THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECTS OF TANNIXG. 83 



London wharves. The kips are sent to us as dry and dry-salted, 

 the flesh side often covered with white-wash to a considerable 

 thickness. This white-wash or plaster as it is termed, whilst it 

 was employed for its legitimate purpose, to prevent or correct the 

 depredations of insects, was not objected to. But of late years the 

 greed of commerce has induced unscrupulous dealers to daub the 

 flesh of these Kips with large quantities of Plaster, as much as 

 3-lbs. being often added. 



The demands of the civilized world attract all description of 

 hides and skins to our markets. Strange mixtures are sometimes 

 met with in auctions. For instance, we lately heard a lot bid for 

 from S. Africa, which contained twenty-three Gnus, seventeen 

 Blesboks, five Elands, three Hartebeast, one Lion, and two 

 Anteater skins. The character of the leather is largely affected by 

 the kind of water employed. In olden times tanneries abounded 

 in districts where soft w^ater could be obtained. The majority of 

 the streams in Devon passing through or over the New Red 

 Sandstone and Greensand series of rocks, also from the Granite, 

 give a water well adapted for tanning purposes. The water in 

 other localities where the Chalk, Mountain Limestone, or Oolite 

 formations are found, holds in solution a quantity of Bi-carbonate 

 of Lime, which render the water hard and difficult to manipulate 

 for the tanner's use. We give here the analysis of two or three 

 rivers, showing the amount of Lime Salts held in solution. 



The tanner of fifty years since obtained his bark and the hides 

 he [required from the immediate neighbourhood j but now the 

 necessities of trade compel them to congregate at or near the ports, 

 whence they draw their principal supplies of raw material. No 

 doubt soft water could be obtained by Clarke's process, the 



