Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the EctozoaCobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Science
Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the Ectozoa
Cobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Helminths; Parasites
“The prophylactic treatment consists simply in the avoidance of
uncooked meat. The medicinal treatment must vary with the stage of
the disease. At first, attempts must be made to expel the parasites
from the intestines by purgatives and anthelmintics. Which amongst
the latter is the most energetic is not yet determined. Calomel is,
perhaps, M. Davaine thinks, the best. After six or eight weeks all
treatment directed towards the intestines is superfluous. It is scarcely
probable that any substance will act on the larvæ disseminated through
the muscles. Friedreich has recommended picronitrate of potash; but, in
the case in which he used it, live Trichinæ were found in the muscular
tissue after the patient was considered to be cured.”
In regard to the possibility of curing trichiniasis by the
administration of drugs which should act as trichinacides upon the
parasites in the condition of flesh-worms, the absurdity of the proposal
only equals that which was made in reference to the destruction of
hydatids by the administration of kamala. As has been shown in the
record of my first experiment the flesh of a trichinised corpse may be
thoroughly saturated with a strong solution of chloride of zinc, and yet
the worms will remain quite unaffected.
In reference to the dangers arising from the consumption of diseased
meat, Professor Gamgee has very cogently put two questions:--“Did
Moses know more about pigs than we do?” “Was it a knowledge of the
parasitic diseases of swine and man that led Moses to condemn pork as
human food?” Mr Gamgee answered both questions negatively, thus:--“The
wisdom of the Mosaic law can only be justly estimated with a knowledge
of the accidents arising in warm countries from eating pork throughout
long and hot periods of the year; and there is no doubt that the direct
evil results, as manifested by human sickness, led to the exclusion of
pork from the list of Israelitish viands. The masses of measly pork
which may be seen hanging from the butchers’ stalls in Southern Europe
prove that the long-legged swine which hunt the forests for acorns, and
rove about to pick up all kinds of offal, are often unfit for human
food, and that they were so to no less extent in the land of Israel is
probable.” As supplementing Professor Gamgee’s argument, I may remark
that, if Moses had been furnished with special knowledge beyond that of
his contemporaries, he would not, in the matter of meat-parasitism, have
confined his restrictions to pork. Had he possessed any knowledge of
measly beef, he would not have spared the ox on the ground that although
“it divideth the hoof, yet it cheweth the cud.” As regards home-reared
animals, Professor Gamgee cogently remarked: “It is interesting to
observe that parasitic maladies in the pig specially abound in that
section of the United Kingdom where swine live most amongst human
beings. The Yorkshire and Berkshire pigs, in their native counties
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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