This was (unfortunately) another “cutting session.”

We took a closer look at insects. For this purpose, we dissected live food roaches. They made sure to feed the roaches before killing them so we could see all the organs better.

Somehow I found that pretty macabre. Like with the earthworms, they were killed with chloroform. They suffocated. I wouldn’t wish that death on anyone*.

The dissection itself was disgusting and really messy. I’m glad that my partner always does the dissecting because I wouldn’t be able to do it myself. But she didn’t have a very good experience this session, either.

Besides that, we couldn’t really recognize much because the roach was full of fat inside. We had to work hard to wash it out, and some of the organs were so small and delicate that a lot of them were destroyed.

In my opinion, we could have avoided this mess and used a model.

Adeline, 1st semester, Biology

*Editor’s note: Chloroform was used in the 19th century as a painkiller and anesthesia. It leads to unconsciousness, not suffocation.