# Mr. Bones **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2000, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752 "2000-03-16T16:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/1 "2000-03-16T16:52:00Z")
Almost every Biology or Anthropology classroom I’ve ever been in (in either high school or college) seems to have a human skelleton hanging on a rack in the corner. Every time I asked a teacher where they come from I got a similar story: “They all come from India where it is cutomary for villagers to toss their dead kin into the Ganges. Down river there are folks who recover the bodies and sell them to scientific supply houses in the West.” True? What are the details of this industry? Who gets the job of stripping and cleaning the bones and wiring them together? Are the bone marked in any way to keep them from being mistaken for murder vitims? Can just anybody buy a human skelleton? ---
**Author:** ![Asmodeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@Asmodeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asmodeus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/2 "2000-03-16T17:01:00Z")
I believe you will find most of them are plastic. * * * You can pick your friends, You can pick your nose, But you can’t pick your friends nose. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/3 "2000-03-16T17:41:00Z")
Not quite plastic, I believe, but some kind of resin I think? In my university I asked a biology teacher about buying a cranium (or a skeleton) to adorn my mantlepiece (remember, I was still in college) and I was told that real skeletons are quite expensive. If you want your own, check here. [http://www.buyamag.com/anatomic.htm](http://www.buyamag.com/anatomic.htm) You can see that even the “cast” skeletons (cast from what? it doesn’t say) are in the hundreds of dollars. I doubt a high school in the USA could afford a real human skeleton. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/4 "2000-03-16T17:44:00Z")
Whoops! My mistake! The site above does say how the skeletons are made.[ul][li]Chromoplated flex tube for superflexibility.[/li][li]Impact& fatigue-proof polyurethane.[/li][li]Stainless steel hardware.[/li][li]Durable, soft polyurethane rubber muscles attached with strong flexible bundge cord for dynamic banding & stretching demonstrations.[/li]Cast from natural bones[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Ursa\_Major](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/5 "2000-03-16T17:53:00Z")
Yeah, yeah…but where do real science class skelletons come from? Surely, they are not all artificial. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2000, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/6 "2000-03-17T06:17:00Z")
Aw, nuts—I thought this was going to be about “Mr. Bones,” “Mr. Tambo” and “Mr. Interlocutor” in the old minstrel shows. ---
**Author:** ![Twin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@Twin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/7 "2000-03-16T19:56:00Z")
I thought this was going to be about the comic book character (former member of Infinity Inc.) ---
**Author:** ![aschrott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/8 "2000-03-16T20:33:00Z")
and I thought this would be the skinny guy’s forum. Oh well… ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/9 "2000-03-16T20:48:00Z")
I thought it was about Mr. Bones _Jangles_, the dancing skeleton. * * * “You have no choice but to be impressed.” Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan _Doubt and Certainty_ ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/10 "2000-03-16T23:07:00Z")
> [@](#): > > When all the limbs are numb and clean, > and you’re in transit, dream to dream, > I’ll drift there to meet you, lazybones. - Soul Coughing, _Lazybones_ ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2000, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/11 "2000-03-16T23:34:00Z")
You can buy real skeletons but pretty pricey [http://www.anatomy-resources.com/sh221.htm](http://www.anatomy-resources.com/sh221.htm) The part that really got me was the economy grade real human skulls “suitable for decorative and ritual purposes.” [http://www.anatomy-resources.com/sh217.htm](http://www.anatomy-resources.com/sh217.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2000, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/12 "2000-03-17T00:58:00Z")
He’s dead, Jim! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/13 "2000-04-20T21:18:00Z")
Please excuse me reviving an old thread, but I read something today that helped answer some of the questions in the OP. A local newspaper, the Orange County Register, has recently published a series of articles on this subject, “[The Body Brokers](http://www.ocregister.com/health/body/index.shtml)”. The fifth article in the series mentioned where skeletons come from. [http://www.ocregister.com/health/body/day5\_gulls.shtml](http://www.ocregister.com/health/body/day5_gulls.shtml) > [@](#): > > Across the country, Marvin Broyhill sells skeletons for up to $4,495 at Virginia-based [Anatomy Resources](http://www.anatomy-resources.com/). Three dancing skeletons greet visitors to his Web site. Broyhill is a former writer of TV commercials and an ex-Fullerton resident. > > His skulls are popular with doctors, medical students and eccentric collectors, he said. > “I had a guy in New York just buy three of them for $500 apiece,” Broyhill said recently. “I don’t dare ask what they are using them for.” > > Broyhill imports skulls and skeletons from India and Southeast Asia. > > It is against the law to sell skulls and bones from anyone who dies on American soil, but there are no laws against importing them, U.S. Department of Justice spokesman John Russell said. The article is very interesting. They mention the high value of bones (e.g. femur - US$3,310; tibia US$5,515; etc…) and their use. Demineralized bone is used by dentists to treat gum disease. Some “machined” parts, such as threaded bone dowels, are used in spinal-fusion surgery. Grafton (human-bone paste) is used to seal bone fractures. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/14 "2000-04-20T21:24:00Z")
" Come with me, Bones." "Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor not an ektoskeletal donor ! " ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-bones/10752/15 "2000-04-20T21:48:00Z")
When I worked at the local med school, my office was right next door to the morgue and gross anatomy lab. I frequently saw notices on the bulletin board about assignments for cadavers and ‘bone boxes.’ One student told me that, along with the body that a med student spends his semester dissecting, students are assigned a box of human bones. That leads me to believe that at least some of the bones of donated cadavers are kept to benefit future medical students. Not that that answers the question about standing skeletons, but it is another kind of ‘human bones in the classroom’. And, quite frankly, I find the idea of a bone box a shade creepier than an assembled skeleton…