ON PREPARING SKELETONS. xxxv 



■water, and very gradually -warm the slide. As the water 

 becomes warm the creases will disappear, and the sections 

 will lie perfectly flat on the water. Great care must be taken 

 not to melt the paraffin, as this causes great contraction and 

 spoils the sections completely. When the sections are quite 

 flat, the water may be drained off, or removed by the applica- 

 tion of blotting-paper. The slide is then placed for a few 

 hours in an oven or incubator whose temperature is lower 

 than the melting-point of the parafBn used. When quite dry 

 the slide is warmed to melt the pa jaflBn, placed in turpentine, 

 and treated in the usual way. 



XII. (M PREPARING SKELETONS. 



Skeletons of rabbits, fowls, etc., maybe prepared by mace- 

 ration or by boiling. Before macerating the bones should 

 have most of the flesh cut off ;. they ase then to be put into 

 cold water and left for several weeks for the remaining flesh 

 to rot away. They will afterwards require copious washing, 

 and may then be bleached by exposure to, direct sunlight for 

 two or three weeks, during whieh time they should be re- 

 peatedly dipped into water and then left to dry. This same 

 process also removes much of the offensive smell of freshly 

 macerated bones. Both these effects may, however, be more 

 quickly produced by steeping the bones in a clear solution of 

 bleaching powder, and afterwards washing them in running 

 water. 



Boiling the bones and then picking off the flesh yields 

 skeletons serving all the purposes of the stndent, though not 

 so white as those obtained by maceration. 



The preparation of cartilagiaous skeletons is described at 

 p. 215. 



