CHAPTEE XXXIX. 

 MOUNTING A LARGE DISARTICULATED SKELETON. 



IT will be well for anyone who intends to mount a large skele- 

 ton, if he has not already a fair knowledge of osteology, to take 

 some book which contains a description of the skeleton, for ex- 

 ample, of the domestic cow, and familiarize himself with the 

 names of the various bones and the different anatomical terms 

 used in describing them. In fact it is next to impossible to 

 describe the process of mounting a skeleton without making 

 use of quite an array of technical terms. 



In order to make our description of this intricate process as 

 clear as possible, we will choose as our typical subject the 

 skeleton of an American bison, and go through with it in de- 

 tail, aided by an abundant supply of illustrations. We of course 

 assume that the macerating, cleaning, and bleaching has been 

 done. 



In mounting a disarticulated skeleton, begin with the verte- 

 bral column as the key to the situation. It is, in point of fact, 

 the keel upon which the whole structure is to be built. The 

 vertebrae should be arranged, each in its place, and then they 

 should be numbered with pen and ink on the anterior articulat- 

 ing surface of the body of each one, beginning with the first 

 vertebra in front of the sacrum. This vertebra (the last lumbar) 

 should be marked No. 1, the next in front No. 2, and so on to 

 the axis. 



The next step consists in boring two holes through the sacrum 

 from its under surface (Fig. 73, a, a) to its anterior articulating 

 surface (b, b), and these holes should be continued on through 

 the body of each of the succeeding vertebrae to the axis. They 

 should come out underneath that vertebra (the axis), where the 

 wires which pass through all these holes are afterward to be 



