vats of fetal pigs

[constantinusphilo]

Can you decipher the phrase in bold, please:
with a shudder I remembered my old zoology lab, eight in the morning, the bobbing vats of fetal pigs
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

 

[SoothingDave]

Dead fetal pigs, preserved in a solution (usually formaldehyde) in a vat. Bobbing as they float.

 

[Rover_KE]

Foetal (BE spelling) means unborn or embryonic.

The fetuses were removed from sows' uteruses for students to examine.

(Not an embryologist)

 

[Skrej]

Obviously, they wouldn't just have big open vats of hazardous chemical preservatives sitting around the lab with specimens exposed to the air. Formaldehyde and similar preservatives work partially by preventing oxygen from reaching the specimens, so letting them float exposed would be counterproductive to preservation. Not only would this be a safety and hygiene hazard, but the smell would be overwhelming.

It's more of a hyperbole, although there's also a potential reference to bobbing for apples.

 

[Tdol]

If you do a Google image search for this, you will surely shudder.