BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. [22] 



ADDITIONAL OBJECTS FOR COLLECTION. 



It is true that the variations of every organ in the human bodj^ are 

 of anthropological importance; but to extend Museum collections to 

 all these parts is at present hardly practicable. The skeletal, brain, 

 and fetal materials claim the first attention. After these have been 

 more thoroughly elaborated and exhibited, there is a good hope that 

 later workers and additional means will make all needed extensions of 

 phj^sical anthropology possible. 



The above does not imply that good opportunities to obtain especially 

 valuable specimens for ph3^sical anthropology other than skeletal, 

 brain, or fetal should be neglected. Some of the most interesting 

 variations exist in the skin and its appendages, particularly the hair 

 and teeth, and a good collection of any of these parts from any tribe 

 or people is very desirable. Many revertive and other anomalies, 

 some of which may eventually be found to be more or less racial in 

 character, exist in the muscular system, the intestines, the liver, the 

 circulatory apparatus, etc. But for the soft specimens of this cate- 

 gory, the most suitable place at present is some representative museum 

 of general anatom3^ 



The collecting of specimens of skin, hair, and teeth calls for but 

 little instruction. Examples of skin can be obtained, best in small 

 squares, from the dead. The squares should be alike in size and from 

 the same region of the body. The unexposed parts of the back, chest, 

 or limbs are suitable. The specimen should be stretched, with the 

 help of pins, on a piece of board and dried. 



Hair should be obtained from persons in good health, preferably 

 children, and again from adults not diifering much in age. The aim of 

 the collector should be to obtain all the variations of hair in a particu- 

 lar people. 



With both skin and hair it is necessary to have the supplementary 

 data of race, purity of blood, sex, and age. 



The opportunity to obtain teeth is limited to the dentists. Here, 

 also, should be recorded with each specimen the race, sex, and age, 

 besides its exact position. 



THE COLLECTORS. 



The nature of the material required by physical anthropology for 

 the purposes of investigation and exhibition is such as most interests 

 the physician, and therefore this appeal is addressed mainl}^ to medical 

 men, particularly to those who travel, or have charge of hospitals, 

 colleges, dissecting rooms, and remedial institutions. As physical 

 anthropology and anatomy are intimately related and largely inter- 

 dependent, any service done to the former is also done to the latter, 



