Ki 
~ years ago by Professor R. P, Whitfield, and published by me in 
he 
W 
354 o V On the Mounting of Fossils. [April, 
have attracted much attention and admiration from visitors, both 
scientific and lay, and-I have been. often urged to publish some 
account of my methods and results. 
Although many fossil bones are whole and clean when found, 
many more of them are broken and more or less clogged with 
matrix. The freeing of this last and the mending of the broken 
are troublesome and delicate tasks. Mallet and chisel come into 
play, their sizes depending on the nature of the case. For the 
heavier work ordinary stone-cutter’s tools can be used, yet itis 
commonly better to make haste slowly and use needles, and no 
needle is more useful than a No. 1 sharp. By wrapping the eye 
end of the needle with a narrow strip of paper it can be made to 
fit in the clamp of a patent sewing haft, and a chisel made, which 
with a dogwood stick of from one to one and a-half inches diam- 
eter and nine inches long for a mallet, is capable of doing very 
delicate work, and also much which at first sight would seem to 
be entirely too heavy for so light a tool. 
For reaching into the deeper cavities a No. 12 knitting needle, 
well set into an awl handle, is needed, while for cleaning out the 
carapaces of turtles it is well to have special long handles made. 
Darning needles are of convenient size but of too poora quality. 
of steel. 
But whatever needle is used, a good oil-stone should always be. 
at hand to renew the point as often as it is blunted. By a little 
practice a point can be put to a needle much better for this work 
than the original one. 
A good stiff tooth-brush is needed, a good lens, say Tolles’ one 
inch triplet, anda hand mirror to throw light into cavities of 
heavy specimens that cannot be easily turned. 
ew A high workbench with vise, plyers, anvil and hammers, drills, 
a flat cushion to lay specimens on while being worked, and an 
assortment of wire complete the “kit” of tools, but a pot of 
mucilage and a box of calcined plaster are also needed for mend- 
‘ing the broken. It is best to have always a number of specimens 
on hand so that the mended can be allowed to dry without delay 
to the work. 
_ Of the cements that we have tried at Princeton, we have give® | 
up all but the one which we began with, recommended to us 
the Am. Four. Pharmacy, May, 1875. It is: Starch one part 
