280 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



Liver, Pancreas, and Spleen. — These organs were approached from the front 



by turning back the sternum after cauterising the whole ventral surface, and 



especially the lines of the incision. Culture tubes were sown from the 



Liver, . 



pancreas, liver alwavs, but the pancreas was examined culturally on a few occasions 



and spleen. ^ i j 



only, and cultures from the spleen were not made when the organ was 

 required for histological purposes. In the Grouse the spleen is extremel)'' small, 

 so that even when cultures were made the amount of material employed was 

 considerably less than in the case of other organs. 



Blood and Bile. — Samples of blood were obtained by plunging sterile pipettes 

 Blood and through the heart wall after cauterisation. Bile was also obtained in 

 ^'^^- glass pipettes from the gall-bladder, but the surface of the latter organ 



was not cauterised. 



From each organ a piece, at least a quarter of an inch square, was removed 



by the methods just described, and placed on the surface of a ground glass 



plate. The plates used were 3 to 4 inches in diameter, and were 



Method ^ ^ 



of crushing ground On one side; these were sterilised by boiling and dried 

 separately in the flame. As soon as they were dry the plates were 

 placed in pairs, with their ground surfaces in contact on the glass ledge 

 which has been described in the glass frame ; in this situation they cooled 

 rapidly. When a portion of an organ was ready to be ground up the upper 

 plate of a pair was taken up and held in the fingers in such a way that 

 about one-quarter of it overlapped an equal area of the lower plate. The 

 piece of tissue was then placed between the overlapping areas and crushed. 

 It was not found necessary to use powdered glass or other material to assist 

 disintegration, because the organs of the bird, protected as they are from 

 violence by the comparatively rigid skeleton, are much softer than those 

 of mammals, and are easily reduced to the condition of an emulsion. 



Before starting an experiment a series of sloped agar tubes were labelled 



two or three for each organ, and arranged on the bench in the order in 



which the organs were to be dealt with. As soon as a portion of 



Method ^ ■ n , , • P 



ofraakiuj; an Organ had been reduced to a pulp, a considerable quantity of 



cultures. ., , . . ,, . 



the latter was taken up on a sterile platinum wire (bent into a 

 series of loops so as to form a spatula), and spread over the surface of one 

 of the agar tubes. The whole of the material crushed was left on the two 

 tubes. In this way any living organisms that might be present had an 



