Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1891 — DEATH FROM TRICHINOSIS. [ARTICLE]

DEATH FROM TRICHINOSIS.

A Victim or This Awful Disease In New York. Joseph Palmi, a laborer, died at Bellevue Hospital, Wednesday, of that fortunately rare but extremely painful disease, trichinosis. This riissnss may be described to the technical reader as the propagation and infinite multiplication of minuteUvTng worms in the mus- f cles-of the entire system. It • usually arises from the incautious us 5 of raw or partially cooked pork. On last Saturday aft.'rnoon the police summoned an ambulance to No. 49 .Mulberry street to remove a man who was supposed to be suffering from a se. Tere attjick of inflammatory rheumatism. Dr. .Henderson, the ambulance, surgeon, so reported the case on his arrival, and it was thus entered on the books, but when Dr. D. H. Williams, jr. proceeded to examine the patient in his ward, he could not find any of the customary symptoms of inflammatory rheumatism. An interpreter Was summoned, when Joseph was closely examined as to his experiences. He stated that the acute pains of which he complained had begun about June 5 and continued to increase in intensity and extent until the ambulance came for him. As these pains had first developed in the stomach and then spread through the body, Dr. Williams decided that it must be a case of trichinosis. -Palmi at first denied that he had been eating pork, but finally admitted that, about a week before the pains appeared he had purchased some pigs’ feet of a butcher in Mulberry street near his residence. His Wife and children had eaten the food with him. The man suffered terribly, and the physician was compelled, to administer opiates, both internally and hypodermically, to ease the excruciating pain caused by the myriads of worms invading every muscle of liis writhing body. Though the patient was able to take slight nourishment he eontinued to grow weaker day after day. until death finally put an end to his sufferings. • Although I nave not vet -completed my diagosis,” said Dr. Williams yesterday. “I have no doubt that the case is one of trichinosfe. Palmi acknowledged having eaten pig’s during the Inst week in May, but he ipust have eaffm other kinds of pork, for pig’s feet contain very little muscle, being principally composed of tendons, cartilage and gelatinous matter. According to his statement his wife had a slight attack of abdominal spasms, which £,re the first symptons of the disease. She, however, seems to have recovered, though I should not be surprised if the Woman was brought here in the same state as her husband was. Trichinosis consists of the breeding of minute worms in' the muscles, and they go on multiplying until the entire system is filled with them. Being in the muscles of the pork, which has not been properly cooked—and it must be submitted to a heat of 255 degrees to kill the worms—they are taken into the stomach. Here they began increasing and produce the abdominal spasms which are the initial, .symp=.. toms then, following the intestinal track they finally pass through the abdominal walls and so enter the lymphatic organs. From that moment the patient is doomed, unless he is so constituted that his system can resist the trichina when they become encysted and die. If they are too strong for resistance they go on living in the muscles until the latter decompose and death ensues very quickly. ‘‘When Palmi was first brought here I tboli a piece of muscle from liis forearm and discovered that he had previously suffered from the disease, because there were encysted worms visible in it. After he died portions of the muscles in. tlie calf and shoulder were removed, and these we intend examining under the microscope just as the portions are, and then they will be hardened and their transverse sections prepared for further examination. But there is no doubt that our diagnosis is the correct one. One of the symptoms is an intense thirst and agonizing pain, both of which were present in this case. Usually trichinosis is developed from pork which is eaten raw, and people frequently have it who are in the habit of eating raw Westphalia hams and bologna sausage. Biff pork is not the only meat which is capable of developing trichina, for they are found in the,muscles of dugs and eats, rats and mice, and even moles, all of which animals eat pork. The origin of. trichina? is unknown, and they may be* inherited for all we know.”—New York World. £>bme Washington Manias. A few days ago an office-seeker from the south, who has been slicking close to the white house ever since the inauguration, and confidently ex pected an appointment, writes a Washington correspondent, was so prostrated by the (success of a rival candidate that he became seriously ill and had to be removed to his home. This case suggests the question whether office seeking should not be classed with certain mental diseases, such ’as or the mania for drink, kleptomania, etc? It certainly is a malady, with symptoms distinctly marked, but which arc similar to those observed in various affections of the brain and nervous system-fits of extraordinary | excitement or periods of excessive despondency, hallucinations. The latter sometimes takes the form of extreme self-exaltation, the unhappy subject being possessed with the idea that ho is a person of great

importance, and that he has a claim against A political party or leader foi services rendered.. Instances of similar forms of dementia are to be seen daily in lunatic asylums, and oven outside of such institutions, where are found persons deluded with the motion that they are this or that great man, or that they have been defrauded out of fabulous wealth. In the absence of ' a better word, the word lueonmnitt. <■ <■.. mania for place, or position, is suggested to denote the malady whose syiff;)toujs have been briefly indicated. It is to be observed in Washington in all its stages. Loeomanfives prowl around the public places at all hours of the day. dogging the footsteps of men in authority, pursuing them to their offices and homes, and frequently displaying such violence and insane persistency as to require force for their removal. It is time that this disease was fully recognized in medical nomencliture, and that institutions for the treatment and cure of locomaniacs were established. The malady is more widespread than drunkenness and equally deplorable in its results, producing insanity and often breaking up homes and wrecking lives. Another species of mental aberration particularly noticeable in Washington is a phase of Anglo man ia in the matter of horseback riding. This is . popular amusement in this city of beautiful streets and picturesque country roads. There are many riders, male and female, who, for the most part, ape the English as far as possible in style of costume, outfit and manner of riding. The horses are trained to trot so as to accommodate the equestrians who affect the ungainly movements of English horsemanship. It is remarkable that this mode of riding should have preference over the safe and easy seat in the saddle of the Southern rider or the cowboys or the Mexicans. There arc no better equestrians in the world than those who sit erect in the saddle, legs and body nearly in the same line, grasping their horses firmly with their knees. It is almost impossible to unseat them, but a man who rides on a fl it saddle with his knees under his chin and his feet turned out at an angle of 45 degrees, is one of the most helpless and awkward looking creatures imaginable.—-