218 



PHONOGRAPHY. 



to 5 gallons of water, will make a solution with which when timbers are 

 saturated, they may be exposed to the most active agents in the produc- 

 tion of decay without injury; but the cost is too great — coal, too, answers 

 a similar purpose, but it cannot always be procured or conveniently used. 

 Might not some of the cheap mineral acids be employed ? Might not 

 arsenic in some form be used in place of corrosive sublimate ? Might 

 not some of the cheap saline solutions be found efficacious ? Might not 

 something cheaper still be discovered } If a common post worth six 

 cents can, by the absorption of three or four cents worth of a solution 

 be made more durable than a locust tie for which on railroads it has 

 been customary to pay seventy-five cents, what an immense saving of 

 expense would be produced, and what a public benefit would be confer- 

 ed! A farmer could then build his fences with the expectation of seeing 

 them last a lifetime. A naval constructor would no longer search for 

 live oak, he would take the commonest timber of the forest and render 

 it more nearly imperishable than the best. 



One more suggestion and we shall conclude. Might not small ani- 

 mals be preserved by injecting them with creosote and alcohol ? We 

 have heard that a process has been discovered by which such prepara- 

 tions can be made without the trouble of skinning and stuffing, but how, 

 we have not learned — perhaps by immersing a small animal in such a 

 solution, then taking it out, putting it while soft in a suitable position 

 and setting it away to dry, it might be eflectually preserved ; and ama- 

 teurs would then find no difficulty in getting their specimens in shape — 

 it would not suit, however, for large animals.* 



The writer has made a portion offence in which solution of arsenic 

 was used to protect the posts ; if any gentleman who is curious to know 

 the result, will call about the year 1860, he may be able to ascertain the 

 success of the experiment. H. H. 



PROF. IIALDEMAN S SYSTEM OF PHONOGRAPHY, 



IN A LETTER TO PROF. REYNOLDS. 



Dear Sir : — I have just opened No. 2 of that very promising little 

 periodical, the Record and Journal of Penn. College, and having read 

 your article, give you a slight sketch of an essay which I have sent to 

 the Am. Phil. Society, entitled "Observations on general Phonology and 

 Alphabetic notation, with an attempt to adapt the Roman Alphabet to 

 exotic Languages." 



Bears for example. 



