Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-07-13
OFFICIAL bone MAN"
FOR THE GOVERNMENT
j. w. Scollick, of the National
Museum, Has Little Compe-
ton in His Ceaft.

j. w. Scollick, of the national
museum. in Washington, is a crafts
ma in a trade with probably the
smallest competition in the world. he
is the official bone man of the
expert in charge of the work of clean
ing, articulating and mounting skele-
tons at the museum, a trade by Itself
and one requiring infinite patience and
great technical skill.
The removal of the national museum
from the old TO the new building has
esuIted in the division of skeletons
display has been arranged so as to
give it a prominence never before had.
70 employees OF h museum and many
visitors this division is known as the
bone yard"
Perhaps there is not the attraction
In it for the average visitor that there
is in the display of mounted animals
and the big cases of chronological
groups, but it is one of the most re-
markable collections in the whole
museum. There is probably less known
about the technique of assembling the
hibits in any other section. Mr..
Scollick, who works on n upper
floor of one OF the small buildings
back of the Smithsonian institution,
has been in charge of this work for
years. The display now in the
museum is largely his work, though
some specimens have been acquired
by purchase and exchange.
The exhibits IN all the way from
a full-grown elephant to a herring.
Each of them represents weeks of
technical skill apparently out of all
proportion to the finished result.
Though there is more labor in the
Il ,.,,rly tho lorrAr .l.a1otNnc NO tho
rasier to handle. The collection in
cludes elephants, rhinoceroses, horses,
gorillas, the larger monkeys, all sorts
Of deer, man himself and "a mann
mails.
Every bore in these big skeletons
has been drilled and %articulated with
wires, springs n metal braces. AL
though these do not show, it is neces-
sary that they be put in place with
mathematical precision to give the
natural appearance. n then, too,
everything must be scientifically just
SO. 1t is this which makes the finished
work apparently SO easy, but in reality
SO difficult.
The small skeletons like lizards,
held together by wires. Their W.
cartilage dried in place is used to
hold them together. This is one Of
the the many ;s ar,a reasons sma n why = !, skeleton nssen
ttlhk IS IlG aiA lIlOulIlCu 10 ISNSl
boiled. Not only would the boiling
make the bones fall apart. but 1t
would drive in the grease and make
the bones yellow, the one thing not
desired. The meat is taken off the
|yaw bones with a scrapper and then
the bones are carefully washed clean
Of grease with gasoline. Acids are not
used at all except on rare occasions to
remove a stain.
Great care must be exercised in the
drying and bleaching of The bones.
This cannot be done in Il hot sun be-
the hot SUI will crack the
bones. as it will seasoned WOO From
IA bone artists viewpoint the best
bleaching weather is q gray, drizzling
day, when there Is no danger of the
bun getting in its damaging work.
Sometimes the bones develop black
streaks, but his can usually be rem
edied with the use of diluted ammonia.
From beginning to end, the whole
skeleton cleaning process is tiresome,
Ind is said to get on the nerves"
worse han any other form IF speci-
men mounting carried on at the
museum. Weeks of cleaning are re-
luired to prepare some of the small
Ash skeletons, some Of which have to
Ge mounted against glass to keep them
properly assembled for display. The
bat skeletons. with their long. delicate
wings, are also mounted In this way.
Bone articulation n skeleton
mounting is a craft about which the
public knows little. n even when an
expert In this line starts on a new
specimen he has no Idea how long It
will be before the job is finished.