The Caucasian., 1911-07-23
The NATIONAL
BONE ARTIST.
Man Who Mounts Skeletons
For the Smithsonian.
DIVISION CALLED Bone YARg

+ w. scoIick Mounts Everything
From an Elephant to Rat-WirIns
Bones Toqether Is Delicate Work
and Gets on the Nerves-Smah
Skeletons Mounted Against Glass.
T. w. Scollick Of the National mu-
scum in Washington is craftsman IN
a trade with probably the smallest
competition in the world. He Is inc
official s'bone man" of the governmenS
or. in other words, the expert In charge
of the work of cleaning, artlculatlng
and mounting skeletons at the muses.
nm. a trade by itself and one requlA@
ing infinite patience and great techn-
cal skill.
The removal of the National museum
from the old to the new building mas
resulted in the division OF skeletons
being given larger quarters, ana the
DISPLAY has been arranged so as TO
give it more prominence than ever. 10
EMPLOYEES of the museum and many
visitors this division is known as the
i bone yard"
| Perhaps there is not the attraction
in it for the average visitor that there
| is in the display of mounted an1mals
and the big cases of chronological
groups. but 1t is one of the most re-
markable collections in the whole mu-
ser1m. Mr.. Scollick has been in charge
of this work for years. The display
in the museum is largely his work.
The exhibits range all the way from
y full grown elephant to herring.
Each of them represents weeks OF tech
nical skill apparently out of all pro-
portion to the finished result. Ihougn
there is more labor in the WORK, the
larger skeletons are the easier to nam
die. The collection includes elephants,
rhinoceroses, horses, gorillas, the lar
ger monkeys, all sorts OF deer' man
himself and many mammals
Wires, Springs and Braces.
Every bone In these big skeletons
has to be drilled and articulated with
wires. springs and metal braces. Al
though these do not show, 1t Is neces-
sary that they be put In place WIN
mathematical precision to give the
natural appearance. And then, too,
! everything must be scientifically just
40. It is this which makes the finished
work apparently so easy, but In realty
g SO difficult.
The smaller skeletons, like lizards
}. small fish. bats and snakes, are mol
:. held together by wires. Their OWL
o cartilage dried in place is used to hols
J. them together, This is one of tn
many reasons why skeleton that L
dried and mounted is never boiled
Not only would the boiling make IN
bones fall apart, but it would drive d
the grease and make the bones yellow
the one thing not desired The hesl
is taken off the raw bones with
scraper and then the bones are care
60 fully washed clean of grease with gas
oline. Acids are not used at all e1
,s cept on rare occasions to remove
a. stain. - q '-~s.'s-~
careIessness Is Fatal.
IS Great care must be exercised in tn
r. drying and bleaching of the bones. Thi
= cannot be done in a hot sun, becaus
D. the hot sun will crack the bones, as
will seasoning wood. From a bon
ct artists viewpoint the best bleachfn
D. weather is a gray, driZzling day, whe
es there is no danger of the sun gettin
h in its damaging work. Sometimes th
re bones develop black streaks. but th1
can usually be remedied with tn
use Of dilute ammonia.
From beginning to end the who
skeleton cleaning process is tiresom
and is said to ''get on the nerves
worse than any other form of spec
men mounting carried on at the mi
scum. Weeks of cleaning are require
to prepare some Of the small fish skel
tons, some of which have to be noun
ed against glass to keep them pro
erly assembled for display. The b
skeletons. with their long, delica
wings, are also mounted In this way.