AUTOPSIES AND MORBID ANATOMY. 203 



from suffocation in the other. The student is recom- 

 mended to investigate this subject on young puppies that 

 must be killed soon after birth — worthless curs, kittens, 

 rats, etc. Having learned what is normal, then a knowl- 

 edge of the deviations produced by disease can be gradual- 

 ly gained by autopsies on animals, the history and the 

 symptoms being well known, for without these any one 

 may be puzzled, and to the beginner they are absolutely 

 indispensable. 



Of course, post-mortem blood-staining is to be dis- 

 tinguished from inflammatory redness, bile-staining from 

 escape of bile, etc. 



The object of the present section is not, however, to 

 furnish a systematic treatise on morbid anatomy, but to 

 point out the great importance of studying the appear- 

 ances of organs after death in hoth the healthy and 

 diseased. 



A very few brief directions in making autopsies on the 

 dog may not be out of place. It must always be remem- 

 bered that the organs must be studied in relation to each 

 other, and, before any one of them is removed or cut into, 

 its own appearance and that of related parts well observed. 

 If the examination be systematically conducted, the cause 

 of death can usually be assigned. 



The general appearance and condition of the animal, 

 its position, etc., is to be noted. 



Observations are to be recorded in writing, it being 

 always stated how long after death the examination was 

 made. 



The chest is to be opened by removal of the sternum 

 by cutting through the rib cartilages on each side after 

 15 



