PKEPARATION  OF  FANCY  LEATHERS,  ETC.  411 
portant  branch  of  trade,  and  is  the  means  of  giving  employ- 
ment to  large  numbers  of  people  in  several  towns  in  this  country 
as  well  as  on  the  Continent.  To  render  the  above-mentioned 
oiled  leather  sufficiently  soft  and  pliable  for  gloves  it  is  neces- 
sary to  submit  it  to  the  following  further  operations  : — The 
Chamois,  kid,  or  other  skins  are  rubbed  over  with  a  solution 
composed  of  1  lb.  of  soap  dissolved  in  half  a  gallon  of  water, 
to  which  is  added  lj  lb.  of  rapeseed  oil  and  twenty  yolks  of 
eggs,  or,  what  has  recently  been  found  to  answer  better  than 
eggs,  a  quantity  of  the  brains  of  animals  reduced  to  pulp. 
The  use  of  the  two  latter  substances  is  extremely  interesting  in 
a  scientific  point  of  view,  for  they  both  contain  a  peculiar  nitro- 
genated  matter  called  vitalline,  and  special  fatty  matters  called 
oleophosphoric  and  phosphoglyceric  acids,  which  doubtless,  by 
their  peculiar  composition,  communicate  to  the  skins  those  prop- 
erties which  characterise  this  class  of  leather.  The  skins  are 
then  washed  and  dyed  in  various  colors,  after  which  they  are 
softened,  and  rubbed  with  an  instrument  adapted  to  slightly 
raise  the  surface,  and  give  it  that  well-known  velvetty  appear- 
ance belonging  to  glove  skins.  I  shall  not  take  up  your  time 
by  entering  into  the  details  of  dyeing  these  leathers,  but  de- 
scribe the  following  process  for  bleaching  them : — 
Bleaching  of  Skins  The  only  process  known  until  recently 
for  imperfectly  bleaching  chamois  and  glove  skins  was  that  of 
submitting  them  to  the  influence  of  the  fumes  of  sulphur  in 
combustion  or  sulphurous  acid,  but  latterly  two  modes  of  at- 
taining that  object  have  been  proposed.  The  first  consists  in 
dipping  skins  for  two  days  in  a  weak  solution  of  neutral  hy- 
pochlorite of  soda,  washing,  drying,  and  rubbing  them  with 
soap  and  oil.  The  second  mode  is  to  dip  glove  skins  into  a  so- 
lution of  permanganate  of  potash,  when  they  soon  assume  a 
brownish  colour,  due  to  the  liberation  of  the  oxygen  of  the  per- 
manganate of  potash,  and  the  fixation  of  the  hydrate  of  sesqui- 
oxide  of  manganese  by  the  skin.  The  skins  so  acted  on  are 
washed  and  then  dipped  in  a  solution  of  sulphurous  acid,  which 
becomes  converted  into  sulphuric  acid  by  the  action  of  the 
oxygen  of  the  sesquioxide  of  manganese,  and  the  protoxide  thus 
produced  unites  with  the  sulphuric  acid,  which  is  soluble  in  water. 
The  skins  thus  bleached  when  dressed  are  ready  for  market. 
