138 BACTERIOLOGY. 



once pinned out by its feet 011 a slab of wood or in a gutta-percha 

 tray, and bathed with 1 in 40 carbolic. In the same way, before 

 examining a dead rabbit, a stream of carbolic should be directed 

 over it to lay the fur, which otherwise interferes with the dissection. 

 The hair should be cut away with sterilised scissors from the seat 

 of inoculation, which is the first part to be examined, and any 

 suppuration, haemorrhage, oedema, or other pathological change should 

 be carefully noted. From any pus or exudation that may be 

 present, material for inoculations should at once be taken, and 

 cover- glass- preparations made for microscopical examination. 



To examine the internal organs and to make inoculations from 

 the blood of the heart or spleen, the skin is cut through from below 

 upwards in the median line of the abdominal and thoracic regions. 

 The abdominal cavity is then opened, and the walls pinned back 

 on either side of the animal. Any abnormal appearances in the 

 peritoneum should be noted, and the state of the spleen should be 

 carefully examined by turning the intestines aside. After noting 

 its appearances, it should be removed with sterilised forceps and 

 scissors, and deposited upon a sterilised glass slide, and incised with 

 sterilised scissors. The cut surface is then touched with the point 

 of a sterilised inoculating needle, and cultures are made in. test-tubes 

 of nutrient gelatine and agar-agar, and also on potato, and in broth 

 in the form of drop-cultivations. Precisely the same care must be 

 taken in examining lymphatic glands, tubercles, or pathological 

 nodules ; any chance putrefactive micro-organisms on the surface 

 should be destroyed by carbolic acid or the actual cautery; an 

 incision is then made, and a minute fragment snipped out of the 

 centre of the nodule, which can be inoculated in the living animal or 

 transferred to a cultivating medium. 



The examination of the thorax is made by cutting through the 

 ribs on either side of the sternum with sterilised scissors, and 

 turning the sternum up where it will be out of the way. The 

 pericardium is then opened, and the right auricle or ventricle pierced 

 with the point of a sterilised scalpel, and inoculations and cover- 

 glass-preparations are made from the blood which escapes. 



The lungs also require to be especially studied. They should be 

 incised with a sterilised scalpel, and inoculations and cover-glass- 

 preparations made from the cut surface. It may be necessary to 

 embed a piece of lung or fragment of spleen, so that it shall be free 

 from air. This may be done by isolating a fragment with the 

 precautions just described, and depositing it upon the surface of a 

 test-tube of nutrient agar-agar. The contents of another tube, 



