PLATE XXI.
[a]Skeleton of an American Bison.]
Continue this same process for the remaining ribs. It will be found, however, that the process of carrying a single wire through the heads of both ribs and the anterior portion of the body of the vertebra cannot be continued with all. In the last of the dorsal vertebrae the wires will have to be put through the head of the rib and the pedicles of the vertebrae into the neural canal.
Make a loop on the end of each wire, as at a, a, Fig. 74, and put the ribs on each vertebra as they belong, having only one end of the wire—the one on which is made a double loop—pulled up snugly. The other end of the wire should be left a few inches in length, but bent slightly close to the rib, to hold the latter in place.
The innominate bones should be attached to the sacrum either by two brass bolts, one passing through each side at about the middle of the articular surfaces between the sacrum and each ilium, or by passing a heavy double wire through each of these places. Before tightening permanently, apply "plaster-glue" (the mixture of glue and plaster Paris already described) to the articular surfaces between the sacrum and ilia, thus when dry making the pelvis firm.
Now that the ribs are attached to the vertebræ, and the innominate bones to the sacrum, proceed to string the vertebræ again on the wires and rod. The atlas can now be attached to the axis by passing wires through the holes previously made, after which the wires are to be twisted firmly together.
When all the vertebræ with their ribs attached have been put in place, hang the backbone to a framework similar to that used for suspending the alligator (Plate XIV.), or, what is much better, to the ceiling, by two small ropes attached at the neck and pelvis.
With the pliers now twist tightly together the wires under the axis, then take a screw-driver and work between each pair of vertebrae from underneath, beginning with the last lumbar, and prying back toward the sacrum. By the time you have reached the axis a considerable space will have been gained. Shorten the wires by twisting them, and continue this process until the vertebrae all fit snugly together, and are tight one against the other.
