Athothis : a satire on modern medicine / by Thomas C. Minor.

cate food. The Arabian school of doctors did not com- mend pork so highly, for Rhazes ignores the mere mention of such meat; but that was on account of the religious prejudices he held in common with the Egyp- tians and Jews." " Yes," added Athothis; " even your moderns now acknowledge the hog genesis of the Echinococcus cysticercus and tcenia solium, while latterly the subject of trichina has awakened attention. These low forms of animal life abound in pork and constitute real demons of disease. They are destroyed by the high temperature used in cooking. This is the only reason that prevents the wide spread of terrible maladies. Doctor Gordon has shown that in Upper India the English soldiers, who frequently eat measley pork, that contains an abun- dance of cysticerci, suffer greatly from tape-worms—it being calculated that thirty-three per cent of the troops are thus affected. Whereas, the native Hindoos and Moham- medans, who rarely, if ever, touch swine flesh, have a comparative immunity from such affections. The negroes and poor whites of the Western and Southern American States, who are exceedingly fond of pig meat, and buy spoiled pork from unscrupulous dealers, die of tape-worm by the hundreds. This is the boasted civilization of the nineteenth century. And with all these alleged scien- tific discoveries you have not the ordinary common sense of ancient savages ; for, knowing full well the dangers of such a diet, you glut your sensual appetite, and take the risks of incurring leprosy, scrofula, trichinosis, hydatids, and tape-worms. Believe me, that many of your cases of so-called typhoid fever, meningitis, abscess of the liver, and insanity, may be traced to a pork diet."