Chap. 79.] THE DURABILITY OF WOOD. 423 



wise injurious effects of age-the cypress, the cedai -the ebon y 

 the lotus, the box, the yew, the juniper, and both the wild and 

 cultivated olive. Among the others, the larch, the robur, he 

 cork-tree, the chesnut, and the walnut are also remarkably 

 durable. The cedar, cypress, olive, and box are never known 

 to split or crack spontaneously. 



CHAP. 79.— HISTORICAL FACTS CONNECTED WITH THE DURABILITY 



OF WOOD. 



Of all the woods, the ebony, the cypress, and the cedar are 

 considered to be the most durable, a good proof of which is to 

 be seen in the timber of which the Temple of Diana at Ephesus 

 is built : it being now four hundred years since it was erected, 

 at the joint expense of the whole of Asia f and, what is a well- 

 known fact, the roof is wholly constructed of planks of cedar. 

 As to the statue of the goddess, there is some doubt oi what 

 wood it is made ; all the writers say that it is ebony, with the 

 exception of Mucianus, who was three times consul, one ot 

 the very latest among the writers that have seen it ; he de- 

 clares that it is made of the wood of the vine, and that it has 

 never been changed all the seven times that the temple has 

 been rebuilt. He says, too, that it was Endaaus who made 

 choice of this wood, and even goes so far as to mention the 

 artist's name, a thing that really surprises me very much, see- 

 in- that he attributes to it an antiquity that dates before the 

 times of Father Liber, and of Minerva even. He states, also, 

 that by the aid of numerous apertures, it is soaked with 

 nard, in order that the moist nature of that drug may preserve 

 the wood and keep the seams 33 close together: Iain rather 

 surprised, however, that there should be any seams m die 

 statue, considering the very moderate size it is. He informs 

 us also, that the doors are made of cypress, and that the 

 wood which has now lasted very nearly four hundred years, 

 has all the appearance of new. 34 It is worthy of remark, too 

 that the wood of these doors, after the pieces had been glued 

 together, was left to season four years before they were put 



32 Asia Minor, namely. See B. xxxv. c. 21. 



S3 The iunctures where the pieces of wood are united by glue. IMS is 

 to be observed very easily in the greater part of the oaken statuary that is 

 so plentiful in the churches of Belgium. 



« Cypress is perhaps the most lasting of all wooas. 



