~Operation Table.~--This is a table of the "aseptic" type, composed of steel tubing, nickel-plated or enamelled. The table-top frame is sufficiently large to accommodate rabbits, dogs and monkeys; and is supported upon telescopic uprights, so that it is adjustable as to height; in its long axis it can be inclined (at either end) to 45° from the horizontal. Further it can be completely rotated about its long axis. The table-top itself is composed of a sheet of copper wire gauze loosely suspended from the long sides of the tubular frame. The slackness of the gauze bed permits of an india rubber hot water bottle, or an electrotherm being placed under the animal, and if during the course of an experiment it is necessary to reverse the animal, the table-top frame is completely rotated, the device adopted for suspending the gauze is detached and the gauze reversed also, so that it again supports the animal from below. [Illustration: FIG. 180.--Author's operating table[12].] METHODS OF INOCULATION. The following methods of inoculation apply more particularly to the rabbit, but from them it will readily be seen what modifications in technique, if any, are necessary in the case of the other experimental animals. ~1. Cutaneous Inoculation.~--(_Anæsthetic, none._) 1. Have the animal firmly held by an assistant (or secured to the operating table). 2. Apply the liquid soap to the fur, over the area selected for inoculation, with a wad of cotton-wool, and lather freely by the aid of warm water; shave carefully and thoroughly; or apply the depilatory powder. 3. Wash the denuded area of skin thoroughly with 2 per cent. lysol solution. 4. Wash off the lysol with ether and allow the latter to evaporate. 5. Make numerous short, parallel, superficial incisions with the point of a sterile scalpel. 6. When the oozing from the incisions has ceased, rub the inoculum into the scarifications by means of the flat of a scalpel blade, or a sterile platinum spatula. 7. Cover the inoculated area with a pad of sterile gauze secured _in situ_ by strips of adhesive plaster or by sealing down the edges of the gauze with collodion. 8. Release the animal, place it in its cage, and affix a label upon which is written: (a) Distinctive name or number of the animal. (b) Its weight. (c) Particulars as to source and dose of inoculum. (d) Date of inoculation. ~2. Subcutaneous Inoculation.~-- (a) _Fluid Inoculum._--(_Anæsthetic, none._) Steps 1-4. As for cutaneous inoculation. 5. Pinch up a fold of skin between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand; take the charged hypodermic syringe in the right hand, enter the needle into a ridge of skin raised by the left finger and thumb, and push it steadily onward until about 2 cm. of the needle are lying in the subcutaneous tissue. Now release the grasp of the left hand and slowly inject the fluid contained in the syringe.