OF NATURAL SKELETONS. 
which is done by scraping of the flesh, ligaments, and perios- 
teum. When this is effected, the bones should be again laid 
in clean water for a few days and well washed ; they ought 
then to be placed in lime water, or a solution of pearl ash,* 
for a week, when they may be taken out to dry, after having 
soaked them five or six hours in pure water, to remove the so- 
lution of pearl-ash, which would act upon their surface when 
exposed to the atmosphere. 
In drying bones they should not be exposed to the rays of 
the sun, or to a fire, as too great a degree of heat brings the 
remaining medullary oil into the compact substance of the 
bones, and gives them a disagreeable oily transparency. This 
is the great objection to the process of boiling bones, for the 
purpose of making skeletons, as the heat applied in that way 
has the same effect, unless they are boiled in a solution of 
pearl-ash, which some are of opinion is one of the most effec- 
tual methods of whitening them by its effectually destroying 
the oil. But there can be but little doubt that bleaching is, of 
all methods, the most effectual where it can be done to its 
greatest advantage, namely, in a pure air, and more especially 
on a sea shore. 
It is much more difficult to clean the bones of animals that 
have died in good condition than those that are lean and re- 
duced by disease. 
OF NATURAL SKELETONS. 
Natural skeletons are made without separating the bones 
from each other, in which case all the animal ligaments 
are allowed to remain entire. This plan is generally adopted, 
with young and sinall animals, because the ligaments when 
diy, being divested of their natural flexibility, occasion an in- 
convenience, as the different extents and varieties of motion 
cannot be shown in the diferent articulations. 
In making these, we are first to remove from the bones the 
_ skin, muscles, tendons, and viscera, and, in short, every thing 
except the connecting ligaments and cartilages, which ought to 
be carefully preserved. This is done without any reguler or- 
*See Receipts. 
