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be shaven down to a very thin substance on a cur- 

 rier's beam, or split into fine leaves by a machine, 

 so as to expose a great expanse of surface, and a 

 quantity of these be steeped in a proportionably 

 small measure of tanner's ouze, they will, in a very 

 few hours, imbibe all its useful tanning substance, 

 and enable him to ascertain, by the difference of 

 weight before and after steeping, the exact quan- 

 tity of matter in solution, that can be made avail- 

 able in the manufacture of leather.* 



" This is a test which comes home to the business 

 of every tanner ; one which he can place confi- 

 dence in, because he can clearly understand it ; 

 and though some niceties are requisite in this pro- 

 cess also, the line of thought necessary to attain 

 them is already so familiar to him, that I have 

 great hopes it is calculated to become generally 

 useful. 



" There can be no question of the correctness of 

 the principle of this plan, it being that in daily 

 operation in every tannery, yet the field is open for 

 improvement, and the exercise of ingenuity in the 

 conduct of it; but having placed the subject with- 

 in the grasp of the manufacturer, I candidly con- 

 fess his superior right to prescribe the details in 

 every thing connected with his handicraft opera- 

 tions. 



* The strongest ouze in the Dublin tan-yard prepared in the usual 

 cold method, was exhausted of taste and colour by this mode in seven 

 hours ; a decoction of valonia, (the strongest I was able to make,) of 

 sp. gr. 1066, was, with the aid of frequent manipulation, to change 

 the ouze in the pores of the skin, deprived of all the astringency in 

 about nine hours. 



