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above. The general oedema which is mentioned we have never 

 seen in any of our plague cases. 

 The following are the steps in a systematic plague necropsy : 



(1) External inspection of the body. — As the most characteristic 

 points brought out by the external inspection of a body dead of 

 plague we would mention the following: The bubo is generally 

 present in the femoral, the axillar}^ or the cervical region, and con- 

 sists of a rather firm, doughy swelling over which the skin is 

 generally adherent while the surrounding tissue is markedly oede- 

 matous. In the neighborhood of the bubo may be seen an ulcer or 

 a carbuncle with extensive necrosis. As a whole the surface of the 

 body is frequently cyanotic; skin eruptions, petechias, and 

 ecchymoses are commonly observed. A dark, blood-tinged, foamy, 

 serous fluid always oozes from the nostrils of a plague body when 

 it is turned over. This is due to the great congestion and oedema 

 of the lungs, which we have never failed to observe in any of our 

 cases. 



(2) The dissection of the body shows the multiple, interstitial 

 subserous and submucous hemorrhages, the general congestion of 

 the organs, the spleen tumor, the parenchymatous degeneration of 

 the kidneys, and the lobular consolidation in pneumonic cases, 

 described in detail above. 



(3) During the post-mortem examination inoculations of agar 

 and salt-agar tubes or plates and gelatin plates are to be made 

 from the bubo, or as the case may be, from the consolidated areas 

 of the lungs, the spleen, the heart's blood, a;id other organs, 

 particularly if they show areas of focal necrosis. 



(4) Preparations of smears from the same locations are to be 

 made on slides, which as soon as air dry are immersed in absolute 

 alcohol. 



(5) Pieces of tissue from the primary focus (lymph glands or 

 lungs), from the spleen, and from the necrotic foci, are to be col- 

 lected and placed in sterile, empty test tubes or Petri dishes. 



(6) Pieces of tissue are to be fixed in Zenker's solution for the 

 subsequent histologic examination. 



(7) Animal inoculations. — After the termination of the autopsy 

 the pieces of tissue preserved in sterile receptacles are to be used 

 for inoculation into guinea pigs. A number of these animals are 

 infected by the cutaneous method (Gohn and Albrecht) by rubbing 

 some of the juice from the bubo (or lung) and the spleen on the 



