The Colorado statesman., 1911-07-15

articulating and mounting skeletons
at the museum. trade by itself ana
one requiring infinite patience and
great technical skill.
The removal OF the National Mu-
scum from the old to the new build
ing has resulted in the division OF
skeletons being given larger quarters
and the display has been arranged SO
as to give 1t a prominence never De-
fore had. To employees OF the mu-
scum and many visitors this division
is known as the ''boneyard."
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 ethno-
logical groups, but 1t is one OF the
most remarkable collections in the
whole museum. There is probably
less known about the technique OF as
sembling the skeletons than OF pre-
pairing the exhibits in any other sec
ton. Mr.. Scollick. who works on the
upper floor of one of the small build
ings back of the Smithsonian lnsti-
tuition, 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 range all the way
from a full-grown elephant to a her.
ring. Each of them represents weeks
of technical skill apparently out OF
all proportion to the finished result
Though there is more labor in the
work. the larger skeletons are the
easier to handle. The collection In
cludes elephants, rhinoceroses, horses,
gorillas, the larger monkeys, all
sorts of deer, man himself and many
mammals.
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 with
mathematical precision to give the
natural appearance. And then, too,
everything must be scientifically just
SO. 1t is this which makes the fin
ished work apparently SO easy, but
In reality so difficult.
The smaller skeletons like lizards,
small fish. bats and snakes are not
held together by wires. Their own
cartilage dried in place is used to
hold them together. This is one of
the many reasons why skeleton
that is dried and mounted is never
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
raw bones with a scraper and then
the bones are carefully washed clean
of grease with gasoline. Acids are
not used at all except on rare occa-
sions to remove a stain.
Great care must be exercised in
the drying and bleaching of the
bones. This cannot be done in hot
sun, because the hot sun will crack
the bones, as it will seasoning wood.
From a bono artists viewpoint the
best bleaching w9ather is gray,
drizzling day, when there is no dan
ger of the sun getting In its damag-
ing work Sometimes the bones de-
velop black streaks, but this can
usually be remedied with the use of
dilute ammonia.
From beginning to end the whole
skeleton cleaning process is tiresome
and is said to "get on the nerves"
worse than any other form of speci
men mounting carried on at the mu-
scum Weeks of cleaning are re-
quired to prepare some of the small
fish skeletons. some of which have to
be mounted against glass to keep
them properly assemble for display.
The bat skeletons, with their long,
delicate wings. are also mounted in
this way.
Bone articulation and skeleton
mounting is a craft about which the
public knows little, and even when an
expert in this line starts on new
specimen he has no idea how long it
will be before the job is finished.