The Osteological Preparation, Disarticulation, And Mounting Of A Typical Mammal, Felis Domestica

Abstract

A grey Persian cat with a crippled left hind foot was obtained for use in this preparation. The cat was killed by placing it in an air tight box with a piece of cotton saturated with chloroform. The tight wood box used was twenty inches high, twenty inches long and twelve inches wide, and had at one end a close fitting hinged door. According to Jacob Reighard and H. S. Jennings, (Dissection of the Cat, 1955 Revised Edition, Page 4) "Death usually occurs in three minutes." This however I did not find true due either to the fact that the box was not air tight, or the cat had a particularly strong resistance. It took forty-five minutes for the cat to stop breathing although he was unconscious after the first ten seconds, two cats were killed at the same time, The first one was dead after three minutes but the second cat took forty-five minutes. It was not necessary to bleed the specimen after killing. When the cat was dead it was removed to a porcelain slab. The specimen was then skinned and the innards removed. The muscles of the cat were then removed rather roughly with a sharp scalpel. To make the boiling easier the skull was disarticulated from the body along with the thoracic appendages and the pelvic appendages and a lead wire was then inserted in the vertebrae column so the bones would be kept in place. After most of the soft parts were removed as far as possible without injury to the bones, the liquid soap process recommended by Wilder and Gage (Anatomical Technology, p. 107,) was used.