3. Chisels, of one or both the accompanying forms, for use in opening the head or spine. [Illustration: [Hammer]] 4. An iron mallet or hammer, with a hook on the end of the handle for tearing off the culvarium. [Illustration: [Enterotome]] 5. An enterotome, or scissors with blunt, hooked point, for splitting open the intestinal canal. [Illustration: [Saw]] 6. A saw with movable back; this arrangement permitting of a deeper cut, in dividing large bones. [Illustration: [Rachitome]] 7. The rachitome, a chisel-like instrument, to be used with the hammer in opening the spinal canal. [Illustration: [Saw]] 8. The double saw, used for dividing the laminæ of the vertebræ. A side view of the instrument being given in the cut, one blade only is seen. The two are attached to one handle, placed parallel with one another, and about one and one-fourth inches apart. After the soft tissues have been removed, this saw is used by passing the spinous processes between the two blades, and thus dividing both laminæ at once. [Illustration: [Clamp]] 9. A skull clamp, for steadying the head while removing the calvarium. After the removal of the scalp, this instrument may be employed, and be of much service for the above object. It is applied by placing the open end of the instrument over the crown of the head, turning down the screws, and thus fastening it just above the line of division of the bone. The arched end of the instrument now serves as a handle for turning or steadying the head. 10. Rib-shears, for dividing the ribs where that operation is found desirable. 11. A tube for inflating the lungs, and an ordinary blowpipe. 12. Dissecting forceps, tenacula in handle and with chain, grooved director, and assorted needles, straight and curved. While a post-mortem case with all of the above instruments is very convenient, and important even, where there is frequent occasion for its use, still its absence should never deter the physician from making an examination where the ordinary dissecting case may be had; and with the country physician generally, this case is all that is absolutely essential, as a common carpenter’s saw and chisel may at any time be found, in cases where the head is to be opened; while for opening the chest and abdomen, the dissecting case contains everything that is essential. Instruments used in post-mortem examinations should never be employed for operating upon the living, without first being repolished by the instrument maker, and the handles disinfected by careful cleaning in a solution of permanganate of potash. PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS.