PART III. 



DISSECTION OF THE RABBIT. 



The plan of dissection as outlined in the following pages pre- 

 supposes in the first place that the entire dissection is to be made 

 on a single specimen, and, second, that the latter has been prepared 

 for gross dissection according to the method given in the appendix. 

 These points may be mentioned as explaining many details of 

 procedure and also to a certain extent the selection in preference 

 to others of those structures which are more readily made out by 

 the method employed. 



Because of the convenience of dissecting in circumscribed 

 regions, the plan has been divided, although of necessity very 

 xmequally, into several parts. The order of these is such that the 

 visceral dissection is introduced at an early stage. The somewhat 

 more logical plan of completing first the dissection of the anterior 

 and posterior limbs may be followed, but on account of the fact 

 that it involves a lengjthy muscular dissection to begin with, it is 

 perhaps not to be recommended. 



The account itself aims at a statement of the various structures 

 as met with in order of dissection and the features by which they 

 may be identified, rather than at a full description. The student 

 should make his own observations and prove them by personal 

 drawings and descriptions of selected parts. In this connection 

 he will do well to bear in mind that while dissection is nominally a 

 means of obtaining anatomical information, its chief value as a 

 laboratory exercise consists in the training to be acquired from 

 critical observation and analysis. It is therefore of quite as much 

 practical importance that he should make his observations exten- 

 sive and accurate as that he should employ only good instruments, 

 or maintain the proper sequence in dissection. 



