BLOOD. 33 



must make liira as comfortable* as circmnstances will 

 admit. 



AVell, then, we take this strip of linen, damp it, 

 and jtroceed to wrap np our nnconscions subject. 

 AVhen we have passed two or three folds round him, we 

 pass a tape round the whole, with just sufficient tight- 

 ness to keep him from struggling. One hind-leg must 

 project from the linen, and we now pass a needle of 

 thread twice or thrice through the drapery and round 

 the small of this free leg, so as to prevent him from re- 

 tracing it. 



Here then he lies, swathed like a mummy, with one 

 little cold foot protruded. Lay him carefully on the 

 brass plate, so that the webbed toes shall stretch across 

 the glass. Kow, then, we pass another tape through 

 the marginal holes, and over the body, to bind it to the 

 brass ; of course taking care not to cut the animal, but 

 only using just as much force as is needful to prevent 

 his wrigglings. !Now a bit of thread round each toe, 

 with which we tie it to as many of the holes, so as 

 to expand the web across the glass. A drop of cold 

 water now upon the swathes to keep him cool, and 

 a touch of the same with a feather upon the toes 

 to prevent them from drying (which must be re- 

 peated at intervals during the examination), — and he is 

 ready. 



What a striking spectacle is now presented to us, 

 as with a power of 300 diameters we gaz« on the web 

 of the foot ! There is an area of clear colourless tissue 

 fillins: the field, marked all, over with delicate ano-ular 

 lines, something like scales ; this is the tessellated epi- 

 thelium of the surface. Our attention is caught by a 



number of black spots, often taking fantastic forms, but 

 2* 



