Fig. 30.—POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION NO. 1
Fowl nailed on board; lines A B, A C and B D show where to cut.
2. With a sharp knife cut along lines AC, BD (Fig. 30), and bend the breast bone backwards, exposing the internal organs. (Fig. 31.) As the breast bone is raised it will be necessary to cut through the mesentery and other connecting tissues. Break it back at D, cutting through the flesh and the muscle with sharp scissors.
3. Remove heart, liver, gall-bladder and spleen, making neat severances and without injury to any of the other organs. If the heart or large blood vessels be injured in the operation, blood will flow out and interfere with the work.
Fig. 31.—POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION NO. 2
Breast bone removed; internal organs in situ.
4. Cut through the œsophagus, below or above the crop, as most convenient, and also cut through the large intestine near the cloaca. Without disconnecting the parts, lift out the gizzard, intestines, and other portions of the alimentary canal, carefully tearing away the membranous tissues of the mesentery.
5. Spread the organs out and examine each one carefully and critically, making sections if necessary. (Fig. 32.)
6. Cut open gullet, crop, stomach, gizzard, intestines, and cæca and examine the contents.
7. Examine the lungs, cutting off a portion and throwing it into water, when it will float if healthy, but sink if congested.