To open the thoracic (chest) cavity, you will have to cut through the cartilage of the breast bone, and the collar bones. Try not to damage the underlying blood vessels as you do.
When you first open the chest cavity, your view will be dominated by the heart (1) and lungs (2,3). Usually, the right lung (2) will be larger than the left (3), though that is not obvious in the view shown here. Each lung consists of several lobes.
The heart may be covered (or partly covered) by a transparent membrane, the pericardium, seen here almost intact. The chances are, you will have destroyed much of it while opening the chest.
Feel the inside of the rib cage and the surface of the lungs with a gloved finger. They are very smooth and slippery, due to the presence of thin, moist membranes, the pleura. The pleura allow the lungs to slide across the walls of the thoracic cavity with almost no friction during inhalation and exhalation.
Note the diaphragm (5) between the lungs and the liver. Remember that you cut the attachments of the diaphragm to the body wall during the initial cuts. If you have a small pig, the diaphragm may look like a translucent membrane with muscle fibres just beginning to grow into it from the edges. If your pig is older, it will be a definite layer of muscle, as shown here.
Covering the top of the heart is part of the thymus (6), an important component of the fetal immune system. thymus tissue extends well up into the throat, and must be carefully picked away to see other features of the cervical region. The prominent thyroid, an endocrine gland, is visible as a brick red or slightly purplish round mass.
Click on the appropriate line below to view other topics: