Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1857 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER L INTRODUCTION. The art of tanning is that by which animal skins are converted into leather, a product differing entirely from that of the raw material, and adapting it to the useful purpose for which it is employed. The properties imparted are of a physical nature, and vary with the kind of skin employed and the modifications of the process which it undergoes. Chemically considered, however, leather is a definite compound of tannin and gelatin. Tanning, as an art, dates as far back as nine hundred years before Christ. The methods resorted to in early times consisted of little more than merely cleansing and drying the skins; and, thus prepared, the latter were used for clothing, &c. Leather was largely in use among the ancient Egyptians, and the workers of that material were so numerous that the Memnonian quarter, Thebes, was characterized as their especial locality. Their skill in fashioning it was so great that ornaments of all shapes and devices were made from it. Leather was made by them into tapestry, and many of the Egyptian tombs bear representations of artificers in leather engaged in the several branches of their vocation. The principal steps in the manufacture of leather are the washing and soaking, for the purpose of cleaning and softening the skins, and preparing them for the removal of the hair. This is effected by the use of lime, or other substances which destroy, dissolve, or soften the bulbous roots of the hair, and thus facilitate its removal by mere mechanical scraping with a bluntedged knife. During this part of the process, another important end is generally accomplished in the swelling of the tissues and their preparations for the more .complete and easy absorption of the tanning principle. The primitive...