INOCULATION OF ANIMALS. IO5 



hypodermic injection, the needle and syringe should of 

 course be sterilized before and after each operation. 



Autopsies upon animals should be held as soon as pos- 

 sible after death. During the interval the body should be 

 kept in the ice-box. The autopsy room should be furnished 

 with screens to keep out flies, so that they may not light on 

 the infected animal. The animal should be extended on 

 its back upon a board. The legs may be fastened with 

 pins or tacks. The animal should be handled with forceps 

 as far as possible, and after beginning the autopsy the 

 fingers should not touch it. If the fingers come in contact 

 with infectious matter, disinfect them at once. Have a 

 basin of bichloride of mercury solution i-iooo ready for 

 this purpose. Knives, scissors, platinum wires and forceps 

 should be sterilized in the flame before and after each ma- 

 nipulation. Be prepared to make smear preparations on 

 cover-glasses, and to inoculate tubes of gelatin, agar and 

 other media as desired. Moisten the hairs over the thorax 

 and abdomen with bichloride of mercury solution i-iooo, 

 to prevent them from being carried into the air. Make an 

 incision, passing through the skin from the sternum to the 

 pubis along the thorax and abdomen, and diagonal incisions 

 extending down the fore and hind legs. Dissect away the 

 skin from the thorax, abdomen, and upper parts of the legs. 

 With a knife heated in the flame, sear a broad line extend- 

 ing down the middle of the abdomen. Through this burned 

 surface make an incision through the muscles of the ab- 

 domen. In a similar manner make a transverse incision 

 across the middle of the abdomen through a burned sur- 

 face. Cultures should be made from the peritoneal cavity, 

 and smears upon cover-glasses prepared, which are after- 

 wards to be stained. With a hot knife, scorch a small area 

 on the surface of the liver; through this surface enter the 

 liver with a sterilized platinum wire, and with the material 



