better before ageing to do the first part of the finishing process, consisting of damping back, staking, and if necessary, shaving. Machines are now almost invariably used for the staking, the principle of which may be described as that of a pair of tongs, carrying one or generally two staking blades on one limb, and a roller on the other which closes on the skin, and presses it against and between the blades, while the tongs are drawn backwards, allowing it to slip through. Fig. 38 illustrates the Slocomb, one of the most popular machines of this type. After staking and ageing, the skin is soaked in water till thoroughly wet in all parts. This not only softens the skin, and prepares it for dyeing, but takes out the superfluous alum and salt, and at the same time a good deal of flour and egg. To replace these, “re-egging” is necessary, and while some manufacturers give egg-yolk, or egg-yolk and flour only, many add a proportion of salt, and sometimes also of alum. This is done before dyeing, if the skins are to be blacked on the table, but as tray-dyeing (see p. 406) would again wash out the egg, the re-egging is deferred till after dyeing if this process is resorted to. Before dyeing, the skins receive an alkaline mordant to overcome greasiness, and enable them better to take the colour. In former times this was usually stale urine, but this has mostly been superseded by solutions of “hydroleine” (a washing powder), or of soap rendered more or less alkaline with ammonia. Eitner gives the following recipe, viz. ¹⁄₂ lb. Marseilles soap dissolved in boiling water, 5 or 6 egg-yolks added, and the whole made up to 4 gallons with water and ¹⁄₄ lb. potash bichromate. The colour used is infusion of logwood or its extract, or two-thirds logwood and one-third fustic, which is best extracted without alkali, a small quantity of soda or ammonia being afterwards added. It is fixed and darkened by a wash of iron-liquor or a solution of 1 of ferrous sulphate in 75 of cold water. After being again dried, the skins are sometimes grounded with the moon-knife, softened again by staking or perching, for which a machine with inclined or spiral blades attached to a drum and working on a sort of leather apron is often preferred to machines of the Slocomb type, and rubbed over on the grain with a composition containing oil, wax, etc., and are finally ironed with a heavy flat-iron, to give them a fine and smooth surface. Eitner gives a recipe for the gloss:--1 kilo gum arabic, ¹⁄₂ kilo yellow wax, ¹⁄₂ kilo beef-tallow, ³⁄₄ kilo Marseilles soap, 1 liter strong logwood infusion, and 5 liters water. The water is brought to a boil in an earthen pot, and then the soap, wax, gum, and tallow are added successively, each being stirred till dissolved before adding the next, and lastly the logwood. After boiling for an hour, it is allowed to completely cool, being incessantly stirred during the whole process. After ironing the