174 



In Europe, and in the British Isles especiall.y, according to Ca3sar, 

 there was a great quantity of cattle ; and furthermore we are informed 

 that the natives sold the hides because they did not understand the 

 art of tanning them. Therefore, when we find (a few years after the 

 Roman conquest) the Britons employed in tanning operations along 

 the banks of all the principal streams, we can come to no other conclu- 

 sion than this — that the Romans taught them (the Britons and also 

 the Irish) the art. In all probability their teachers were the early 

 Christian Missionaries, or those enduring voluntary exile for the sake 

 of religion, and we are supported in this hypothesis by the fact that 

 the mountaineers of Wales, as also the people of Ireland, for many 

 centuries monopolized the knowledge of the art of tanning and curry- 

 ing; also that the peculiar shaped shoe called by the Irish, brogue, and 

 by the Britons clog or clogue, were similar in every respect to the oc- 

 rea of the Roman. Brogan leather, which is a sort of russet leather, 

 unwhitened, evidently took its name from the brogue or brogan. The 

 Saxons seem to have had very little knowledge of the art; indeed, we 

 have no record that they knew it at all. 



After the Norman conquest various articles are mentioned as being 

 made of leather, among which are the cuirass, a sort of armor, wox'n 

 by the warrior of that day, and certainly of Norman origin, as its 

 name implies. In fact, the reputed father of William the Conqueror 

 (if we may give any credence to the history of such a remote. time) 

 was a tanner. During the crusades there is abundant room for sup- 

 posing that those who returned brought with them additional knowl- 

 edge of the art of leather dressing, if not of tanning and currying; 

 certain it is that the art, and, as it was also termed, mystery', of tan- 

 ning and currying was conserved by the monks, as there were many 

 towns in England that were founded by the monks ; the ancient doc- 

 uments showing that they (the monks) were largely engaged in tan- 

 ning and its auxiliary, currying, and doubtless considered it, as they 

 described it, "ye art and mistirie," although long after their time it 

 took the manipulator five, and in some instances, seven years before 

 leather was considered tanned, and yet I hear some persons state that 

 we have made little improvement. I hold in my hand a piece of cow- 

 hide tanned in six days. This is tanned after the formula of Professor 

 Zippi, who unfortunately died in this country some months back, 

 before he had made himself known. 



Zippi's process is somewhat similar to that of Bordier's, the salt 

 being a sub-sulphate of iron peroxidized, prepared from the proto-sul- 

 phate of the same metal, by digestion in diluted nitric and sulphuric 

 acid. It is then diluted; hydrated peroxide of iron is used to 

 strengthen it; it must be frequently stirred. Skins are tanned in this 

 way in from three to six days, and hides from eight to twelve days. 

 There are other processes where the skins are prepared in chrome 



