A Text-book of Tanning

A Text-book of Tanning is a book by H. R. Procter. The title page describes the work as a treatise on the conversion of skins into leather, both practical and theoretical. The preface gives the aim of the handbook as two-fold: a summary of scientific knowledge that may be useful to the practical tanner, and a sketch of manufacturing processes that may enable the chemist to apply his knowledge to their improvement.

The text says high-power objectives of wide angle necessarily work extremely close to the object, and that it is always best to use the thinnest cover-glasses which can be got. The text recommends employing tannin, titrated under precisely the same conditions as the tanning material, so that whatever method be employed, the differences will be common to both, and will so be eliminated. The book carries plates, among others one captioned Lime Pits and Rinsing Tanks and another captioned Softening the Skins. The text lists figures in cwt. and l. for places including Belgium, with 3791 cwt., 15,355 l., and France, with 3393 cwt., 12,262 l.