New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-02-13
Our Skeletons,

That the handling OF auman bones. though
| grim occupation sld one calculated to
send cold sLudder through the bosom of
delicate school girl-ler alone many people
| of q sterner SORTS still necessary oc-
cupation and one having obviously a
scientific end, there will be few to deny:
| nor. further, will it be doubted that in this
city of New Iork-whete there are 50 many
young surgeons and doctors with the desire
to possess a coupl9te "ses" strong within
them, to say nothing of artists who love to
cherish skeleton tor is picturesque effect,
and OF certain unpro.essional individuals
who affect fondness for an anatomy, hav-
ing at the came time no good reason for SO
| dOing-there should be naturally brisk
demand and thriving trade in the article
Of human bones. The young lady who,
having read thus far, ejaculates, with lit
tie cold shiver. Impossible" should pause
and reflect. Five hundred of these-;n
her, eyes-unwholesome things are an
nuslly imported into this city, to
say nothing of other hundreds which
are constructed by medical students and
hospital janitors out Of native material. If
she be seventeen years old, there are $500
such marrowless horrors which have been
silently closing in about her while her IN
suspecting MIND has dwelc progressively on
barley candy, bon bone, pink dancing slip
pers and p.1-backs. Nay, az, Rejecting,
she leans her head against the chimney
piece. perhaps cdera bangles within two
fee: Of her ta;r cheek human skeleton
neatly put togeehe. with 5cass screws. How
the color would iy from that cheek if che
dreamed Of having snch q dreadful neigh
81. AL 80 = t,us-.c lives next door
perhaps who keeps skeleton in his
cabinet, and tnat cabinet may be contigu-
GUS to the young lady's mantel-piece, and
no New York partition IS more than two
feet thick; and 80 it is all quite hor
rioly possible. and there is not the least bit
she lives in tlat, and doctor or an artist
or an amateur in anatomies occupies the
floor below. In that case it were better not
20 let the though. e1ter her gentle mind
that, perhaps, beneath ner bed-her own
bed, IN which she is accustomed to enjoy
her innocent maidenly slumbers unbrok-
en-in direct line, it may be, with her un-
suspicious. que. beating heart there
bangles, attached to the doctors chandelier
below. one Of Maitre Msszur,s French ar
ticulated and greaseless mo. ~ skele-
tons, exhibiting the full human CON-
p!ement of a4o dstinc. and separate
bones and admitting of the com-
pound motion of the elbow-joint. 1t is
no unreal or imaginary skeleton which in.
habits many of the New York closets; it is
not an unmeaning smell which creeps out
of tho medical students room at the dead
of night, alarming the other inmates of the
house by being different from any other
smell they ever experienced. Maltre Mazzur
and the reporters do not live in vain; there
are sketches scattered about among the
community. if not quite as thick as leaves
in Valiambroaa, at least sufficiently thick
to answer all the purposes of art and whims
and science; and the trade in these has per-
haps enough novelty and interest to way
rant slight account of the same.
In Bleecker etrest. not far from its juno
ton with Crosby street, stands the house Of
Maitre Mazzur. the only man outside of
Paris who understands how to extract the
oil from human bones go perfectly that
skeleton constructed of the same may hang
IN doctors parlor without giving offense.
Maltre Mazzur does not appear to the
casual observer materially different from
numbers of his countrymen sojourning in
this city; nothing in his manner or his con-
versation betrays the possession of that
deep astrological knowledge in which he is
admitted to have no peer in the world save
Medicine Of the French capital Indeed
and this is matter much deprecated by
others Of his professioa-Aaitr Mazzur
keeps his mouth systematically shut
where bones are concerned. The man
ner of perfectly extracting the oil from
and of perfectly articulating the human
anatomy is preserved by him profound
secret. True, the skeletons which pass from
under the hands OF Maitre Mazzur sufficient
ly testify to his ability withou: the need of
Maitre Mazzur himself opening his mouth
once. Tenderly screwed and delioately
riveted, admitting of every motion perpen.
dicular, horizontal, oblique and rotary. and
withal 30 clean that lady might dandle
them in her lap without prejudice or fear of
evil, the skeletons Of Maitre Mazzur issue
forth from his workshop q graceful and in
odorous company which may well fill the
heart of the master with pride. But many
would give good deal to look into the