[cdavenport]

Yes, it was live. It didn't turn my stomach; I've got a steely core. It just saddened me to "pith" the frog for what amounted to no reason at all. And I knew hundreds of thousands across the country suffered the same fate.

Pithing was a process whereby one inserted a needle into the base of the frog's brain which terminated the "conscious" processes, but left alive the autonomic functions such as breathing. Yeah, that poor thing was breathing as we explored its inner organs. I didn't learn one damned useful thing.

The cats were dead already. But, still, I could not see the point of cutting into a once live creature as a high school student.

In both cases, models would have done as well. And, we're still doing this in high school bio classes. I believe the use of live animals has ceased, but I taught high school and our bio class used pig fetuses for dissection.

I'll get off my soapbox, now.