which we were present, some
heavy hides were tanned in six or eight days, others in twenty and
twenty-five days. In placing the hides in the solutions, some
precautions are necessary; the hides should be suspended on a wheel, or
in a frame where they should be stretched, and placed one inch apart,
so as to admit the solution freely about them; Mr. S---- recommends
cutting off the head and the neck of the hide, and a slip down each
side, in which slip the feet and belly part are to be comprehended; and
the circumstance which determines Mr. S---- to cut the hide in this
manner is, that the feet, and the parts that are near the belly, are
more spongy and more easily penetrated by the tan; and as they produce
leather of an inferior quality they may be more advantageously tanned
separately, than put promiscuously into the solutions of tan with the
rest. The remaining part of the hide is to be divided into two or more
parts or pieces, so as to be easily placed in the vats or casks.

_Drying the Hides._

The hides, when taken out of the solution of tan, must be dried with
the usual precautions, that is to say, so slowly, that the skin does
not shrink on the flesh side. With respect to thinner hides, for the
upper leather of shoes, Mr. S---- begins by washing and taking off the
flesh in the manner already described, or, as is done in the common way
for strong soal leather; he then takes off the hair by means of clear
lime-water; he does not make them undergo the operation of swelling,
but puts them immediately into weak solutions of tan, the strength of
which he gradually increases, but without ever bringing it to the
degree of contraction, which he gives it when it is to be used in
tanning thick leather; two, three, or four days, are enough for tanning
the thinner kind of leather. Leather which is not sufficiently
impregnated with the tanning principle, is generally known by a white
speck or streak, which is observable in the middle of its substance. We
can affirm that those hides which were tanned in our presence, in a few
days, were completely tanned, as the above mentioned white streak was
not perceivable; we may also add, that Mr. S----'s method has the
advantage of affording the opportunity of observing and examining, from
time to time, the progress of the operation; for this purpose nothing
more is necessary but to take a slip off the hide out of the vat, and
cut off a corner of it, the white streak already spok