410 Miscellaneous. 
dissolved, and the liquid nearly at boiling heat (ebullition 
should be avoided, if possible), it is ready for the immer- 
sion of the fossils, and they should remain in it as long as 
air-bubbles rise to the surface ; when these cease they will 
be sufficiently soaked. When taken out, they should not be 
drained, but laid in a position to retain as much as possible 
of the imbibed solution, until they are cold, when the clue 
will have set. Their position must then be shifted, to pre- 
vent their adhering to the board on which they may be 
laid. Any glue that may have drained from them may be 
then removed with a wet sponge. The vessels required are 
of the simplest kind. The common domestic utensils will 
answer for most purposes. The ordinary house copper, 
sancepan, or, better still, a large sized fish-kettle with its 
strainer. But whatever the vessel used, a strainer of some 
kind, on which to place the bones for immersion and with- 
drawal is indispensable ; for the copper nothing is better than 
a wire-sieve. For bones too large for the vessel used, the 
treatment will have to be varied. For long limb-bones, 
strong enough to bear their own weight when saturated, it 
is only necessary to place one end in the vessel, and ladle 
the solution over the other end for a short time, and then 
reverse their position. But for bones which will not bear 
such treatment, the only plan is to securely fix them to a 
board, and place them ina slanting position in the solution, 
and well saturate them with it by ladling. For these, and 
for long portions of tusks of the Mammoth, and horn-cores 
of the large species of Bos, a special vessel, about three feet 
long, one foot wide at the top, nine or ten inches wide at 
the bottom, and nine inches deep, made of stout tin or gal- 
vanized iron, with a handle at each end, will be found most 
useful. Occasionally fossils are found which are either too 
large or too friable (as skulls and tusks from their natural 
construction frequently are) to be placed in the solution; 
for these a different method must be adopted to preserve 
them entire. Cover the fossil with thin paper, over which— 
on the sides and underneath if possible—put a coating of 
plaster of Paris,justthickand strong enough tokeeptogether ; 
when firmly set, gently pour the solution boiling-hot over 
the fossil as long as it continues to absorb, to assist which 
it may be necessary to remove in a few places some of the 
surface-bone, which can be carefully replaced; in two or 
three days the plaster may be partly removed by sawing, 
and in small pieces, taking care not to injure the fossil by 
jarring it; the paper will prevent the plaster adhering to it. 
‘ia ae 
