116 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 
broken, and when a bone three, four, or even 
six feet long, weighing anywhere from 100 to’ 
1,000 pounds, has been shattered to fragments 
the problem of removing it is no easy one. 
But here the skill of the collector comes into 
play to treat the fossil as a surgeon treats a 
fractured limb, to cover it with plaster band- 
ages, and brace it: with splints of wood or iron 
so that the specimen may not only be taken 
from the ground but endure in safety the com- 
ing journey of a thousand or more miles. For 
simpler cases or lighter objects strips of sacking, 
or even paper, applied with flour and water, 
suffice, or pieces of sacking soaked in thin plas- 
ter may be laid over the bone, first covering it 
with thin paper in order that the plaster jacket 
may simply stiffen and not adhere to it. Col- 
lecting has not always been carried on in this 
systematic manner, for the development of the 
present methods has been the result of years of 
experience ; formerly there was a mere skim- 
ming-over of the surface in what Professor 
Marsh used to term the potato-gathering style, 
but now the effort is made to remove speci- 
mens intact, often imbedded in large masses 
ye ate 
