We would impress upon the student at the outset the importance of some preliminary reading before dissection is undertaken. No one would dream of attempting to explore a deserted city without some previous study of maps and guide-books, but we find again and again students undertaking to explore the complicated anatomy of a vertebrated animal without the slightest, or only the slightest, preparatory reading. This is entirely a mistake. A student should be familiar with the nomenclature of the structures he contemplates examining, he should have some idea of their mutual relations and functions, or his attention will inevitably be diverted by the difficulty of new names and physiological questionings to the neglect of his dissection, and that careful observation of form and mutual position which is the essential object of dissection. On the other hand, it is equally necessary-- perhaps more so-- to warn students against the bookish fallacy, and to assure them of the absolute impossibility of realizing biological facts from reading alone. Practical work can alone confirm and complete the knowledge to which the text-book is the guide. In scientific teaching it may sometimes be convenient for the thought to precede the thing, but until the thing has been dealt with the knowledge gained is an unsatisfactory and unstable possession. For such dissection as the subject-matter of this book requires, the following appliances will be needed:-- (a) Two or three scalpels of various sizes. (b) Scissors, which must taper gradually, have straight blades, and be pointed at 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.