Text-book of histology : including the microscopic technic / by Dr. Philip Stöhr.

  • Philipp Stöhr
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Text-book of histology : including the microscopic technic / by Dr. Philip Stöhr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

    32/496 (page 28)
    rodents (rabbits, guinea-pigs, rats, mice), also young dogs, cats, etc., are suitable. Still no opportunity to secure human organs should be neglected. Perfectly fresh material can often be obtained at surgical clinics. Material may also be had at autopsies, if not made too long after death ; with the exception of the mucous membrane of the intes- tinal tract, which decomposes very quickly after death, many organs can be used. In general it is advisable to place the organs while yet warm in the fixing fluid. In order to accomplish this the following injunctions must be observed: Fill the bottles selected for the reception of the objects with the appropriate fluid and provide them with a label on which is designated the object, the fluid, the date, and in some cases the hour ; then place the dissecting instruments near at hand ; then kill the animal.* § 2. KILLING AND DISSECTING THE ANIMALS. Kill amphibians by cutting through the vertebral column of the neck with strong scissors and destroy brain and spinal cord by means of a needle introduced through the wound into the vertebral canal and the cranial cavity. Cut the throat of mammals by a deep incision reach- ing as far back as the vertebral column, or pour chloroform on a cloth and press it to the nose of the animal.f Small animals, up to the size of four centimeters, and embryos may be placed entire in the fixing fluid ; after about six hours the thoracic and abdominal cavities should be opened by incisions. In the dissection, if possible, an assistant should hold the extremities of the animal. Small animals can be extended on cork or wax plates and secured by strong pins thrust through the feet. The organs must be carefully removed. This is best done with scissors and forceps. Crushing or pressing the parts, or taking hold of them with the fingers, must be entirely avoided. Only the edge of the object may be grasped by the forceps. Attached foreign matter, mucus, blood, contents of the intestines, must not be scraped off with the scalpel, but should be removed by slow twirling in the respective fixing fluids [or by gently shaking the object in normal salt solution (p. 20) before placing it in the fixing medium.—Ed.] . In the following methods it is not possible to avoid moistening scis- sors, forceps, needles, glass rods, etc., with different fluids, for example, * To take parts from the living animal is an entirely needless cruelty ! ^Editor's remark: I prefer to kill medium-sized and small animals (rabbits, guinea- pigs, cats, mice, etc.) by placing them under a sufficiently large bell-glass, together with a wad of absorbent cotton saturated with chloroform.