THE LEATHER INDUSTRY. 
The Leather Industry." 
For some time past the Institute of Science and Industry has been conducting 
investigations into tanning problems, more especially thos? connected with the 
use of mangrove and red gum. In co-operation with th2 West Australian Go- 
vernment, the services of Mr. Salt, a leather chtmist, have been obtained ‘for a 
definite period, and he will continue th? investigations under a scheme of work 
already decided upon, and probably, later on, initiate further investigations. 
The question of the Institute co-operating with the tanning industry in a 
scheme of research work has also been opened up with the Federated Master 
Tanners Association. 
By JOHN ARTHUR WILSON. 
In the hands of men thoroughly trained in modern chemistry, cap- 
able of original research, and provided with the facilities of a tannery, 
chemistry will probably eventually revolutionize the industry. But 
in the hands of less able men it is a source of danger that many a 
tanner has learned to his sorrow, with the result that even to-day a 
number of tanners either employ no chemist at all or else limit the 
- work of those they do employ as chemists to mere analytical routine, 
and this in the face of the fact that the processes used in making leather 
are essentially chemical. The leather chemist has made considerable 
progress, but it has been small compared to what might have been 
expected from the progress of the pure science. Yet it is not difficult 
to see why greater results have not been achieved in the field of leather 
chemistry ; the great majority of men who enter the tannery as chemists 
have an education no greater than that ordinarily required for the 
degree of bachelor of science, and this alone is entirely insufficient to 
cope with the real problems of the industry. 
Inpustry Drvetorrp THrouce Emprricat Evorturion. 
The manufacture of leather is a most complex chemical industry 
and many of the processes in use to-day are the results of centuries of 
rule-of-thumb juggling. Along with the development of processes, 
accompanied as they often were by very costly failures, the practical — 
tanner acquired an appreciation of the extreme danger of deviating 
very far from established practice. If he thought a process could be 
improved, he, would first make only the slightest change and then wait 
weeks, perhaps months, to note any effect upon the finished leather. If 
no difference, or possibly a slight one for the better, could be detected, 
he would then institute a bigger change. Often it would be found 
that a small improvement in one process necessitated corresponding 
changes in several other processes. The young chemist usually fails 
to appreciate the need for this extreme caution, and he is often ignorant 
of his ignorance of the fundamental chemical principles involved in 
making leather. When such a man is given free rein in the tannery, 
the results are much more likely to be fatal than profitable. 
* Reprinted from Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Vol. 23, No. 10. 
659 
