1 1 6 JNOCULA TION OF ANIMALS. 



capillary tubes should then be filled from the fluid collected 

 in the flanks, the fluid being allowed to run up the tube and 

 the point sealed off; or a larger quantity, if desired, is taken 

 in a sterile pipette. If peritoneal fluid be not wanted, then 

 an incision may be made from the episternum to the pubes, 

 and the thorax and abdomen opened in the usual way. 

 The organs ought to be removed with another set of instru- 

 ments, and it is convenient to place them pending examina- 

 tion in deep Petri's capsules (sterile). It is generally 

 advisable to make cultures and film preparations from the 

 heart's blood. To do this, open the pericardium, sear the 

 front of the right ventricle with a cautery, make an incision 

 in the middle of the part seared, and remove some of the 

 blood with a capillary tube for future examination, or, intro- 

 ducing a platinum eyelet, inoculate tubes and make cover- 

 glass preparations at once. To examine any organ, sear the 

 surface with cautery, cut into it, and inoculate tubes 

 and make film preparations with a platinum loop. Place 

 pieces of the organs in some preservative fluid for micro- 

 scopic examination. The organs ought not to be touched 

 with the fingers. When the post mortem is concluded the 

 body should have corrosive sublimate or carbolic acid solu- 

 tion poured over it, and be forthwith burned. The dissecting 

 trough and all the instruments ought to be boiled for half 

 an hour. The amount of precaution to be taken will, of 

 course, depend on the character of the bacterium under 

 investigation, but as a general rule every care should be 

 used. 



