Dissection Guide for the Cat
(and Selected Sheep Organs)
Neal
1971
Did this medium public library have a big need for this material? I just wonder what someone is thinking when they say they need to include a book on cat dissection(and selected sheep organs). I am willing to accept that high school biology class might need some support material, but a public library with this title leaves me wondering who checked this out? (I sincerely hope it was a student or teacher looking to jazz up a biology lesson and not some weirdo with a bunch of cats, knives and lots of free time.) Currency question for the science librarians out there: Have dissection techniques/procedures changed with time? While we are at it, why sheep organs too? Inquiring minds want to know.
Mary
31 responses so far ↓
Jake // October 13, 2009 at 7:52 pm |
I also feel your aching pain… This is literally the most… Wow… I can’t even wrap my head around the purpose of this book, much less the reason for it to be in a public library… Good god…
FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!
drootzler // October 13, 2009 at 7:55 pm |
Yeah, cats are tough. Sheep I could see – chances are that if your library is medium-sized you have some amateur shepherds in your district, but there has got to be a more up-t0-date vet science text you could get.
zhoen // October 13, 2009 at 7:58 pm |
College library with a veterinary program? Even then, should be weeded by now.
moklspa // October 13, 2009 at 8:57 pm |
Guess #1 A gift from an anonymous patron
Guess #2 The collection librarian is a fan of dissection
Gurss #3 The schools in town have an exciting science fair each year
Things that make you go Hmmm.
acbug3 // October 13, 2009 at 9:00 pm |
If it was like my vertebrate biology class, we dissected sheep/cow eyes and brains because they were bigger than the ones in our cats.
Haley // October 13, 2009 at 9:03 pm |
hahahaha that’s absurd.
Maria // October 13, 2009 at 10:11 pm |
This website does NOT help my book-buying compulsion. It’s like when I was little and they showed commercials for My Little Pony – I see it and whine, “I WANT THAT!!!”
It might be a good addition to my library, really. I mean, I already own “Newer Knowledge of Cheese and Other Cheese Products” by the National Dairy Counsel. (A result of a library weeding, and what a find!)
anonymous // October 13, 2009 at 10:34 pm |
In my college biology class we dissected cats. I used a reference book very similar to this.
Kelli // October 13, 2009 at 10:39 pm |
Cats are what most anatomy classes dissect when a human cadaver is unavailable– and like “acbug3″ said some organs of the sheep are easier to study (larger than a cat) and very similar to that of a human (reproductive system). I can see the validity of this book. Dissection techniques have not changed much since then. Having access to books like this in a public library could save a college student from having to spend an absurd amount on their textbook.
MoxieHart // October 14, 2009 at 12:26 am |
Ick, I had a classmate who tried to do that. Let’s just say that fluids were involved and the ended up having to pay the library for the book.
moklspa // October 14, 2009 at 2:36 am |
Any college that still used that book as a textbook is not one I want to attend. If the public library in question is in a college town and is in the habit of purchasing textbooks I can sort of see the point, but surely there is a more up to date textbook.
MoxieHart // October 14, 2009 at 12:25 am |
I have to echo what other people are saying re: biology classes. In my bio 101 class in college we did fetal pigs, sheep eyes, brains, and hearts. In comparative vertebrate anatomy we did cats and small dogfish sharks. I’m surprised that pigs aren’t included, they’re pretty similar to humans anatomically.
Missy // October 14, 2009 at 12:46 am |
The veterinary library at my school has a historical collection — this would be perfect for it!
(Now I’m going to have to go see if they have it…)
Dru // October 14, 2009 at 1:41 am |
Sheep organs would be good for haggis making, I suppose, though I’d rather use the more conventional oatmeal than cat as an added ingredient.
Glow-orb // October 14, 2009 at 1:59 am |
In vet school (2009 graduate), the cat dissection guide required for class was published in the 1950s. This doesn’t change. Though dissection guides aren’t something I would want to lend out or borrow. They tend to get, uh, stuff on them. o_O
Emily // October 14, 2009 at 3:06 am |
Do… do I want to know what those pinkish stains on the due date strip are?
Nathan // October 14, 2009 at 5:11 am |
This book doesn’t seem to match the criteria for this web site, although I guess it is kind of awful. It doesn’t take much imagination to think of perfectly legitimate reasons to have a book like this. Only a librarian who was projecting his or her personal views on cats (and sheep organs) would object to it.
ZZZZZZ // October 14, 2009 at 11:15 am |
You don’t need a book for that anymore:
http://bio.bd.psu.edu/cat/
Lichen // October 14, 2009 at 11:45 am |
I just discarded the *exact* same book. After getting thoroughly traumatized by the splayed feline phones.
Kate // October 14, 2009 at 2:10 pm |
At my high school everyone who took AP Biology had to dissect a cat and everybody who took regular biology had to dissect a sheep’s eyeball–so if that’s still the case today, it would still be very useful for those high school students.
But, yeah, ewww…
Scott // October 14, 2009 at 3:11 pm |
Well, for myself, I see the validity of it. In high school we dissected cats, pigs, etc in biology. With the advent of so many home school co-ops dissecting cats and pigs and doing their labs at local Jr. Colleges and such, a dissection guide might come in handy from the local public library.
Catrina // October 14, 2009 at 5:32 pm |
I just checked online and my library owns this book. Now I can’t wait to go to work tomorrow to take a look at it. I probably have looked at it in the past since I’ve been there for 11 years, but I need to refresh my memory.
ari // October 14, 2009 at 8:11 pm |
I can’t believe people dissected cats at school. That’s what makes this book a strange general library addition.
We cut up rats and sheep hearts – but cats?? That’s like dissecting dogs – can you imagine doing that?
Glow-orb // October 15, 2009 at 1:38 am |
Uh, yeah. I can. Also horses and cows.
anon. // October 15, 2009 at 4:28 am |
Our high school biology class dissected cats – it’s admittedly not popular, but it’s apparently one of the more advanced dissections. (up there with the fetal pig, I guess) We were told that we were dissecting cats because fetal pigs were difficult and expensive.
This book would have come in handy for that class, since as high schoolers, we weren’t all that great with the dissection tools. But yes, it was wholly disturbing.
LG // October 15, 2009 at 6:54 pm |
My high school library wasn’t very good, and when my biology class was dissecting rats and cow lungs, if we had needed more information that our textbooks provided, I would’ve gone to the public library to get that information. I could see the public library in that area having something on the dissection of rats, then. I know some classes at my school dissected fetal pigs. None of the classes dissected cats, but it’s possible that high schools near the public libraries holding this book do – it really could be a keeper. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are better books on that topic now, so, while the topic isn’t so bad, a newer book might be a good idea.
Britt // October 16, 2009 at 4:13 am |
Please note that it’s for the cat and not of the cat .
Better keep it. I doubt that cat’s have very many resources in this area
Ashley // October 16, 2009 at 4:50 pm |
I have seen this book before… on an ex boyfriend’s book shelf. (emphasis on EX)
Deb // October 19, 2009 at 1:14 pm |
We recently weeded this from our collection as well, but only because it was falling apart. The anatomy of a cat in 1971 is the same as one today, so I would have kept it had it been in better shape. I don’t find it odd that a public library would have this item. It probably supports the curriculum of the local high schools.
Jane // October 19, 2009 at 5:10 pm |
We dissected cats too in science class (ugh), and that wasn’t all that long ago. I can’t imagine that dissection techniques have really changed all that much. As long as its in good enough condition, I wouldn’t think this book should be weeded. Odd books can still be useful books.
Kitty // October 20, 2009 at 1:44 am |
There aren’t necessarily updated texts on this subject. My recent Vertebrate Anatomy lab used a book on cat anatomy from the 1970’s.
There hasn’t really been an evolutionary surge in cat anatomy in the past 30-something years.
Oldies in this subject are still valid.
* shrug *