Japanned leather of various kinds is used in coach making, harness making, and for various other purposes. Patent leather is covered with a coat of elastic japan, which gives a surface like polished glass, impermeable to water; and hides prepared in a more perfectly elastic mode of japanning, which will permit folding without cracking the surface, are called enamelled leather. Such leather has the japan annealed, something in the same mode as glass; the hides are laid between blankets, and subjected to the heat of an oven at a peculiar temperature during several hours. THE HATTER. [Illustration: CUTTING MACHINE.] The trade of the Hatter is confined to a few countries of Europe; but, as the fashion of hats is at present mostly restricted, both here and in most parts of the Continent, to those black stiff cylindrical coverings of silk which custom has ordained we shall wear, greatly to our own discomfort, and at a great expense, the business is of considerable importance, and the making of hats has grown into a large branch of industry. Before the introduction of that kind of silk which bears a long pile, like velvet, and is known as _plush_, beaver was the material principally used for hat making; but beaver hats are much more expensive, though they are now seldom made of the skin or fur of the beaver, which has grown remarkably scarce, in consequence of the land which the animals formerly occupied having become inhabited. [Illustration: Cutting out. Bowing.] Beaver hats of the finest quality are made with lamb’s wool and the fur of English rabbits. To form the body of the hat, the wool and rabbit’s fur are separately _bowed_ by bringing a set of strings attached to a bow in contact with a heap of the material, and then striking the strings, so as to cause violent vibrations, and thus separate the filaments. The two substances are next bowed together until they are intimately mixed; after which the mass is spread evenly, covered with an oil-cloth, and pressed to the state of an imperfectly tangled felt. The next process is to cover the felt with a triangular piece of damp brown paper, and then to fold it in a damp cloth, and work it well with the hand, pressing and bending, rolling and unrolling it, until the interlacing or felting is much more perfect, and the mass is compact. The felt thus prepared is next taken to the wide brim of a boiler charged with hot water and beer grounds, and a small quantity of sulphuric acid; it is well rubbed and rolled until it no longer contracts. The felt is next stiffened with shellac, a solution of which is applied by means of a brush to both sides of the felt; after which it is heated in a stove, and by this means the whole substance becomes duly impregnated with the resin; this renders the hat nearly waterproof. [Illustration: Bow for Beaver.]