It was a busy and prosperous industrial area back in the day, served by the now disued railway line you are going to find. Here are a few nuggets.
1840s Gelatine for Photography
"It was reported that in 1844, Cox's, glue manufacturers of Gorgie, Edinburgh, had perfected a new gelatine that was destined to be used some 25 years later in the production of rapid gelatino photographic plates.
It was reported that this gelatine had been tried for photographic purposes in 1849-50, but the tests had failed."
Bones, Hooves and Hides
"I always looked over the wall as I passed on the upper deck of a west bound No3 tram on my way home so as to see the vats of some yellow looking turgid liquid -were they steaming and heaving like a witches cauldron? Too short a view to be sure but I had just been to the cinema so.......
I understood that the raw material was bones, hooves and hides and the proximity to the Chesser Avenue cattlemarket/slaughter house must have been convenient though Cox's predated the Slateford Cattle market. Noticeably there was also a tannery westwards towards Delhaig. I used to see hides hanging in the upper stories of that building."