Parchment is prepared from the skins of sheep, goats, calves, and
asses. Sheep-skins furnish by far the greater part of all parchment
prepared, indeed all that which is used for deeds and law purposes.
From whatever skin prepared, it is first soaked in lime and water
to remove the hair and greasiness, and then stretched tightly on
a frame, and the surface rubbed smooth with pumice-stone, after
which the skin is allowed to dry. Parchment is used for deeds,
which require to be very durable and not easily torn, both of which
qualities it possesses much more than any kind of paper; it is also
used for book-binding, drum-heads, and many other purposes. Clippings
of parchment boiled for some time, and the liquid strained off, forms
an excellent colorless size. Vellum is a thick kind of parchment,
made chiefly of calf-skin.