GLOVING LEATHER Progress in the art of making leather for gloves has been rapid during the last few years; but further important developments are expected, particularly in the process of tanning. Practically the only method that has been used for many decades for converting kid, lamb, and sheep skins into gloving leather is that known technically as "tawing," which consists of treating skins with alum, salt, egg-yolk, flour, and a vegetable oil. These substances change skins into extremely supple and "stretchy" leather, but when this is made into gloves it is far from ideal in wear, because it fails to keep the hands warm in cold, wet weather, it is easily soiled and cannot be cleaned without great expense, and it is not very strong in texture. Combination tannages have lately been produced, however, which remove the defects of alumed leather. By means of a light chrome tannage after tawing, the leather is strengthened and made more resistant to water, and can be cleaned with a damp rag or sponge. By tanning skins with the formaldehyde process, or with Neradol, the artificial tannin, for making into suède leather, the finished article is not only washable but also resists the action of alkalies and soap. The adaptation of combined tannages in the manufacture of gloving leathers has only lately been developed, and further improvements will doubtless be effected before long. Lamb, kid, goat, and sheep skins constitute the raw material for gloving leathers, although deer and antelope skins are also used to a small extent. Real kid skins are the best wearing dress gloves, but the great majority of so-called "kid" gloves are made of lamb skins. The raw kid and lamb skins are chiefly of European, Arabian, and Indian origin. Sheep skins from the Cape provide the raw material for a large number of men's gloves, and leather of very good quality can be produced from the best grades. Most of the skins are preserved by drying, or by salting and drying, although some kid skins are wet-salted and packed in barrels for export. It would save leather-dressers a great deal of trouble if they could always get wet-salted skins; but the object of drying them is to reduce the weight and lower the cost of freight. Soaking is done by methods already described (p. 65). Loose flesh and pieces of fat are cut off in order to facilitate the action of the depilitant, of which the best for glove leather is undoubtedly a paste of lime and red arsenic. Seven or eight parts of lime to one of arsenic is a satisfactory proportion, the quantities to be mixed depending on the number of skins to be treated, as a fresh mixture should be made for each lot, or "pack" as the tanner terms it. The lime should be well broken up, or, better still, pure powdered lime should be used and the red arsenic well mixed with it; a little water is then added to slake the lime gradually, and the mixture is stirred to promote chemical reaction. The compound is further diluted with water until