terms. But chance led me to the difcovery. We were failing in a small bark between Vrullia and Almiffa, with a fresh equal gale, in the afternoon. The mariners were all at reft, and the steerfman alone was awake, and attended in filence to the direction of the bark; when, on a fudden, we heard him call aloud to one of his companions, ordering him to come and kill the Paklara. Our learned friend Signor Guilio Bajamonti was with me, and understanding what the man meant, defired him to fhew him the fish that he wanted to be killed, but the fifh was gone. Having interrogated the fteerfman, who did not want fenfe, and was a fisherman by profeffion, why he had ordered the Paklara to be killed, and what harm it had done; he anfwered, without hesitation, that the Paklara ufed to take hold of the rudder with his teeth, and retarded the course of the bark so fenfibly, that not only he, but every man who fat at the helm, felt it there without feeing it. He added, that many a time he himself had catched the Paklara in the fact, and had frequently killed and eat it. That it was often met with in the waters of Lila. That in shape it refembled a conger eel, and its length did not ufually exceed a foot and a half.

That if I had a mind to fee, and catch one of them, I needed only to go in a fishing boat, in the warm feafon, between the islands of Le fina and Liffa, where he had never failed to meet with them every year. I will not defire you to believe every thing my pilot faid but confefs that I fhould be very glad to fee the Paklara when it had taken hold of the rudder of a bark under fail. The wonderful strength of the mufcles of fome little marine animals, fuch as the Lepades, that fo obftinately refift any attempt to difengage them from their rocks; the ftroke proceeding with fuch ra❤ pidity from the Torpedo, known at Venice by the name of pefce tre. molo, and in the fea of Dalmatia by that of Truak; the vigour fhewn by the Dentici in their convulfive motions, even when out of their own element; not to mention the larger fish, fuch as, Tunny, Dolphins, &c. give me ground to fufpect, that, if all that the ancients wrote concerning the Remora be not just literally true, it is not altogether falfe. It is certainly a thing worthy of fome reflection, that Pliny speaks fo diffufely concerning this phenomenon, as of a known fact that could not be called in queftion. The Greeks alfo adopted the notion of this extravagant fa

I 2

vered with hair, like a bear, nim. ble as the Hifars, of a gay humour, and, in all appearance, of a mild character, as he neither did, nor feemed to intend, harm to any body. He often vifited the cottages, without ever attempting to carry off any thing. He had no knowledge of bread, milk, or cheese. His greatest amusement was to fee the sheep running, and to scatter them, and he teftified his pleasure at this fight by loud fits of laughter, but never attempted to hurt thofe innocent animals. When the fhepherds (as was frequently the cafe) let loose their dogs after him, he fled with the swiftnefs of an arrow shot from a bow, and never allowed the dogs to come too near him. One morning he came to the cottage of fome workmen, and one of them endeavouring to get near him, and catch him by the leg, he laughed heartily, and then made his efcape. He feemed to be about thirty years of age. the foreft in question is very extenfive, and has a communication with vaft woods that belong to the Spanifh territory, it is natural to fuppofe, that this folitary, but cheer ful creature, had been loft in his infancy, and had fubfifted on herbs.'

USEFUL

An improved Method of Tanning Leather. By David Macbride, M. D. From the Philofophical Tranfactions.

SIR,

You

Dublin, May 31, 1777. YOU may pleafe to remember, that I informed you, fome years ago, of my having found out a way of tanning leather in lefs time, and at a smaller expence of materials, than can be done by any of the ways hitherto known or practifed; and promifed, that, as foon as I fhould find myself at liberty to disclose it, I would communicate my method to the Royal Society.

Accordingly I take the liberty of inclofing a fet of inftructions, which I drew up for the perfon who conducted the bufinefs of a large tanyard belonging to a company with which I have had an engagement for thefe laft four years; which I apprehend will be found fufficiently clear for enabling any intelligent tanner to avail himself of my improvements. I beg you will prefent this paper to the fociety; but, as it cannot be understood by gentlemen who are not already, in fome degree, acquainted with the ordinary procefs of tanning, I muft requeft their indulgence, while I mention the prin

cipal operations in this branch of manufacture.

The use of tanning is two-fold; first, to preserve the leather from rotting; and, fecondly, to render it impervious to water.

An infufion of any ftrongly-. aftringent vegetable will ferve to tan leather fo far as to prevent its rotting; but if this vegetable does not contain a good deal of gumrefin, it will not anfwer for enabling it to keep out water: and hence it is that oak-bark, which is more abundant in the gummy-refinous part than any of our common indigenous aftringents, is preferred to all other fubftances for the purpofe of tanning.

The tanners prepare their bark by gently drying it on a kiln, and grinding it into a very coarfe powder. They then either ufe it in the way of infufion, which is called ooze; or they ftrew the dry powder between the layers of hides and fkins, when thefe are laid away in the tan-pits.

The ooze is made by macerating the bark in common water, in a particular fet of holes or pits, which, to diftinguish them from the other holes in the tan-yard, are termed letches.

The first operation of the tanner is to cleanfe is hides from all exI 3

traneous

traneous filth, and remove any remains of flesh or fat which may have been left behind by the butcher.

The hair is next to be cut off, and this is accomplished either by fteeping the hides for a fhort time in a mixture of lime and water, which is termed liming; or by rolling them up clofe, and piling them in heaps, where they quickly begin to heat and putrify. The hair being loofened is fcraped off, and the tanner proceeds to the operation called fleshing, which confifts in a further fcraping, with a particular kind of knife contrived for the purpose, and cutting away the jagged extremities and offal parts, fuch as the ears and noftrils.

The raw leather is then put into an alkaline ley, in order to difcharge the oil, and render its pores more capable of imbibing the ooze. The tanners of this country generally make their ley of pigeon's dung; but a more active one may be prepared from kelp or pot-afh, taking care, however, not to make it too ftrong of the ashes, nor to allow the leather to remain too long in the ley.

The oil being fufficiently difcharged, the leather is ready for the ooze, and at first is thrown into fmaller holes, which are termed handlers; because the hides or fkins, during this part of the procefs, are taken up, from time to time, and allowed to drain; they continue to work the leather in thefe handlers, every now and then ftirring it up with the utenfil called a plunger, which is nothing more than a pole with a knob at the end of it, until they think proper to lay it away in the vats. In thefe holes, which are the largest in the

tan-yard, the leather is spread out fmooth, whereas they tofs it into the handlers at random; and between each layer of leather they fprinkle on fome powdered bark, until the pit is filled by the leather and bark thus laid in ftratum fuper ftratum: ooze is then poured on, to fill up interstices; and the whole crowned with a fprinkling of bark, which the tanners call a heading.

In this manner the leather is allowed to macerate, until the tanner fees that it is completely penetrated by the ooze: when this is accomplished (which he knows by cutting out a bit of the thickeft part of the hide) the manufacture is finished, so far as relates to tanning, fince nothing now remains but to dry the goods thoroughly, by hanging them up in airy lofts built for the purpose. Such in general is the process for tanning calf-fkins, and thofe lighter forts of hides which are called butts; but the large, thick, heavy hides, of which the strongest and most durable kind of fole-leather is made, require to have their pores more thoroughly opened before the ooze can fufficiently penetrate them. For this purpofe, while the hides are in the putrefcent state, from being allowed to heat in the manner already mentioned, and well foaked in an alkaline ley, they are thrown into a four liquor, generally brewed from rye, in order that the efferveffence which neceffarily enfues may open the pores.

The tanners term this operation raifing, as the leather is confiderably welled, in confequence of the conflict between the acid and alkali. This is an English invention; for it appears from M. de la Lande, who was employed by the

Royal

Royal Academy of Sciences to write on the art of tanning, that the foreign tanners know nothing of this branch of the bufinefs: indeed, their whole procefs, according to his account, is flovenly, and even more tedious than our common method, and must make but very in different leather.

accom

When the raifing is plifhed, the leather is put into the handlers, and worked in them for the requifite time; then laid away in the vats, and there left to macerate, until the tanning is found to be completely finished, which, for the heaviest kind of leather, fuch as this of which I am now fpeaking, requires from first to laft full two years. At least, the tanners of this country cannot make fole-leather in less time; what they are able to perform in England I am not fo thoroughly acquainted with.

It is this tediousness of the procefs which enhances the value of leather; and the returns being fo flow, the trade of tanning never can be carried on to advantage, but by perfons poffeffed of a large capital; therefore, one fure way of increafing the number of tanners, and of courfe of bringing down the price of their manufacture, is to Thorten the procefs; and if at the fame time we can improve the quality of the leather, and fave fomewhat in the expence of tanning materials, the public will be effentially benefited in refpect to one of the neceflary articles of life.

All this, I will venture to fay, can be done by pursuing the method which is laid down in the inclofed paper, and which may be introduced into any common tan-yard.

With respect to time, it is poffible, in the way that I have found out, to finish leather in a fourth part of what is required in the or. dinary procefs; for I have repeatedly had calf-fkins tanned in a fortnight or four weeks, which in the common way could not be done in less than a fortnight to four months.

I fhall not pretend, however, to affirm, that the bufinefs can be carried on in the large way with fuch expedition; because a great deal of this abridgement of time was probably owing to frequent handling and working of the lea ther; but I am confident, and know it from four years experience, that in the ordinary courfe of bufinefs, and in a common tan-yard, the tanner may fave at leaft four months out of twelve, produce better leather, and find his bark go much further, than in the old way of tanning.

Having premised thus much, I flatter myself that the paper of inftructions will be found perfectly intelligible. It fhews, that the principles on which my method is eftablished are derived from chemistry, and therefore it will not appear ftrange that thefe improvements fhould have been made by a perfon of the medical profeffion : indeed, they took their rife from a feries of experiments carried on purely for medical purposes (the very fame that confirmed me in the opinion, that infusion of malt would cure the fea-fcurvy); and any perfon who will look into the account of thofe experiments, will readily underftand the theory of the new method of tanning*.