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No. 397] COLLECTIONS OF HUMAN BONES. II 
promises of advanced investigation on bones will receive, which 
they cannot fail to do, a more thorough appreciation by the 
teachers and students in anatomy, old bone collections will 
increase and new collections will be established, and both these 
effects should take place only on the basis of the most approved 
principles. 
Such were the considerations which led me in formulating, 
during the last four years, the system of care of bones, which 
follows. Every point advocated I had the occasion to test or 
observe in practice, and only that is included which is simple, 
practical, and essential for investigation. Some of the details 
which at first may seem superfluous will be appreciated later by 
the student of the collection. The method once tested under 
different circumstances in practice will undoubtedly be found 
capable of advantageous modifications, but I think it will, in 
general, prove sufficient for the beginning of a collection. . . . 
The care of bones, when their full scientific utilization is in 
view, should begin at the reception of the body in the anatomi- 
cal department. 
It is very advisable, on receiving the body, to ascertain the 
following points, namely: color, sex, age, nationality (if Ameri- 
can, the nationality of parents in addition), and last disease; 
also the principal (not necessarily the last) occupation of the 
individual in his life. 
In all accidental or sudden deaths the weight of the body, 
with a note as to loss of blood, should be taken. - 
A few selected, simple measures of the body! and neag are 
very desirable. 
All the data, if carefully obtained, will serve as valuable 
bases for future studies and comparisons on the skeleton. 
It is best that one of the permanent associates in the 
anatomical department of a college should be given the care 
of all these preli ies 
(1 Length of the body: middle of the soles to vertex; maximum length and 
width of the head, with its height from biauricular line; antero-posterior and 
lateral diameters of the chest, at the level of the sternal articulation of the third 
ribs and at that of ensiform cartilage. Vertex-coccyx length is also a desirable 
measure. 
