The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-06-06
French Factory Has Been
at Work 12O Years.
BRANCH IN NEW YORK
Conducted Under Government Super
vision and Monopoly-Its Wares
Supplied to Medical Schools and
Similar Institutions I'm Many Lands
The Workmen.

adults and children. But whence do
these come?
For reasons which need not matter
here 1t Is stated that France is the
great skeleton producing country,
and Paris the gay city of light, the
center of tho traffic. The business Is
naturally conducted with secrecy.
The ordinary inquirer would be able
to learn but little of It, says the New
York Sun.
The skeleton factory, according to
tho information obtained by an in
vestlgator with exceptional facilities,
Is under Government supervision and
the proprietor is a rich man, this
business being his monopoly It Is
said that he has one branch in Lon
don and another In New York, with
sepcrate departments for ordinary
ta%idermy and the skeletonizing Of
animals and birds.
To this factory are sent the bodies
of criminals from the dissecting
schools, and also many specimen
bodies of different races sent home
by travellers and explorers. The first
stage of treatment occupies several
months, and the chemicals used in
the various processes, and also for
whitening and preserving the bones,
are trade secrets.
The stock rooms are no place for
nervous person. Here are shelves
full of skulls OF all sizes, shapes and
races, which by accident or in the
interests of science have been broken
into pieces and naturally put to-
gether again with brass wire.
You will see capacious drawers
filled with small bones and heaps of
ribs with still larger bones lettered
and numbered. In an adjoining room
dozens of workmen are piercing the
bones and preparing them for the
wirers.
Passing through the laboratory and
warehouse, where one sees stacks of
wire of various thiclnesges, with
springs of all varieties and size, as
well as stands for mounting the
skeletons and tools for putting them
together, you reach the rooms whore
the final work is done.
1t is here the bones are united.
Here Is man articulating hands or
feet, while his neighbors are repair
Ing skulls or fastening springs to
various parts. Completed limbs and
skulls are carried into an adjoining
room, where the entire skeleton Is
put together and finally mounted on
stand or attached to an iron rod.
Others. again, have a ring inserted
into the skull so that they may be
suspended from the ceiling.
Next comes the packing room
where the skeletons are carefully
boxed and despatched to their desti-
nation, while others are placed In
stock for selection by intending pur-
chasers. The showroom here is
fine, large, light apartment. lined
with glass cases that show specimen
skeletons Of giants and dwarfs. neg
roes and yellow men, as we'll as GRIM
inals that have their name, date of
execution and record Of crime on at
tached labels.
There are skeletons of men and wo
men and children Of all ages. In
great chests of drawers in the center
of the showroom are skulls of every
age and variety, as well as wired
hands and feet.
Naturally strange stories attach to
some Of these things. One skeleton.
was that of q dna ypupp fellnw Shn
had only been married few months
when he met with an accident and
was taken to the hospital. One leg
was amputated. but he had besides
received very severe internal injuries
that made his case hopeless.
On being informed that he could
not live, he sold his body for $50,
which sum was handed over to his
wife. who came from Brittany to say
farewell, and after an affecting part
Ing left the hospital with the price
of her husbands body in her hand.
AS a matter of fact this selling OF
bodies by the living is far more COM
mon that one might think.
In England, since the passing Of
the Anatomy acts or 1882 ana 1871,
the bodies of persons dying un-
claimed In almshouses and hospitals
are said to have proved quite suffi-
Client for the needs Of the medical
and surgical professions. A skele-
ton factory or two existed some years
ago in London, but little appears to
be known of such institutions now.
To all inquiries the evasive reply Is
retured I'VE get our bones from
abroad"
The French factory, by the way, is
said to have been In existence more
than 100 years. and all the workmen
engaged there must have served at
least Ave years In the dissecting
schools of the French metropolis.