1856.] Effects of Steam on Timber. 29 



type in nature. It is not expected, on the other hand, that the artisi 

 will be so mere a copyist of nature, as not to rise above her faults. It 

 is his, so to arrange the various beauties found in different individuals 

 of the genus to be represented, as to form one beauteous and harmonious 

 whole. 



With man, nature has fallen from her original perfection. We meet 

 no where with an object beautiful in all its parts and proportions. 

 But neither is there any thing, however homely or unpretending, if it 

 is the product of nature, which has not about it some feature of beauty. 

 It is the artist's mission to study these particles of perfection, and their 

 proper relation to each other, in order that his mind may conceive, and 

 his skill execute, that which though viewed, as a whole, impossible to 

 nature, yet in every individual part, adheres most faithfully to the 

 examples set by her. And it is the realization of this conception which 

 produces that agreeable sensation, by which we acknowledge perfection. 



THE EFFECTS OF STEAM ON TIMBER 



One of the most important discoveries of modern time is the great 

 improvement on timber, by such a simple process as that of ranging its 

 temperature by steam. Simple as it appears, it is only a late discovery, 

 but liable to be put to extensive and very important use. We give it 

 as it is : 



Mr. Violittcr has lately presented to the Academy of Sciences in 

 Paris, a very able communication on the desiccation of different kinds of 

 wood by steam. He stated that steam raised to 482 degrees Fah., was 

 capable of taking up a considerable quantity of water ; and acting upon 

 this knowledge, he submitted different kinds of oak, elm, pine, and wal- 

 nut, about eight inches long and half an inch square, to a current of 

 steam at seven and a half pounds pressure to the square inch, but 

 which was afterwards raised to 482 degrees. 



The wood was exposed thus for two hours. It was weighed before it 

 was exposed to the steam, and afterward put into close stojjped bottles 

 until cool, when the samples of wood were again weighed, and showed 

 a considerable loss of weight, the loss of which increased with the 

 increase of the temperature of the steam. For elm and oak the decrease 



