104 MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. 



wire netting or *in a Mason preserve jar with holes punched 

 in the top. They may be fed with moistened bread or oats. 

 It is important to see that they receive drinking-wate^r. 



Guinea-pigs and rabbits may be held by an assistant or tied 

 by the legs upon a board for purposes of inoculation. The 

 hair over a small portion of the abdomen is cut away and a 

 short incision is made through the skin; a pocket is produced 

 with a stiff wire, and the material inserted with a sterile plati- 

 num wire. The wound may be covered with collodion. 

 Sutures may be used if the wound is large. Guinea-pigs 

 and rabbits, after inoculation, are to be kept in cages of galva- 

 nized iron and wire-netting. The bottom may conveniently 

 be made in the form of a movable pan which permits of the 

 disinfection of the excreta. Rabbits and guinea-pigs may be 

 fed with oats, carrots, cabbage, grass and the like. 



Autopsies upon animals should be held as soon as possible 

 after death. During the interval the body should be kept in 

 the ice-box. The autopsy-room should be furnished with 

 screens to keep out flies, so that they may not light on the in- 

 fected animal. The animal should be extended on its back 

 upon a board. The legs may be fastened with pins or tacks. 

 The animal should be handled with forceps as far as possible, 

 and after beginning the autopsy the fingers should not touch it. 

 If the fingers come in contact with infectious matter, disinfect 

 them at once. Have a basin of bichloride of mercury solution 

 i-iooo ready for this purpose. Knives, scissors, platinum 

 wires and forceps should be sterilized in the flame before and 

 after each manipulation. Be prepared to make smear prep- 

 arations on cover-glasses, and to inoculate tubes of gelatin, 

 agar and other media as desired. Moisten the hairs over the 

 thorax and abdomen with bichloride of mercury solution 

 1000, to prevent them from being carried into the air. Make 

 an incision, passing through the skin from the sternum to the 

 pubis along the thorax and abdomen, and diagonal incisions 





