apparently task enough for a season to have executed, but really performed by some agency of atmosphere or 

 temperature in a few days ; and thus with Badalia gihhosa ; periods of growth and of torpidity are pro- 

 bably marked by the swelling zones, and recedent lines of the pileus, as in Tolijponis igniarins. When 

 taken from the wood and brought into the house, Dadalla gihhosa undergoes no material change, but 

 appears likely to endure for years. 



The \iolent death of the tree, and the action of the tool upon it, seem to have a great effect in the viW- 

 fication of the Badalias, whose spores are probably latent in tbe sap-vessels, and, without some suclr, to 

 them, friendly force, could not find their way to life, Hght, and liberty. " On deals," " on posts," &c., are 

 frequent citations for their habitats ; the glory of the family B. quercina, one of the funguses greatly abused 

 as a Dry-rot, grows on squared posts, &c., preferring evidently worked timber, and not the standing tree. 

 It may hence be inferred that this family thrive when the sap of timber is released from the wood, in its 

 vigorous fermenting strength, not when weak and flat, in the feeble old age of the decaying tree. 



It would appear that while every idle assertion, if made with a front of brass, — every glaring quackery, 

 if supported by gravity of demeanour, — every transparent falsehood, if held in a glowing light — is believed, 

 swallowed, or worshipped, plain truth, simply enunciated, is the last thing the multitude can comprehend. 

 Dry-rot is one of the subjects on which it is impossible to think with patience ; one is tempted to beheve 

 that builders have an interest in extending and keeping up its ravages, as the greedy apothecaries of 

 Jenner's day did by the small-pox ; truth, however, did at last prevail in that case, and may again : the 

 man who may conquer the hydra heads of the timber-rot, is the chemist who discovers a tanning principle 

 that shall render oak-bark valueless. 



