[a]Fig. 81.]—Elbow Joint: Front View.
The scapula is attached to the body by two brass bolts attached to the ribs. Sections of spiral spring wire or pieces of brass tube are placed on the bolts between the scapula and the ribs, to hold the former off the latter the same distance as when the flesh surrounding the scapula was all present. As to the position of the legs, the operator must use his own judgment. It is of course to be understood that the attitude of the legs has been decided upon before their articulation began, and that the work of wiring together has been carried out in accordance with this plan. It is hard to do more with a large skeleton than to place the legs in an easy walking attitude, of which the buffalo skeleton already figured may fairly be taken as a model.
The rod extending through the spinal canal is cut off so that the head will hang on it properly. Two brass pins are passed through the atlas, one into each occipital condyle. Two iron rods, with lacquered brass shoulders, are used to support the skeleton, as shown in the figure. These rods should be painted black.
The lower jaw is fastened to the skull by means of brass spiral spring wire, which permits it to be moved freely up and down by any one who is studying the animal's dentition.
The method of mounting any large disarticulated skeleton of a quadruped is essentially the same as that described for the buffalo, the principle variation occurring in the feet. In articulating the feet of a wolf, for example, the method of wiring the tarsal bones, carpal bones, metatarsals, metacarpals, and the phalanges, is very similar to that described for the buffalo, but the workman must here also depend largely on his own ingenuity. A single wire passes through the phalanges of each digit, and two sesamoids are fastened on by a single wire.
Where the digits are more than two in number, a wire is passed transversely through the lower ends of the metacarpals and metatarsals, and on this are placed short pieces of fine coiled brass spring, to hold the digits at proper distances from one another.
The tools used in mounting large skeletons are by no means so numerous or costly that any one need be deterred from trying his hand at practical osteology on the score of facilities or the lack of them. Of course the complete outfit of a professional osteologist includes an extensive array of tools, some of which are rather costly. The most important item is a good drilling machine, chuck and lathe, to work by foot-power. This can be procured of Goodnow & Wightman, of Boston, and in ordering it will be necessary to have a 1/4-inch hole drilled through the centre of the axle, to receive the long, steel drills of various sizes that are to drill the many holes required in the various bones.
The amateur who can not afford an expensive plant and a first-class drilling machine, can get along very well with a Millers' Falls hand-drill and a good assortment of first-class steel drills to fit it. I once saw an old German anatomist mount a cow skeleton for a Western college with hardly more tools than I could hold in one hand—but, of course, that skeleton was not mounted à la Lucas, by a considerable difference.