6 LABORATORY COURSE IN SERUM STUDY 



CARE OF ANIMALS 



The animals used for the routine work of the course are mainly 

 guinea pigs and rabbits ; in some cases dogs or cats are used, and 

 for demonstration a sheep is used on one or two occasions. 

 Animals used should be selected from among the healthy stock ; 

 animals having suppurations, diseased eyes, or skin diseases 

 should be discarded. They should be well nourished and before 

 immunization is begun should be weighed and the weight recorded. 

 During the course of treatment students should, if possible, 

 supervise the feeding and caging of their animals. Care should 

 be taken that the cages are kept reasonably dry, that the animals 

 have plenty of water to drink and the food is abundant, and 

 that not too much green feed is given. If any of the rabbits 

 under treatment show a catarrhal discharge from the nostrils, 

 a condition spoken of by animal dealers as "wet mouth", these 

 animals should be segregated and their nostrils and forepaws 

 washed daily with weak bichloride solution. Great care should 

 be taken that the food soiled by these animals is not put into 

 cages of the healthy ones. Rabbits and guinea pigs are best 

 preserved in a warm place, and wood bottoms on the floors of 

 bins and cages are much better than either cement or tin unless 

 these are covered. They should not be allowed to live for days 

 on floors wet and soiled with their own discharges. During the 

 immunization the animals should be weighed periodically and 

 their weight recorded, and if great emaciation and loss of weight 

 ensues in an individual case, the animal should be given a rest 

 and carefully fed. Unless this is done many of the animals will 

 die in the course of immunization. 



There is certain to be a considerable mortality among the 

 animals even if the greatest care is used, and it is wise to start im- 

 munizing two individuals for each sort of substance used as antigen. 



METHODS OF INJECTION 

 1. INTRAVENOUS INJECTION 



When a rabbit is to be injected the animal is held by an assist- 

 ant. The outer border of the hairy side of the ear is shaved and 



