X, A, 6 



Gana: Leather Industry of the Philippines 



361 



days' incubation at ordinary temperature. The lime liquors 

 invariably have a strong ammoniacal odor after two days in 

 contact with hides. 



A piece of green pelt from a tannery, weighing about 2 kilo- 

 grams after dehairing and fleshing, was kept in 2 per cent 

 aqueous solution of phenol. On the fourth day the hide substance 

 dissolved in the liquid was found to be 2.66 grams, or 0.133 

 per cent of the wet pelt. The phenol solution was changed for 

 a fresh one which, after nineteen days, gave but a faint preci- 

 pitation ring with a tan infusion. This same phenol solution, 

 after four and a half months in contact with the hide, gave a 

 much stronger precipitation ring, which must be due, not to any 

 further decomposition, but probably to the outward diffusion 

 of dissolved hide substance previously developed inside of the 

 pelt. There cannot have been any putrefaction in the phenol 

 solution, as demonstrated by pieces of the same pelts which 

 remained unaltered in acid and alkaline bouillon tubes for nearly 

 six months. This soluble hide substance is the product of 

 bacterial activity in the pelt." 



Pelt which had been limed, fleshed, and dehaired by the usual 

 process of the Filipino tanner, after being kept for one month 

 in 2 per cent phenol solution, gave on analysis the results 

 included in Table XII. 



Table Xll.— Analysis of limed, fleshed, and dehaired pelt. 



Substance. 



Water. 



Nitrogen 



Equivalent hide substance 

 Lime etc 



Calcu- 

 lated on 

 the basis 

 of green 

 pelt. 



Per cent. 

 71.50 



4.23 

 27.70 



0.80 



Calcu- 

 lated to 

 a water- 

 free 



basis. 



Per cent. 



17.3 



97.2 



2.8 



The liquefying bacterial conditions of the tannery liquors have 

 been determined by means of serum and gelatin media tubes. 

 These tubes were inoculated with one loopful of the tannery 

 liquor and incubated at ordinary temperature — about 30° C. 

 The time period required for the liquefaction of the media is 

 noted in Table XIII. 



Brunton and MacFadyen, Proc. Roy. Soc. London (1890), 46, 542-53. 



