Mr. Y. Gal ton's ExiJerimentfi hi Pangenesis. 



385 



APPENDIX II. 



Description of the method of performing the operations. 



It is essential to a fair chance of success that the operator should 

 have a large and thriving stock of full-grown rabbits. They can- 

 not be procured at will in the market ; and young ones are so timid 

 and tender that they are not fit to be operated on. The next essential 

 point is an operating-table, with ample and proper apparatus for hold- 

 ing the rabbits easily but rigidly. It is most improper to subject a 

 helpless animal to an operation without taking every precaution for 

 its success, so as to minimize the necessity for operating. The chief 

 hindrances to success are, entanglement of instruments, or the break- 

 ing loose of blood-vessels, both owing to an unexpected start ; also an 

 animal will struggle violently, and become terrified if he is loosely 

 held, hoping to get away, whilst if he is firmly secured he lies as 

 though magnetized, without signs of fear or discomfort, and with 

 his pulse and breathing perfectly normal. I regret extremely that, 

 although I took pains to inquire, I did not at first hear of Czermak's 

 recently devised apparatus for holding the head. I began by the 

 old plan of putting tlje animals in a bag and holding them, which 

 was very unsatisfactory. Then I devised a plan of my own, which 

 was good, but inferior to Czermak's, and I therefore abstain from 

 describing it. The latter, with recent modifications, can now be 

 obtained at Mr. Hawkesley's, 4 Blenheim Street, Bond Street, 

 London, to whom, I should say, I have been greatly indebted for the 

 care and thought he gave to successive and A'ery numerous modi- 

 fications of my instruments (far more numerous than I care to de- 

 scribe). A drawing of Czermak's apparatus will be found in the 

 ' Berichte der K. Sachs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig,' 

 1867, p. 212. 



For injections, I used a five-drachm ebonite syringe, whose stem 

 was boldly graduated to drachms. The canula (to be inserted into the 

 vein) was screwed into a light stopcock. 

 This was filled with water, which, so 

 long as the cock was closed, did not 

 run out for want of a vent-hole. When 

 it was thrust in the vein and the vein 

 was tied round it, I held the syringe 

 full of blood near the open end of the 

 stopcock, drove out all air by allowing 

 a few drops of blood to fall into its 

 mouth, then pushed its nozzle firmly 

 in, opened the cock and began to in- 

 ject, steadily and slowly, at the rate of 

 about one drachm in twenty seconds. 

 When the syringe was emptied, I 

 turned the stopcock, withdrew it, rapidly filled it, emptied it and 

 again filled it with warm water, and returning to the canula with the 

 same precautions as before, I threw in about \ drachm, to wash the 

 blood out of the canula and adjacent vein. I do not think I lost 



