POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION OF ANIMALS. 235 



scorched tracks on either side of the thorax. After this 

 the whole anterior wall of the thorax may easily be 

 lifted up, and by severing the connections with the 

 diaphragm it may be completely removed. When this 

 is done 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 commonly employed. Project this 

 deeply into the tissues of the organ ; by twisting it 

 about enough material from the centre 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 handle, preferably the former. 

 It can readily be thrust into the densest of the soft tissues, 



1 Centralbatt fur Bakteriologie und Parasitenkunde, 1892, Bd. xl. 

 p. 538. 



