The Columbus Journal

The Hogs That are Infested with Trichinae.

There have been so many instances reported recently of deaths by trichinae, the parasite that infests pork, and oftentimes the muscular tissue of other animals, that a widespread feeling of distrust has arisen in regard to the use of pork. It has been repeatedly demonstrated by scientists that meat subjected to heat sufficient to boil water will infallibly destroy the parasite. The following card from the health commissioner of Chicago ought to be generally read:

CHICAGO, Dec. 11, 1880.--The unfortunate case of trichinosis reported in the daily papers by Dr. Tombochen should commend public attention to the following facts, very briefly stated:

1. The hog infected with trichinae has every appearance of vigorous health. No examination of the living animal or of the carcass, aside from microscopical examination of the muscle, can detect the least evidence of the disease. This statement is made by Mr. H. A. Atwood, vice-president of the state microscopical society, and Prof. W. T. Belfield, who made, at my request, an examination of one hundred hogs found at the stock yards in the winter of 1878-79.

2. Since it is impossible to make this microscopical examination of all the hogs slaughtered in Chicago, other means should be taken to prevent the deplorable results above referred to, and happily these means are simple, clear and certain. It has been satisfactorily shown by many observers that a temperature far below that of boiling water will destroy these parasites. Fiedler asserts that a heat approaching 160 degrees Fahrenheit kills them. They can, therefore, never survive a thorough cooking of the flesh in which they exist. They are not found, so far as is known, in the fatty tissues of the animal, but in the muscular fiber, and this fiber, whether eaten as sausage or ham, if submitted to the heat of boiling water and thoroughly cooked through and through is perfectly harmless so far as trichinae are concerned.