PART III 



Dissection of the Rabhit 



THE plan of dissection as outlined in the following pages pre- 

 supposes in the first place that the entire dissection is to be 

 made on a single specimen, and, second, that the latter has been 

 prepared for gross dissection by embalming followed by arterial 

 injection (see appendix). These points may be mentioned as ex- 

 plaining many details of procedure and also to a certain extent the 

 selection in preference to others of those structures which are more 

 readily made out by the method employed. 



Because of the convenience of dissecting in circumscribed 

 regions, the plan has been divided, although of necessity very 

 unequally, into several parts. The order of these is such that the 

 visceral dissection is introduced at an early stage. The somewhat 

 more logical plan of completing first the dissection of the anterior 

 and posterior limbs may be followed, but on account of the fact 

 that it involves a lengthy muscular dissection to begin with, it is 

 perhaps not to be recommended. 



The account aims at a statement of the various structures as 

 met with in order of dissection and the features by which they 

 may be identified, rather than at a full description. The student 

 should make his own observations and prove them by personal 

 drawings and descriptions of selected parts. In this connection 

 he will do well to bear in mind that, while dissection is nominally 

 a means of obtaining anatomical information, its chief value as a 

 laboratory exercise consists in the training to be acquired from 

 critical observation and analysis. It is therefore of quite as much 

 practical importance that he should make his observations ex- 

 tensive and accurate as that he should employ only good instru- 

 ments or maintain the proper sequence in dissection. 



The method of regional dissection, as here developed, lends 

 itself particularly to the observation of inter-relations between the 

 different organ systems and should help the student to keep in 

 mind the essential dependence of each of these upon the others. 



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