344 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



hand a considerable foundation upon which to begin the develop- 

 ment of their art. But, once known, its extension could not be 

 hindered. Herodotus states that the Libyans wore leather cloth- 

 ing, and that the Phoenicians, whose home was a barren stretch 

 of shore, depended largely upon it in the construction of their 



Fig. 5. Dash-wheel. 



ships. Persian and Babylonian leather was long celebrated, and 

 as early as the beginning of the Christian era the Russians were 

 famous as skilled tanners. Hungary, too, acquired an early name 

 for its leather, having learned a peculiar process for making it 

 from Senegal. Boucher carried the art into France ; while Col- 

 bert, the enthusiastic patron of all the industries, did all that he 

 could in the way of personal and public effort to extend it. Thus 

 it was that leather became more and more an article of general 

 use, and thus it was that by the time Columbus started on his 

 hazardous voyages there had already grown up a considerable 

 industry in England, France, Spain, Germany, and Russia. 



But despite all this growth the processes involved in the oper- 

 ation of tanning were not really understood until the close of the 

 eighteenth century, when they became objects of scientific study. 

 Before that time the art was purely an empirical one. The im- 

 mediate successors of Columbus brought with them to America 

 such crude knowledge of it as was current at the time. Leather 

 being a prime necessity, tanneries were started soon after the set- 

 tlement of each community, either by the men of that craft or by 

 the large farmers for their own convenience. Leather formed 

 at that time no small part of people's clothing ; indeed, leather 

 breeches appeared clear into the eighteenth century, though the 

 wearing of them was largely confined to servants and laborers. 



