[9] COLLECTING ANTHEOPOLOGICAL INFORMATION — HRDLICKA. 



I. THE SOURCES OF SKELETAL REMAINS AMONCx THE WHITES AND OTHER CIVILIZED 



PEOPLES. 



As a large number of human bodies are annually utilized for the 

 purposes of teaching and advancement of the medical sciences, the 

 dissecting room becomes a rich and convenient source of more or less 

 normal osteological material. If collection of this be supplemented 

 with data concerning the sex, age, color, nativity, occupation, and 

 mode of death of the individual, and the specimens be properly 

 labeled and cared for (as is being done in at least one large American 

 medical institution), the material becomes most suitable for many 

 anthropological comparisons. 



In recent ossuaries, or depositories of skeletons of large quantities, 

 such as are often found in Latin countries, there is usually a mixture 

 of too man}^ elements in the population for the material to be of much 

 value. But there may be ossuaries in which all the bones are of indi- 

 viduals belonging to one race. In that case at least the skulls are as 

 good for anthropological study as those of the same people preserved 

 in any other way. Opportunit}'^ to secure such material can often be 

 gained through proper authority. 



Ordinary cemeteries still in use offer little opportunit}^ for acquiring 

 good crania or skeletons for anthropological purposes. But, when 

 an old grave is opened, permission might be obtained to examine an 

 interesting skull or skeleton. 



It is to be hoped that as interest in the knowledge of our own physi- 

 cal progress advances, old families whose remains have been carefully 

 preserved will be willing to contribute to the study of heredity by 

 permitting the measurement of these remains. 



As phj^sical anthropology must deal not only with man's evolution 

 and development, but also with his decline, and with arrested or reces- 

 sive as much as with normal and progressive characteristics, it must 

 look to asylums, particularly those for the aged, and institutions such 

 as those for idiots, insane, criminals, etc., for materials of this class. 

 The physicians connected with such establishments, under proper 

 advice, have it in their power to furnish specimens, photographs, and 

 descriptions of much value to science. 



Catacombs, old ossuaries, and abandoned cemeteries of known date 

 and character contain invaluable osteological series for comparison 

 with recent remains of the same people. There are in the United 

 States many such burial places, which are being destroyed by prog- 

 ress, and the crania and other bones from such places, if collected on a 

 sufficiently large scale, would furnish data, the lack of which is felt 

 keenly. By the aid of such remains the development of the American 

 population in various parts of this country could be well elucidated. 



If on a battlefield the bodies are left unburied, in hot countries or 

 seasons three or four weeks suffice to either decompose and remove, 



