When it is intended to black and finish on the grain, in order to remove any excess of salt and acid that may remain in them and interfere with the finishing, after removing them from the vats, soak them an hour or less in a clear ooze, made of the same kind of tannin used in tanning them; then rinse and strike them out of clear soft water, after which immerse them in the following composition:—To every gallon of soft water add, of good soft soap 1 quart; best sperm or cod oil, 1 pint. Mix and beat these ingredients well together; after being dipped in this mixture let them “sammy” or dry partially, then sham set and stuff them. For stuffing, use common stuffing and soft soap, equal parts, or sad and cod oil, equal parts; after which, if to be finished on the flesh side, proceed in the usual way, but if it be blacked on the grain, wet or sponge them, when nearly dry, on the grain side with a weak solution of potash or sal soda, then apply a thin coat of blood and acetate of iron, as used by morocco dressers; let them nearly dry, then repeat the coat of sal soda and mixture of blood and acetate of iron. Then set them smooth on both sides, and oil and dry them. Deer, sheep, and similar skins, designed for buck, or imitation of buck, such as are used for gloves, mittens, and military trimmings, should be “frized” after being prepared in Composition No. 1, and unhaired; and then tanned in Composition No. 2, prepared with sumac. When tanned, rinse and strike them out of clean soft water, then hang up to dry. When dry, finish on a perch with a stake, moon-knife, and pumice stone; or, to make them soft and elastic, they may be milled first, before quite dry, and then finished with perch, moon-knife, &c., the same as in oil dressing, but without any oil. In order to tan hides or skins with fur, hair, or wool on, they must first be washed thoroughly clean in a weak potash ley, or in soft soap and water (care being taken not to keep them in so long as to start or loosen the fur, &c.,) then flesh and break them; rinse in clean soft water, then tan them in composition No. 2. To make white leather, sumac should be used in making composition No. 2. What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is, first, the process of removing the hair and wool from hides and skins, and of liming them, so called, preparatory to tanning by the use of a composition of lime, wood ashes or potash, and of salt, called Composition No. 1, in the manner above described. I also claim the use of a composition of lime and wood ashes or potash, without the salt, but I do not claim either of these materials separately by itself. Second, I claim the process of tanning hides and skins by the use of any kind of tannin, in combination either with the muriatic acid of commerce, or with muriatic acid generated by a mixture of sulphuric acid and salt in water, with the tannin, in the manner substantially as above described.