METHODS OF CULTURE AND OF EXAMINATION. 113 



abdominal wall is thoroughly cleansed with the same solu- 

 tion, and then, with instruments sterilized in the flame, it is 

 divided and dissected back on either side sufficiently for the 

 flaps to be fastened to the board with small upholstery- 

 tacks. After renewed irrigation a fold of peritoneum is 

 raised, the abdominal cavity opened with a freshly sterilized 

 knife, and the peritoneum thrown back on either side as far 

 as possible. Pieces of all the organs (liver, spleen, kidney, 

 possibly testicle) are removed, and placed in sterilized 

 glass jars for further investigation. From the tissue-fluids 

 of the organs and from the blood cover-slip preparations 

 are made, and at the same time cultures are prepared and 

 poured into plates. As a matter of course, the macroscopic 

 appearance of the organ also is observed, and every patho- 

 logic alteration is carefully noted. If necessary, portions 

 of the various organs are hardened and cut with the micro- 

 tome, in order that the distribution of the bacteria in the 

 tissues can be studied subsequently in stained sections. 



In opening the -thoracic cavity the xiphoid process is 

 raised with sterilized forceps, and the ribs on the left side, 

 and then those on the right, are divided with scissors, and, 

 finally, the manubrium sterni above is divided. The heart is 

 now exposed, and is opened with a sterilized and cooled 

 knife ; and cultures, plates, and streak -preparations are 

 made from the heart's blood. At the conclusion. of the 

 autopsy the instruments and the dissecting table are 

 thoroughly disinfected, and the animal cadaver is incin- 

 erated. 



Special circumstances justify at times the holding of the 

 autopsy at a later period, or subsequent investigation of 

 individual organs. Thus, typhoid-bacilli are more easily 

 cultivated from the spleen of a patient dead of typhoid 

 fever, if that organ has been kept for some time, than if it 

 is examined fresh. Also, in the blood of rabbits destroyed 

 by pneumonia the bacteria can be more readily demon- 

 strated about twelve hours after death than immediately 

 after. Under these circumstances an increase of the bac- 

 teria in the cadaver must obviously take place. 



However valuable animal experimentation often proves, 

 it is, nevertheless, not capable, in every instance, of securing 

 the desired information. It fails frequently, and especially 

 in connection with those diseases that occur as infections 

 exclusively in man as for instance, cholera, typhoid fever, 

 8 



