POULTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 25 



mal state of health, so that he may at once recognize any de- 

 parture from these normal conditions. 



The following directions and general advice regarding the 

 making up of autopsies is taken from the English poultry jour- 

 nal "Poultry": 



"How to make a post-mortem examination, so that these vari- 

 ous organs can be seen and examined, and so that a genera' 

 opinion can be formed as to their condition of health or other- 

 wise. Let it be understood that a very large number of poultry 

 which die are victims of some entirely simple complaint, such 

 as enlargement of the liver, or tuberculosis in the lungs. These 

 complaints are easily recognizable, and there is no reason at all 

 why any farmer or amateur poultry keeper should not be able 

 to form a general opinion as to whether his poultry are dying 

 off from some such complaint as one or other of these. Take 

 the dead bird and lay it on a wooden table or on a piece of strong 

 board, breast uppermost. Spread out the wings and the legs, 

 putting a small nail through the joint of each wing and through 

 the center of each foot. It is not necessary for the bird to be 

 entirely plucked ; it will be enough to pluck the breast, and when 

 this has been done pinch up the skin at the point of the breast 

 bone, and cut it straight through from the vent to the crop. 

 Having done this, draw back the skin on both sides so as to leave 

 the flesh fully exposed, and then with a sharp knife cut through 

 the flesh on both sides of the breast bone, and with a strong, 

 blunt pointed pair of scissors, cut out the center of the breast 

 bone entirely, taking particular care in doing so not to injure 

 the heart, as a ilow of blood from the heart will interfere with 

 subsequent operations. When this has been done the principal 

 organs will be seen clearly exposed." 



"First of all examine the liver. To be perfectly healthy, it 

 should be of a rich chocolate brown color, free from any specks, 

 and free from any discoloration (although there are sometimes 

 post-mortem discolorations at the edges, which are easily recog- 

 nizable). If the liver contains any specks it is unhealthy, as 

 it should not be what is known as pasty or rotten. Healthy and 

 firm to the touch and of the proper color, is the general descrip- 

 tion to apply to the liver. The heart should then be looked at, 

 and it should also be quite firm, free from any excessive cover- 

 ing of fat, and also quite free from little nodules of tubercu- 



