MAKING SKELETONS OP ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 221 



Skeleton-making by maceration in cold water is, perhaps, 

 one of tlie most sickening operations. I iiave been somewhat 

 successful hj trimming off all the flesh possible, wiring some 

 parts together, tying others in cloths and boiling them gently for 

 several hours in water changed from time to time, afterwards 

 taking them out and picking off, with fingers and blunt tools, all 

 the flesh remaining — whilst hot — then drilling and wiring all 

 together with galvanised or copper fastenings in a proper 

 manner, boiling again in plenty of water, and then allowing the 

 bones to remain in cold water — constantly changed — for a week 

 or so ; finally laying out in the sun and air to bleach. By this 

 system I have lately " skeletonized " part of a horse, and the 

 bones are free from grease and fairly white. Experience, how- 

 ever, in this as in everything else, will tell you what to do and 

 how to piece one system into another to best advantage. 

 "Washing the bones with Hudson's "dry" soap, or soda and 

 water, will often remove a great deal of the grease. Chloride of 

 nme and water will assist the bleaching, but must be managed 

 cautiously, or in careless hands it is likely to do more harm than 

 good. The making of good and nicely bleached osteological 

 preparations really depends on carefulness and neatness, sup- 

 plemented by water, air, and sun ; by the three latter aids, I 

 have repeatedly improved in a wonderful manner " old bones " 

 which were greasy and discoloured. 



Should the sea be close at hand, the skeleton, shut in a box 

 with holes, may be sunk, and exposed to the attacks of various 

 " small deer," especially " bees " {^ga tridens), which swarm in 

 some shallow waters to such an extent as to clear the fiesh from 

 a large animal in a few hours. 



Skeleton Leaves. — Yery beautiful objects may be made by 

 placing the leaves of trees and shrubs, or such as are of a strong 

 or woody texture, in a pan, pouring boiling soft or rain water 

 over them, then exposing them to the atmosphere for a time 

 varying from one to three or four months. They are then gently 

 lifted out and held on a board, or on a plate, under running 

 water, and the pnlpy part, or epidermis, removed by gentle 

 brushing with a camel-hair pencil or fine needle, to split the 

 skin away from the mid-rib. When nothing but the ligneous 

 skeleton or woody fibre remains, it may be placed in a weak 



