1890.] Archeology and Ethnology. 593 
wire flattened and ground to a chisel edge. These will be useful in 
cleaning out the cavities. The earth can be brushed away, and the 
specimens kept clean for observation, using softer brushes as required, 
so that no injury may be done to the bones. If the specimen crumbles 
upon exposure to the air, so as to endanger its safety, expose only a 
small surface of the bone at a time, apply the preservative, and let it 
dry, after which a little more can be exposed, and so continued until 
the skeleton is finished. 
If the bones are in a fair state of preservation, an entire skull, or, 
for this matter, the whole skeleton, may be exposed, cleaned with the 
brush, and the preservative applied. Before applying the preservative 
remove the dirt thoroughly from the surface of the bone. If this is 
neglected the preservative when applied will cause the dirt or earth 
allowed to remain to adhere so firmly that it cannot afterwards be 
removed without serious damage to the specimen. 
Take a skull, for example, part of a skeleton buried in its natural 
position. One would begin, say at the forehead, and remove the dirt, 
little by little, until the whole is more or less exposed, using the small 
implements according to necessity ; and so continuing, with care that 
the bone is not broken, until the whole is neatly and thoroughly 
cleaned. It is a good practice to leave the dirt in the deeper parts of 
the cavities, such as the nose, the deeper parts of the orbits, etc. Next 
use the preservative, giving a thin coat upon the more exposed por- 
tions, avoiding for the present the uncleaned cavaties, that no dirt 
may be cemented to any portion of the bone. After the preservative 
is well dried remove the skull from its bed, taking special pains to 
avoid breaking it. Next remove the lower jaw, being watchful that 
none of the teeth are lost, clean the cavities and the interior, and 
finally paint it thoroughly both inside and outside with the preserva- 
tive. 
In the vicinity of where the root of the tongue has been will gener- 
ally be found the hyoid or tongue bone or bones. In the adult or 
aged person they generally consist of one piece, somewhat in the form 
of the letter U, but in the young, and sometimes in the old, they con- 
sist of separate pieces. They should always be preserved with the 
test care, and placed with the skull to which they belong. The 
collector should familiarize himself with their appearance, either by 
examining a recent skeleton or by consulting some standard work upon 
human anatomy. This method can be continued for the rest of the 
skeleton, and can be employed for other animal remains. 
