=FOOD CONTAINING PARASITES.=--The parasites found in food in this country are echinococcus, guineaworm, hookworm, trichina, and tapeworm. Echinococcus cannot be understood or diagnosed by the layman. Guineaworm is excessively rare in the United States; it gains access into the body through drinking water which contains the individuals. Hookworm is the cause of "miners' anaemia," and is extremely rare in this country. The entrance of living food parasites can be absolutely prevented by thorough cooking of meats, especially pork and beef. Heat destroys the "measles" and the trichina worms. =TAPEWORM.=--This is developed in man after eating "measly" beef or pork. "Measles" are embryo tapeworms called, from their appearance, "bladder worms." In from six to ten weeks after being received into the intestine of a man, these bladder worms become full grown, and measure from ten to thirty feet in length--the tapeworms. =Symptoms.=--Vertigo, impairment of sight and of hearing, itching of the nose, salivation, loss of appetite, dyspepsia, emaciation, colic, palpitation of the heart, and sometimes fainting accompany the presence of the tapeworm. Generally the condition becomes known through the passage in the excrement of small sections of the worm. These sections resemble flat portions of macaroni. =Treatment.=--This, to be successful, must be directed by a physician. When no physician can be procured, the patient may attempt his own relief. After fasting for twenty-four hours, pumpkin seed, from which the outer coverings have been removed by crushing, are soaked overnight in water and taken on an empty stomach in the morning; a child takes one or two ounces thoroughly mashed and mixed with sirup or honey, and an adult four ounces (see Vol. III, p. 245). =TRICHINIASIS.=--This is a dangerous disease caused by the presence in the muscles and other tissues of the trichinae, little worms which are swallowed in raw or partly cooked pork, ham, or bacon. Nausea, vomiting, colic, and diarrhea appear early, generally on the second day after eating the infected meat. Later, stiffness of the muscles occurs, with great tenderness, swelling of the face and of the extremities, sweating, hoarseness, difficult breathing, inability to sleep, bronchitis, and pneumonia. There is no treatment for the disease. Many cases which are not fatal are probably considered to be obscure rheumatism. Many cases of pneumonia are caused by the worm.