embryos and which is not suf-
ficiently cooked that they make their
entrance into his system. From what
exact source the animals in question
obtain the eggs in which the embryos
are contained is not definitely known,
but when they do get them into their
stomachs the egg covering is broken,
the embryos are set free and. not find
ing a congenial house, make their way
at once to various parts of the body, es-
pecially the muscles or flesh. There
they remain quiescent, reaching no
further stage of development until
they are eaten by man. Then they
awaken into activity, 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 unarmed is
acquired from eating the raw or inn
perfectly cooked flesh of the OK. This
latter is frequently introduced into the
system through the grated or finely cut
raw beef which is given to 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 a raw state.
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
it cause almost invariably the death of
those so unfortunate as to be its SUBJ
ject, but through it the commerce Of
nations is to 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 in
fected, they unite to exclude our pork
from their territories How the tri-
china get into the hog was for long
time a matter of great doubt, but
the fact appears to be now pretty
well established 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
undeveloped. They lie incysted in the
flesh with a potential vitality which
would never be called into action were
they not introduced 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 trichin@ embryos we may form
some idea of the number that might
enter the human body from even a
single meal of raw or insufficiently
cooked pork.
1t is thus seen that it 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 any thing of the
cysticercns, the tapeworm or the tri-
china, but it is quite certain that they
had observed cases of disease arise