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streaks in the middle. The hair which is taken off hides in tanning, is
employed to mix with plaster, and is often surreptitiously put into
hair-mattresses.
The principal substances of which _glue_ is made are the
parings of ox and other thick hides, which form the strongest article
and the refuse of the leather-dresser. Both afford from forty-five to
fifty-five per cent. of glue. The tendons, and many other offals of
slaughter-houses, also afford materials, though of an inferior quality,
for this purpose. The refuse of tanneries--such as the ears of oxen and
calves--are better articles. Animal skins also, in any form, uncombined
with tannin, may be worked into glue.
_Ox-tallow_ is of great importance in the arts. Candles and soap are
made of it, and it enters largely into the dressing of leather and the
use of machinery. Large quantities are annually exported from Russia.
Ox-tallow consists of seventy-six parts of stearine and twenty-four of
oleine, out of one hundred parts.
The _horns_ of oxen are used for many purposes. The horn consists of two
parts: an outward horny case, and an inward conical-shaped substance,
somewhat intermediate between indurated hair and bone, called the
_fluid_ of the horn. These two parts are separated by means of a blow
upon a block of wood. The horny exterior is then cut into three portions
by means of a frame saw. The lowest of these, next the root of the horn,
after undergoing several processes by which it is rendered flat, is made
into combs.
The middle of the horn, after having been flattened by heat, and its
transparency improved by oil, is split into thin layers, and forms a
substitute for glass in lanterns of the commonest kind. The tip of the
horns is used by makers of knife-handles and of the tops of whips, and
for other similar purposes. The interior, or core of the horn, is boiled
down in water. A large quantity of fat rises to the surface; this is put
aside, and sold to the makers of yellow soap. The itself is used as a
kind of glue, and is purchased by the cloth-draper for stiffening. The
bony substance remaining behind is then sent to the mill, and, after
having been ground down, is sold to farmers for manure.
Besides these various purposes to which the different parts of the horn
are applied, the clippings which arise in comb-making are sold to the
farmer for manure, as well as the shavings which form the refuse of the
lantern-makers. Horn, as is well known,
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