POLTTECHNIC ASSOCIATION PROCEEDINGS, 763 



the fact that his father, the late Andrew P. Tillman, was one of the 

 largest tanners in Western New York, and a pioneer of hemlock 

 tanning in that section. 



The Chairman being informed that the patentee of " Pingree's 

 process " for leaching bark was present, gave Mr. Pingree an oppor- 

 tunity to explain his process, on which Mr. P. offered to read certain 

 letters he held in his hand indorsing the patent, but the Chairman 

 replied that letters were not admissible, information in a more 

 practical form being required by the Society. 



At this point, Hon. Horace Greeley, president of the Institute, 

 came in and took part in the proceedings, which were becoming 

 interesting, from the fact that several of the leading chemists who 

 had given the subject attention, related facts in their experience. 

 Among these were Prof. C. A. Joy, of Columbia College; Prof. S. 

 D. Tillman, Dr. D. D. Parmelee, Dr. Wetherbee, of the Journal of 

 Applied Chemistry/, and Dr. Feiitchwanger. The debate took a 

 wider range, and Mr. Schultz stated that the tanner was the true 

 civilizer of the country, instancing Greene and other counties in 

 New York where the first settlements and clearances were made by 

 this class of men, and showing that the same process was now going 

 on in neighboring States. He expected to see before a score of 

 years had passed, the exports of hemlock bark extract from this 

 country, for tanning purposes, rank with those of grain. The sole 

 leather of this country was even now exported to Great Britain, and 

 he had seen large divisions of the English army treading on onr soles. 



This brought up Mr. Greeley, who said that his tanning friends 

 were all free traders, because they could export their leather to 

 Europe. He had that day been asked by a friend who owned a 

 large tract of woodland on the line of the new Sunbury railroad, 

 how the timber could be made to pay for its destruction, and he 

 recommended the establishment of tanneries to use the bark. 



The Chairman here asked, alluding to Mr. Schultz 's remark that 

 the tanner was a civilizer, " what would become of civilization 

 when the bark was all gone?" Mr. Greeley thought we should, 

 long ere then, be in possession of some other tanning agents, but 

 that over half of Virginia was covered with primitive oak timber, 

 and that there was oak bark enough in Virginia and Maryland to 

 tan all the leather we could get out for very many years. Mr. 

 Steers stated, in regard to waste of bark, that American tanners 

 used twice the amount of that material that the English did for 

 the same quantity of leather. 



