POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION OF ANIMALS 257 



and the abdominal flaps laid back, the contents of both 

 cavities are to be inspected and their condition noted without 

 disturbing them. 



After this the first steps to be taken are to prepare plates 

 or Esmarch tubes from the blood, liver, spleen, kidneys, 

 and any exudates that may exist. This is best done as 

 follows: Heat a scalpel quite hot and apply it to a small 

 surface of the organ from which cultures are to be made. 

 Hold it upon the organ until the surface directly beneath 

 is visibly scorched. Then remove it, heat it again, and 

 while quite hot insert its point through the capsule of the 

 organ. Into the opening thus made insert a sterilized 

 platinum loop, made of wire a little heavier than that 



FIG. 51 



Nuttall's platinum spear for use at autopsies. 



commonly employed. Project this deeply into the tissues 

 of the organ; by twisting it about enough material from 

 the center of the organ can be obtained for making the 

 cultures. 



As the resistance offered by the tissue is sometimes too 

 great to permit of puncture with the ordinary wire loop, 

 Nuttall 1 devised for the purpose a platinum-wire spear 

 which possesses great advantages over the loop. It has 

 the form seen in Fig. 51. It is easily made by beating a 

 piece of heavy platinum wire into a spear-head at one end, 

 and perforating this with a small drill, as seen in the cut. 

 It is attached by the other end to either a metal or glass 



1 Centralblatt fur Bakteriologie und Parasitenkunde, 1892, Bd. xi, p. 538. 

 17 



