Hey all--
         About a month ago, I received from the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia
 two skeletal human torsos (from pelvic girdle to occipital) which had been
 prepared originally by an anatomist here at the Philadelphia College of
 Osteopathic Medicine (where I am the Collections Manager) in the early 1950's.
  The method of preparation is unusual--muscle attachments and ligaments are
 left in situ and the spines retain even forty-six years later great
 flexibility, allowing a normal range of flexion and extension.  Of course they
 are loaded with arsenic and mercury, so they are not something that you'd want
 to handle every day.
         The preparation was designed by H.V. Halladay, an osteopathic
 physician from Kirksville, Mo, in the early 1910's and I am trying to find out
 whether any more of these exist in museums, archives, anatomy departments,
 etc.  Until I came here, I had never heard of them and I had thought I was
 pretty well-versed in anatomy and forensic sciences.
         If you know about these spines, please let me know--I am beginning to
 catalog those still in existence and am also trying to determine how many were
 ever made.  Because they stink like you wouldn't believe and I know of one
 county coroner who almost cremated some, I fear that they are likely to have
 been discarded or destroyed. Also, they may be kept in special
 containers--Halladay suggested building a humidor-like chamber in which to
 store these spines and those I received earlier were in a plexi box inside
 another, wooden, box.  If any of this sounds familiar to you, please contact
 me so we can compare notes.
Thanks,

Matthew Rowley

Collections Manager
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
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