SUBCUTANEOUS INOCULATION. 153 



screw, with which the apparatus (Fig. 23) is provided. 

 The animal usually remains perfectly quiet and may be 

 handled without difficulty. 



Fig. 23. 



The hair from over the root of the tail is to be care- 

 fully cut away with the scissors and a pocket cut through 

 the skin at this point. The inoculation is then made 

 into the loose tissues under the skin over this part of the 

 back in the same way that has just been described. It 

 is best always to insert the needle some distance along 

 the spinal column and thus deposit the material as far 

 from the surface-wound as possible. 



As the subcutaneous operation is very simple and takes 

 only a few moments, guinea-pigs, rabbits, and pigeons 

 are best held by an assistant. The 'front legs in the one 

 hand and the hind legs in the other, with the animal 

 stretched upon its back on a table, is the usual position 

 for the operation when practised upon guinea-pigs and 

 rabbits. The point at which the inoculations are com- 

 monly made is in the abdominal walls either to the right 

 or left of the median line and about 3 cm. distant. When 

 pigeons are used they are held with the legs, tail, and 

 ends of the wings in the one hand, and the head and 

 anterior portion of the body in the other, leaving the 



