PAECHMENT 513 



ammonia, and several thousand barrels of coal-oil spirit. The probable commercial 

 value of these products cannot fall far short of a million and a quarter sterling. This 

 valuable industry has been developed in our midst in little more than 20 years, and 

 has had to make headway against a variety of opposing elements to its present posi- 

 tion. The deliveries during 1872 are somewhat short of 1871 and 1870; but this 

 is accounted for by temporary causes, such as strikes among the workmen and miners, 

 and the high prices of coal. 



PARAGUAY TEA. The leaves of the Ilex Paraguaiensis, which are used as 

 tea in Brazil. They appear, like tea, to contain some theine, with resin, tannic acid, 

 oil, and albumen. Paraguay tea is known also as Matt. 



PARA M"ITTS. The Brazil nut, which see. 



PARCHMENT. (Parcliemin, Fr. ; Pergament, Ger.) This writing material 

 has been known since the earliest times, but is now made in a very superior manner 

 to what it was anciently, as we may judge by inspection of the old vellum and parch- 

 ment manuscripts. The art of making parchment consists in certain manipulations 

 necessary to prepare the skins of animals of such thinness, flexibility, and firmness, 

 as may be required for the different uses to which this substance is applied. Though 

 the skins of all animals might be converted into writing materials, only those of the 

 sheep or the she-goat are used for parchment ; those of calves, kids, and dead-born 

 lambs for vellum ; those of the he-goat, she-goat, and wolves for drum-heads ; and 

 those of the ass for battledores. All these skins are prepared in the same way, with 

 slight variations, which need no particular detail. 



They are first of all prepared by the leather-dresser. After they are taken out of 

 the lime-pit, shaved, and well washed, they must bo set to dry in such a way as to 

 prevent their puckering, and to render them easily worked. The small manufac- 

 turers make use of hoops for this purpose, but the greater employ a herse, or stout 

 wooden frame. This is formed of two uprights and two cross-bars solidly joined 

 together by tenons and mortises, so as to form a strong piece of carpentry, which is 

 to be fixed up against a wall. These four bars are perforated all over with a series 

 of holes, of such dimensions as to receive slightly-tapered box-wood pins, truly 

 turned, or even iron bolts. Each of these pins is transpierced with a hole like the 

 pin of a violin, by means of which the strings employed in stretching the skin may be 

 tightened. Above the herse, a shelf is placed, for receiving the tools which the work- 

 man needs to have always at hand. In order to stretch the skin upon the frame, 

 larger or smaller skewers are employed, according as a greater or smaller piece of it 

 is to be laid hold of. Six holes are made in a straight line to receive the larger, and 

 four to receive the smaller skewers or pins. These small slits are made with a tool 

 like a carpenter's chisel, and of the exact size to admit the skewer. The string round 

 the skewer is affixed to one of the bolts in the frame, which are turned round by 

 means of a key, like that by which pianos and harps are tuned. The skewer is 

 threaded through the skin in a state of tension. 



Everything being thus prepared, and the skin being well softened, the workman 

 stretches it powerfully by means of the skewers ; he attaches the cords to the skewers, 

 and fixes their ends to the iron pegs or pins. He then stretches the skin, first with 

 his hand applied to the pins, and afterwards with the key. Great care must be taken 

 that no wrinkles are formed. The skin is usually stretched more in length than in 

 breadth, from the custom of the trade ; though extension in breadth would be prefer- 

 able, in order to reduce the thickness of the part opposite the backbone. 



The workman now takes the fleshing tool represented under CURRYING. It is a 

 semi-circular double-edged knife, made fast in a double wooden handle. Other forms 

 of the fleshing-knife edge are also used. They are sharpened by a steel. The work- 

 man seizes the tool in his two hands, so as to place the edge perpendicularly to the 

 skin, and pressing it carefully from above downwards, removes the fleshy excrescences, 

 and lays them aside for making glue. He now turns round the horse upon the wall, 

 in order to get access to the outside of the skin, and to scrape it with the tool inverted, 

 so as to run no risk of cutting the epidermis. He thus removes any adhering filth, 

 and squeezes out some water. The skin must next be ground. For this purpose it 

 is sprinkled upon the fleshy side with sifted chalk or slaked lime, and then rubbed in 

 all directions with a piece of pumice-stone, 4 or 5 inches in area, previously flattened 

 upon a sandstone. The lime soon gets moist from the water contained in the skin. 

 The pumice-stone is then rubbed over the other side of the skin, bxit without chalk or 

 lime. This operation is necessary only for the best parchment or vellum. The skin 

 is now allowed to dry upon the frame ; being carefully protected from sunshine, and 

 from frost. In the arid weather of summer, a moist cloth needs to be applied to it from 

 time to time, to prevent its drying too suddenly; immediately after which the skewers 

 require to be tightened. 



When it. is perfectly dry, the white colour is to be removed by rubbing it with the 



VOL. in. L L 



