204 ANATOMICAL TECHNOLOGY. 



bear in mind that a single false cut, and even a pinch in the wrong 

 place, may mar his work beyond repair ; he should exercise con- 

 stant self-control, and never touch the specimen excepting for a 

 definite and sufficient reason. 



Pecking is only one of several forms of what may be called 

 anatomical Philistinism; a lack of appreciation of delicacy, 

 whether in structure or in methods of manipulation. 



§ 598. Clipping the Hair. — Unless the skin is to be preserved, 

 or there is some other objection, the hair should he removed from 

 a specimen which is to be preserved in alcohol and dissected at 

 iatervals. 



If the hair is allowed to remain, it interferes with the accuracy of dermal incisions, and 

 with the ease of making them ; it is apt to become detached and disfigure the dissections : 

 finally, unless considerable time is spent in squeezing out the alcohol when the specimen 

 is removed from the jar and the water when it is returned thereto, the hair causes both a 

 waste and a weakening of the alcohol in which the specimen is preserved. 



Use the hair scissors (§ 158) or a pair of ordinary scissors with 

 the points blunted. The hair is more easily cut against its inclina- 

 tion, that is, with the scissor points directed cephalad upon the 

 soma and proximad upon the limbs. After abdominal transection, 

 begin at the cut border of the skin. 



Clipping is facilitated by wetting the tips of the hair with a 

 sponge only moderately full of water or weak alcohol. Cut close 

 to the skin. The operation usually occupies about an hour. Do 

 not put the removed hair into the sink. Place it in the waste-pail, 

 to be buried. 



§ 599. Cutting the Skin.— If the hair remains, wet it with 15 

 per cent, glycerin, or dilute alcohol, or water, along the line of the 

 proposed incision. Then, with a small comb, or the tracer, or the 

 handle of a scalpel, part the hair evenly along the same line so as 

 to expose the skin clearly (§ 354). If the hair has been removed, 

 indicate the line of incision by a scratch made with the tracer or the 

 point of the scalpel. 



Place the tips of the left index and medius, one upon each side 

 of this line, at the cut border of the skin, and divaricate them so as 

 to stretch the intervening skin. 



Grasp the scalpel like a pen, at an angle of 45°, and divide the 

 skin by a single steady stroke as far as the tension exists. 



At the beginning and end of the stroke, make the scalpel nearly 

 perpendicular so as to avoid tailing (§ 597). 



