A process of preserving animal hides by chemical treatment (using vegetable tannins, metallic sulfates, and sulfurized phenol compounds, or syntans) to make them immune to bacterial attack, and subsequent treatments with fats and greases to make them pliable. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 5th ed)
A process of preserving animal hides by chemical treatment (using vegetable tannins, metallic sulfates, and sulfurized phenol compounds, or syntans) to make them immune to bacterial attack, and subsequent treatments with fats and greases to make them pliable. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 5th ed)