the ends, and which must bite right up to the tips (or
they are useless). Two pairs, small and large, are advisable.
(c) Forceps, which must hold firmly, and meet truly at the points.
(d) Two needles set in wooden handles.
(e) An ordinary watchmaker's eye-glass is very helpful, but not
indispensable.
(f) A dissecting dish-- an ordinary pie dish will do-- into which
melted paraffin wax has been poured, to the depth of, say,
three-quarters of an inch, and allowed to solidify. (This wax may
be blackened by mixture with lampblack. If the wax floats up at any
time, it can, of course, be remelted. Or it may be loaded with
lead.)
(g) A rough table or board (for the rabbit and dog-fish).
(h) Blanket pins, and ordinary pins.
(i) A pickle or other wide-mouthed jar, and some common, methylated
spirit.
(j) A microscope, with low power of 1 inch or 1/2 inch, and high
power 1/6 inch or 1/4 inch. Glass slips and cover glasses, and a
bottle of very weak (1 per cent.) solution of salt.
Animals for dissection may be obtained from the recognised dealers,
who usually advertise in such scientific periodicals as Nature,
Natural Science, and Knowledge. Sinel (naturalist, Jersey) is the most
satisfactory dealer in dog-fish in our experience; Bolton (Malvern) will
supply Amphioxus through the post; frogs and rabbits may be
obtained anywhere. The tame variety of rabbit is quite satisfactory for
the purpose of dissection.
The following notes may possibly be of some use to the student; they
follow the lines of work arranged by the author for the evening classes
of the University Tutorial College, classes considerably restricted as
regards time, when compared with ordinary laboratory workers. Most
of the sections below occupied about three hours, but for a student
working alone they are more likely to take four or five, and even then it
is not probable that they will be so satisfactory as if performed under
skilled supervision. There are many points extremely difficult to
convey verbally which are elucidated at once by actual demonstration
upon a specimen. Each of these dissections should be repeated, and
it is well if a different condition of the type is selected for the
repetition-- an old one if the first specimen was immature, a female if
the first was a male.
-The Rabbit_
May be killed by chloroform, or potassium cyanide, or drowned. It
may also be readily suf
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