Step 1. Acquire a corpse.

October 7, 2017 12:48 PM

The Gruesome History of Making Human Skeletons
posted by Johnny Wallflower (13 comments total)

Why didn't they just 3D print it like civilized people.
posted by Bee'sWing at 1:23 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

I myself made a human skeleton, and the process didn't seem all that gruesome. (It might get a little gross once I'm done using it, though.)
posted by Guy Smiley at 1:30 PM on October 7, 2017 [14 favorites]

Is this a good strategy if I wasn't smart from the very beginning?

Asking for a friend.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:14 PM on October 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

I know this is about the history, but don't they mostly use Dermestid beetles for cleaning off the meaty bits these days?
That said, I can only hope that when I pass away, they fit my noggin bone with a hinge and a little latch.
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 3:42 PM on October 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

I don't know about a whole corpse, but I can get you a toe.
posted by adamrice at 3:47 PM on October 7, 2017

I don't know about a whole corpse, but I can get you a toe.

You're supposed to give it back after you drink a Sourtoe Cocktail. Jerk.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:30 PM on October 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

"I myself made a human skeleton, and the process didn't seem all that gruesome. "

I made three human skeletons, there was a lot of barfing.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:33 PM on October 7, 2017 [14 favorites]

I remember drawing an old, small brown skeleton at the Ontario College of Art (or likely the anatomy illustration department at U of T) back in the 80s. It was still held together by it's ligaments, which made understanding the knee joints much easier. Now I'm wondering how old it was.
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:51 PM on October 7, 2017

Asking for a friend.

Me too: do they go over steps 2 and beyond?
posted by rhizome at 8:11 PM on October 7, 2017

Trinity-Gehenna, they do use those beetles! There is a cool museum in Orlando that displays the founder's HUGE collection of skeletons. One of the exhibits is a tank of the beetles cleaning the flesh off something, with close up cameras.
posted by emkelley at 6:53 AM on October 8, 2017

Now most of the skeletons used in medical schools are plastic, but the ones that were used a couple hundred years ago—they were all people

What about the time between two hundred years ago and when mass-produced plastic skeletons became possible (the 1950s? 1960s?)?

When I was at primary school there were objects that would occasionally visit. One was a skeleton (which might have been plastic now I come to think of it). Another was an actual human skull. I was freaked out by graveyards, but completely relaxed about holding a person's skull in my hands. I tried to be as disturbed as I thought I should be, but it seemed more to be a friendly object.
posted by Grangousier at 8:06 AM on October 8, 2017

What about the time between two hundred years ago and when mass-produced plastic skeletons became possible (the 1950s? 1960s?)?


India
posted by TedW at 2:29 PM on October 8, 2017

What about the time between two hundred years ago and when mass-produced plastic skeletons became possible (the 1950s? 1960s?)?



The serial killer HH Holmes would articulate the skeletons of at least some of his victims and sell them to medical schools. And that was probably a common fate for the bones of corpses stolen to be dissected in medical schools in the 19th century, as well (which was a common thing not just in Britain with Burke and Hare et al but also in the States; the father of President Benjamin Harrison being one notable case).
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 5:28 PM on October 8, 2017