LEA THER-MAKING. 



34 1 



Fig. 2. Divisions of a Hide. 

 ABCDis termed the " butt," 

 and the halves of the butt 

 marked by the dividing line 

 E F are known as " bends." 

 H H are the " cheeks," while 

 the upper portion of the butt 

 figures as the " shoulders." 



in its inception can properly bear no wider designation than the 

 " dressing of skins." 



Leather, in the broad application of the term, is a combination 

 of gelatin and mineral salts, oil or tannic acid. The hide or skin 

 of an animal consists of two layers the 

 outer (epidermis), a hard cellular plate 

 into which neither nerves nor blood-ves- 

 sels penetrate ; and the inner, or true skin 

 (dermis), a dense membrane composed of 

 fibers interlacing in a curiously complex 

 manner. These connecting fibers consist 

 almost wholly of gelatigenous tissues. 

 They will dissolve in boiling water, thus 

 forming gelatin, will enter into solution 

 with concentrated acids and alkalies, 

 and will combine with oil and tannin. 

 As such this tissue forms the basis of all 

 leather, and the labor of the tanner be- 

 comes one of bringing it into chemical 

 or mechanical combination with these 

 other components. 



The original process of curing skins 

 was probably the simple one of cleaning 



and drying them. Removal of the hair by maceration in water 

 seems to have been common among the very early tribes, and 

 one writer has suggested that the idea was obtained from the 

 natural process of depilation. They must certainly have been 

 familiar with it in the case of drowned animals, where macera- 

 tion can be plainly observed. Following this, smoke, sour milk, 

 oil, and the brains of the animals themselves were found effica 

 cious. Many of these primitive methods are employed at the 

 present time, thus bringing into novel conjunction the days of 

 the roving Massagetse and those of the thrifty American. An 

 acquaintance of the writer, a Massachusetts tanner, traveling re- 

 cently through the province of Winnipeg, chanced upon a small 

 Indian village. The place was in no way interesting except in 

 the employment of the squaws. They were all busily engaged in 

 removing the hair and muscles from the skins, largely those of 

 deer and moose, which the bucks had taken in the chase. This 

 they did by means of sharpened bones which they plied in a vig- 

 orous manner, rubbing away both flesh and hair. The skins, it 

 seemed, had been taken from the animals some time before, and 

 together with the brains partially dried in the sun. After the 

 squaws had completed this scraping process, the skins were 

 steeped in a lather-like mixture made from water and dried 

 brains, and were then reduced to a soft texture by frequent knead 



