The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-02-25
THE SKELETON ARTISE
a Grand Gathering Of Gytnsstn0 GhastIi-
ssess-B Body Sn0 tchtsig, 'ZsOne- BCttta0,
and Skeleton Building.

who make their business and their living
| by putting together the skeletons of hui
man beings after the bodies have left the
dissecting room-are comparatively few,
and usually are very reticent regarding
| their line of business. A STAR reporter,
however, recently obtained the consent
of one of these individuals to see some
thing of the process and learn something
OF the details OF the art, and accepted his
Invitation to visit his workshop.
| Directly In front of him, as he entered,
stood grinning skeleton with one arm
extended /; the other, dangling at the side,
was yet minus hand. One leg had been
completed, except that the bones Of two
or three of the toes were yet to be wired
In their places; while the other, beside
the skeleton on a bench. was yet mere
children were playing game OF ten-pins
with pair of skulls as The reporter en-
tered, but desisted at the entrance Of the
stranger.
"Don't you get the bones mixed 30 you
never can get the right ones together
again ?" said the reporter, glancing ct
the pile Of bones in the corner.
Hardly ever. One who has studied anat-
omy can quickly recognize the different
texture, weight and color OF his different
sets of bones. But sometimes when
l
them up with pieces from somebody else.
That fellow over there is entirely made
up of scraps. The head is that oil rebel
soldier who died over In Kentucky; the
arms and ribs are of a man OF correspond
ing size and age, who died in one OF the
hospitals here, and that leg was part OF
'Aoater.'"
"What do you get for the skeletons
when complete~
| "Well, different prices-all the way
from thirty or forty dollars up, according
to the sex and mannerin which the bones
have been prepared"
''Of which sex are the bones consider
ed more valuablew
"Oh the skeleton of healthy, well de-
veloped female brings more money.
However, there is not as much difference
in the price OF the bones as there Is in
that of the SUBJECTS be fore dissection"
| "Where do you get these skeletonsp"
"Mostly from the medical colleges In
the city. The students club together and
buy body, and after they have dlssect-
cd it 'toss up or draw lois Tor the bones,
and get them cleaned and bring them TO
me TO put up. There are comparatively
few OF them, however, who have them
put together. They just keep them loose
and soon lose a great many OF them.'
| ''How are the bones cleaned and pre-
pared for your
"There are several different ways.
The French have a method which beats
ours, but we don't know what it is.
Some OF 'em boils the flesh off, some put
| 'em in a strong solution Of lime and let
| that eat it of. Some use concentrated
| lye for that purpose and others put 'em
| into barrel with wet meal or bran and
| let it 'macerate.' l have known some to
put 'em in a stream OF water and let That
do the work, but that and the bran pro-
cess take too long,"
GLOW long"
"Oh, perhaps six months"
(Which is the best wayD
swell don't know. The boiling takes
the flesh off, but it is apt to heat the
marrow in the big bones, like this, and
make the hair oil leak out through them
and make 'em yellow and smell bad.
Then the iye and lime process eats out
all the animal matter in the bone ana
leaves nothing but an earthly substance
which soon orumbles, especially IL the
subject is old"
"What are the skeletons considered
| worth before they are cleanedr'
ga bout five dollars"
"What do the subjects cost the medical
students"
"From twenty to thirty dollars, accord
ing to circumstances. good fresh, wen
formed subject is worth good deal more
than u child, or one too far decomposed,
or an old drinker."
"Are not the bodies of those who have
been in habit of drinking to excess as
| good for dissection as othersT
"No. They are too ilabby. Drink soft
ems the muscles, and in fact all parts Of
the body except the brain and liver, and
you can't keep one of them any length of
| time by any process. The best subjects
come from prisons, and such places where
they have been dieted.'
sls there any process by which they
preserve the bodies beyond the natural
time in which decomposition would take
placer
"Oh yes. The principal one is to in
ject into the jugular VEN liquld OF
some kind. usually chloride OF zinc or
something Of that kind. Prof. Owens, OF
Pulte Medical College, has devised a
method which keeps the bodies perfect
for months, Then some colleges have II
big vat in the basement into which the
bodies are put with u liquid of some kind.
and the 81 tudents go down there and pick
out their subject, sharpen a stick and
fasten card with their names on 1t, and
stick it into the body and letit foat there
till they wantit. Then they so down and
n rope is let down from The dissecting
lIOOul, anu Dut 0Iouhu WV ASSAA e"V SHS
subject hauled up and put on the table.
"Who furnishes these subjects, and
where do they get them?"
i 81 don't know. The professor Of ana
tony in the College furnishes them from
the cellar, but how they get there we
don't know, or at least we are not sup
posed to know. They usually come
there In the night by some means, and
the professor only knows that he con-
tracts with parties 10 furnish a certain
number during the term, and that they
come."
81 suppose they mostly come from the
Potter's Field"
"Do your Well, don't suppose any
thing about it. l know that the law
gives the medical profession right to
all bodies of persons dying at the hospi-
tails without friends. but that for the
good of the community, and to preserve
quiet among the employees and domestics
about the hospitals, they are taken from
there to the dead house at the Potter's
Field"
"And buried"
elbow do l know what's done with
them theres told you l didn't know
lanything about how the subjects were
got. There are about seyenty-five SUBJ
ljects used in the city every year.
To- = fak tn q