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380 L E A L E A

Hellenica, 1854, followed by a supplement in 1859. A characteristic of the researches of Leake was their comprehensive minuteness, which was greatly aided by his mastery of technical details. His Topography of Athens, the first attempt at a scientific treatment of the subject, is still authoritative in regard to many important points. He died January 6, 1860.

A Memoir of Leake by the Rev. J. H. Marsden was printed for private circulation in 1864. See also a paper in the Architect for October 7, 1876; and a notice of him by Professor Curtius of Berlin in the Preussische Jahrbücher for September 1876.

LEAMINGTON, anciently Leamington Priors, or, by licence, since 1838, Royal Leamington Spa, is a municipal borough and watering-place of Warwickshire, England, situated 2 miles east from Warwick, on the Leam, near its junction with Shakespeare's Avon. Its rise dates from about 1786, when baths were first erected in connexion with saline springs which are held to possess various curative properties, and which had been noticed by Camden in 1586. But the rapid increase and continued prosperity of the town are due also, among other causes, to its beautiful and finely sheltered site, to its aristocratic neighbourhood, and to the fine hunting country by which it is surrounded. To this must be added its advantages of railway communication by the Great Western and North-Western lines, and the proximity of places of historical and sentimental interest. Warwick is but 2 miles off, Kenilworth 5, Coventry 9, and Stratford-on-Avon 10; while Evesham, Naseby and Bosworth, and Oxford are all within easy reach. Though the houses are handsome, and the streets spacious and well kept, the rates are low, and living is not expensive. There is a choice of social clubs, with churches and chapels in large number, hospitals, an important college, and many fashionable schools. The town has five newspapers, a free library, and a school board. The water, supplied from artesian wells, is pure and abundant. The death rate is but 15 per 1000, which, considering the large numbers of elderly people who settle there, is very low. The fact that nearly all the property is freehold offers great facilities to those desirous of living in their own houses, and is among the inducements to people to make this a place of permanent residence. The Jephson and pump-room gardens are delightful promenades. Leamington was incorporated in 1875. From a population of 543 in 1811 it has, with its suburbs, increased to 26,074 in 1881.

LEANDER. See HERO.

LEASE. See LANDLORD AND TENANT.

LEATHER consists of the hides and skins of certain animals, prepared by chemical and mechanical means in such a manner as to resist influences to which in their natural condition they are subject, and also to give them certain entirely new properties and qualities. Skins in an unprepared moist condition are readily disintegrated and destroyed by putrefaction, and if they are dried raw they become hard, horny, and intractable. The art of the leather manufacturer is principally directed to overcoming the tendency to putrefaction, to securing suppleness in the material, to rendering it impervious to and unalterable by water, and to increasing the strength of the skin and its power to resist tear and wear.

Leather is made by three processes, or with three classes of substances. Thus we have – (1) tanned leather, in which the hides and skins are combined with tannin or tannic acid; (2) tawed leather, in which skins are prepared with mineral salts; (3) shamoyed leather, consisting of skins combined with oils or fatty substances.

Tanned Leather.

Hides and Skins. – The skins of all mammalians may be made into leather, but in practice it is only from a few of the larger animals, readily obtainable in sufficient numbers, and reared and slaughtered for other objects, that commercial supplies are obtained. The term hides is by tanners restricted to the large and heavy skins of full-grown oxen, horses, and other large animals – all the lighter stock being known as skins (calfskins, sheep skins, goat skins, &c.). Of all hides and skins used by the tanner, by far the most important and valuable are those obtained from oxen. Not only do these yield the most useful and valuable hides, but they are slaughtered in all civilized countries in enormous quantities; and, while in Europe the skins of cattle are only of secondary importance, the vast herds which roam practically wild in the plains of South America are valuable more on account of their hides and other products than as sources of animal food. Ox hides are imported into Europe and the United States of America in enormous quantities, and come principally from South America, the Cape, Australia, the East Indies, and North Africa. The main centres of the import trade in hides are Antwerp, Liverpool, Havre, and New York. For tanners' purposes calf skins are distinguished from ox hides, and the kinds of leather into which they are manufactured are entirely distinct. Intermediate between the heavy ox hides and calf skins are East Indian kips, a medium weight skin which comes both raw and tanned from Calcutta and Madras in such large quantities as to form a distinct branch of the leather trade. Horse hides and the skins of the other Equidæ – the ass, zebra, quagga, &c. – have in modern times become important raw materials of leather. The various breech of sheep, on account of the vast numbers in which their skins come into the market and the numerous applications of sheep and lamb skins, come near in value to oxen as sources of leather. As a rule the importance of a breed of sheep for the purposes of the tanner is in inverse proportion to its value as a source of wool. Goat and kid skins come next in order of importance, the products they yield being beautiful in texture, of high value, and of varied usefulness. Goat skins are obtained