Excerpt from A Study of the Changes in Skins During Their Conversion Into Leather: A Thesis The use of hides both as skins and leather for protection against cold and rain, for weapons, or for ornaments, dates back to the remotest history of man. While the hides were tanned in the earlier times with the hair on, methods were soon found to remove it and thus improve the product. The first substance used was probably wood ashes and this continued as the standard for some time. After tanneries were established, for up to this time the tanning was done only on a small scale, new substances were sought for, and lime, one of the oldest depilatory agents, was used. The method followed was to slack the lime in pits and soak the hides in a saturated solution of calcium hydroxide. This method although slightly modified has remained practically the same for centuries. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.