AUTOPSIES ON ANIMALS. 121 



sublimate ( I to looo), before it is tied out. This not only to a 

 certain extent disinfects the skin, but, what is more important, 

 prevents hairs which might be affected with pathogenic products 

 from getting into the air of the laboratory. The instruments 

 necessary are scalpels (preferably with metal handles), dissecting 

 forceps, and scissors. They are to be sterilised by boiling for 

 five minutes. This is conveniently done in one of the small 

 portable sterilisers used by surgeons. Two sets at least ought 

 to be used in an autopsy, and they may be placed, after boiling, 

 on a sterile glass plate covered by a bell-jar. It is also necessary 

 to have a medium-sized hatchet-shaped cautery, or other similar 

 piece of metal. It is well to have prepared a few freshly drawn- 

 out capillary tubes stored in a sterile cylindrical glass vessel, and 

 also some larger sterile glass pipettes. The hair of the abdomen 

 of the animal is removed. If some of the peritoneal fluid is 

 wanted, a band should be cauterised down the linea alba from 

 the sternum to the pubes, and another at right angles to the 

 upper end of this ; an incision should be made in the middle of 

 these bands, and the abdominal walls thrown to each side. One 

 or more capillary tubes should then be filled with the fluid col- 

 lected in the flanks, the fluid being allowed to run up the tube 

 and the point sealed off ; or a larger quantity, if desired, is taken 

 in a sterile pipette. If peritoneal fluid be not wanted, then an 

 incision may be made from the episternum to the pubes, and the 

 thorax and abdomen opened in the usual way. The organs 

 ought to be removed with another set of instruments, and it is 

 convenient to place them pending examination in sterilised deep 

 Petri's dishes. It is generally advisable to make cultures and 

 film preparations from the heart's blood. To do this, open the 

 pericardium, sear the front of the right ventricle with a cautery, 

 make an incision in the middle of the part seared, and remove 

 some of the blood with a capillary tube for future examination, 

 or, introducing a platinum eyelet, inoculate tubes and make 

 cover-glass preparations at once. To examine any organ, sear 

 the surface with a cautery, cut into it, and inoculate tubes and 

 make film preparations with a platinum loop. For removing 

 small parts of organs for making inoculations on tubes, a small 

 platinum spud is very useful, as the ordinary wires are apt to 

 become bent. Place pieces of the organs in some preservative 

 fluid for microscopic examination. The organs ought not to be 



