¢ 
1802.] 2 Vindication of the New Improvements in Tanningi 
thor of that lettér, no doubt from the 
mot laudable motive, juffice ta the public 
as well as the manufa@urer, has thought 
proper to contradict the account you had 
given of the bufinefs in a preceeding . 
number, and kindly offers you ‘¢ better 
information on this point than you feem 
to be in pofieffion of.” 
Unfortunately, this fuperior informa- 
tion is founded upon groundlefs rumours 
and vague reports. ‘fhe writer talks of 
fuppofed faéts, the nature and circumttan- 
ces of which he feems to be little ac- 
quainted with. 
fincerity of the motive which he profeffes, 
the good of the public, and hope that, 
confiftently with that view, he will permit 
me to correct fome unintentional miftate- 
iments of his, and particularly the infe- 
rences he draws from them. 
¢* Mr. Defmond, (he fays,) I have under- 
ftood: firtt introduced the pradiice, and in 
connection; I believe, with a Mr. Biggen 
eftablifhed a tannery near to 
Weftminiter-bridge.” So far his infor- 
mation is accurate enough ; but what fol- 
lows, and particulerly the inference he 
draws from it, is not altogether fo. ‘In 
this fituation, (he adds), thefe gentlemen 
were at liberty to avail themfelves -of-all 
the advantages derivable from the new 
procels.; butJ do wot underfiand that they 
continue to puriue the plan—a- pretty 
firong prefumption that it was not found 
advaritageous to thent as mdividuals.”’ 
The conne&tion between thefe gentle- 
men was .diflolved fome years ago, for 
reafons beft known to themfelves ; it is 
therefore true, as your Conftant Reader 
underftands, that fince that diffolution 
they do not continue to purfue that or 
any other plan, together; but it by no 
means follows, nor is it trwe in fact, that 
i ithe tannery near Weftmuiniter-bridge 
the new procefsis dif{continued. If your 
Contant Reader will take tie trouble of 
ingiucing, he will find, that the only de- 
Viation introduced there, from the origi- 
nal plan, was the effect of neceffity, not 
ef choices. The vats being few in num- 
‘ber, and of fiviall dimenfions, the want 
of fufficient room to fufpend the hides 
and {kins in, rendered it neceflary to lay 
them one over the other according to the 
old practice, in which fituation they requixe 
frequent handling. Tisisthe writer of the 
letter will probably not confider as an im- 
provement : the inconvenience which pro- 
duced it is about to be remedied, and the 
manufaftery fhortly to be carried to a re- 
fpectable exient——-more than a firong 
| Montury Mac,No,go, - -- 
I give him credit for the, 
25 
prefumption, that it is found. advan. 
tageous, 
Your Conftant Reader denies that in the 
operation properly called tanning, ‘‘thératio 
of a day, by the new proce(fs, toa month, 
by the old, is by any means correct.” OF 
this correcthefs however many have fre- 
quently been eye-witnefles: but if he will 
not take my word for it, and wifhes to be 
convinced of his miftake, I beg leave to 
refer him to the 8th vol. of the Repertory 
of Arts, &c. p. 350; & feq. 
But, as your Conftant Reader juftly ob- 
ferves; the important queftion is, whe- 
ther the public is likely to be benefited 
by the new procefs or not?) Though he 
does not tell us that he ever knew of an 
experiment properly made to afcertain the 
meri‘s of it, he fays, that, if he is rightly 
informed, experiments have been made at 
feveral manufaétories: he then afks, are 
there any of extent which continue to pur- 
fue it ? Fics 
It would have been more fatisfactory if 
this gentleman had informed us when, 
wher, ot by whom, the experiments had. 
been made, and what. the refult was. 
If he had {tated even ene trial fairly con= 
ducted which did not fucceed, his affertion 
might have been of feme weight ; and a& 
to his quettion, whether there are any 
manufactories of extent which continue to 
ufe the new procefs, the anfwer is, Yes. 
He may not.perhaps be difpofed to admi€, 
as proper examples, Mr. Seguin’s manu- 
factory near Paris, which, as he may 
read in the 2d volume of the Monthly 
Magazine, page 719, was in the begin 
ning of 1796 already capable of tanning 
yearly fifty thoufand ox-hides, two hun= 
dred thoufand calf-fkins, &c: and where 
fince than four’ times that number of, 
hides have been annually tanned, befides 
feveral other manufaétories on the fame 
plan eftablifhed in different departments 
of France. But if he muft have exaniples 
at home, and will take the trouble of 
going to Birmingham, he. will find one 
capable of manufacturing more’ leather 
in a year than perhaps any two manu= 
factories in England upon the old) plan. 
He will hear of feveral others, though 
upon a lefs extentive {Cale, in Warwicks 
fhire, Staffordthire, and other neighbours 
ing counties. If he viits Yaxley; ia 
Huntingdonfhire; he will find one where 
the new procefs:has:been very extenfively 
and fuceefsfully parfued for fome: years. 
This may be tufhcient to anfwer all that 
gentleman’s' queftions and remove his 
doubts, * osit 
D Hg 
