58 
A WARM-WATER TANK for ACCELERATING 
OSTEOLOGICAL MACERATION. 
By G. Frep. Moors, 
OF MOORE BROTHERS, OSTEOLOGISTS, LIVERPOOL); LATE DEMONSTATOR OF ZOOLOGY, 
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LIVERPOOL. 
[Read 23rd April, 1887.] 
THE importance of skeletons to students of the Vertebrata ; 
will not be questioned, but in order that the skeletons — 
may be studied with comfort and ease it is necessary © 
to have them properly prepared. Maceration is one of the ~ 
first steps in the preparation, and all methods of assisting 
or improving this, with the object of retaining the natural 4 
colour and condition of the bones, are worth recording. In ~ 
1884, Dr. Struthers published in the Journal of Anatomy 
and Physiology (vol. xviii., p. 49) a paper describing his 
warm-water tanks, and when reading this lately, I thought — 
that some zoologists, wishing to try to macerate their own 
specimens, might like to hear of a much more simple and 
less expensive method of building a tank to serve the — 
same purpose. I will therefore describe the one which my 
brother and I have had in continual use for nearly two 
years, and which has been even more successful than we ~ 
had anticipated with all kinds of animals, from a sparrow _ 
to an ostrich, and a mouse to a horse. 
The tank is made of rough spruce boards, 7 inches — 
wide and 1 inch thick, nailed to battens of the same 
thickness. It is 7 feet long, 2 feet wide, 18 inches deep at 
the deeper end, shallowing to 8 inches, and is raised about 
7 inches from the floor at its deeper end to give room for 
