Evening star., 1894-03-06
Some Of the Parasites One May Take
in With Food.
DANGER In KEEPING PET Dogs
Dr.. c. w. Stiles Lecture to the
Sanitary League.
SOME DREADED CREATURES

Columbian University lecture hall were
hung last night with score or more of
charts, all bearing pictures of curious look
ing creatures, some of them terrible in
shape and bearing terrible long Latin
names These were made from microscopic
enlargements of animal parasites of kinds
which one may get into his body through
the food he eats. The occasion was lee
ture by DIR. C. W. Stiles of the Department
of Agriculture before the Sanitary League.
DIR. Stiles told many interesting facts con-
ceIning the creatures that give so much
trouble to mankind, and the moral or his
lecture was that food should be prepared
properly and with due regard to cleanliness
these parasites being communicated through
lily cooked food. or food that has been pre-
pared by uncleanly persons.
After listening to the discourses which
rly esteemed colleagues have delivered,
he said, you have perhaps wondered
whether there really is any food, any crink,
any air or anything else which is free from
parasites; you have perhaps deceived your
selves with the thought that il your food
passes through the hands of a cook 1t will
be free from germs. Anticipating such a
possible conclusion, your committee has re-
quested me to dispel that wild dream from
your minds and to assure you that you
may obtain parasites from a tongue sand
wich, from plate of soup from pork chops
UT even from QlSn OF SaldQ Inc para
sites which you have been told about thus
far in this course of lectures have all been
microscopic plants, but you must not imag-
Inc that because my predecessors have
spoken only of plants that animals are
never parasitic. On the contrary, the larg
est parasite which man has are animals.
Some Of the animal parasites which man
obtains through the food are microscopic.
others are an inch or SO long, others a foot
long, some reach yard in length while
three Of them grow to be sixteen twenty
four and thirty-two feet long respectively,
and one of these under favorable conditions
may stretch itself to the enormous length
of 100 or 100 feet"
At Lunch With the Professor.
The lecturer then invited his hearers to
an imaginary lunch with him in order that
ne might show them some Of the wonderful
objects 1t was possible for them to swallow
without their knowing it. THE repast," he
said. ito which l invite you is not such
one as You would yourself prepare but it
ls one which might be prepared by the ig-
norant and slovenly servant OF ladies who
consider 1t disgrace to know anything
about household matters. For your comfort,
however, l will tell you that number Of
the parasites which l shall mention are not
found In Washington, except as specimens
In the various scientific collections" lie
nrst showed a small beetle, which one might
swallow with his soup, and which in itself
Is not dangerous A little organism, how
coming free from the body of the bug, de-
velops into the parasite known as a thorn
headed worm, that attaches itself by it's
head to the wall of the digestive tract.
Another creature that might be swallowed
In spoonful of soup is a small butterfly,
which might develop into a small tapeworm.
The lecturer showed some very disagreeable
parasites that might be taken into the sys-
tenn from bread which had been cut by
cook or other person not of cleany habits
These parasites. he said. might be obtained
through some food handled by persons af-
fected with them and not careful about
washing their hands, or they might be OBJ
tanned through unfltered or unboiled drink
Ing water, or through milk, when the milk
can. before leaving the farm, or even after
ward, accidentally stood for a few minutes
too near a contaminated water supply. II
the servant has allowed the lid of the bread
box to stand open and mice have gotten in
there they may have scattered on the
bread microscopic parasites. known to the
zoologist as megastoma intestinales, and as
one eats the bread he becomes infected with
these germs also. The lecturer then re-
ferred to dangerous creatures that might
be swallowed with fish that has not been
cooked enough, one of which is the germ
or larval stage Of the broad Russian tape
worm, which Is the largest parasite found
in man and grows to be thirty-two feet in
length. This parasite, he said, is rare In
America. In taking sip of unfitered or
unboiled water one runs the risk of swal-
lowing the germ of a number Of different
parasites, several specimens of which the
lecturer showed on a chart He might have
swallowed the egg of the ordinary lumbri-
cold worm. Investigation, he said, had shown
that about one person of every eight were
infested with this worm. 1t was especially
frequent among people who are not cleanly
about their person al habits and who drank
unfiltered or unboiled water. In cities like
Paris where the entire water supply Is
filtered, the worm is exceedingly rare.
The Fiery Serpent of Egypt.
DIR. Stiles here showed specimen in a
bottle of a curious creature which. he said,
was the only specimen, probably. in Ameri-
ca. This was what is known as the guinea
worm, which some scientists look upon as
the fiery serpent of the children of Israel.
II one happens to be in Egypt or in certain
parts of A sia he nliQhf hecame ed