250 On Dry- Rot. [Sess. 



infected beam and burn it. Professor Fasky discovered that a 

 certain quantity of a solution of salicylic acid in alcohol was 

 sufficiently efficacious to protect a flooring of 800 square feet 

 from the spread of dry-rot, and to remove it from the places 

 where it had appeared. Eough salicylic acid can be used, and 

 the action of this antiseptic agent can be heightened by a 

 slight admixture of carbolic acid. The cures that have been 

 suggested, and the patents taken out for destroying this 

 fungus, are numerous. Burnet's method, or the application 

 of chloride of zinc ; Kyan's method, or " kyanising," as it is 

 called — the iise of corrosive sublimate, which can only be 

 applied effectively to dry timber; Margary's method, or 

 " margarising " — the application of sulphate or other salts of 

 copper ; and Bethel's method, or " creosoting," are some of the 

 best remedies. Bethel's method is considered by practical 

 men to be the most effective. In this process the timber is 

 first made dry by extracting the water and replacing it under 

 heavy pressure by oil of tar, which does not get driven out of 

 timber by moisture like all the salts of metal. Professor 

 Hartig recommends all joints and timber-ends built into walls 

 to be previously creosoted, so as to protect them during the 

 time when the walls are drying. Petroleum has been tried, 

 and said to be both a cure and preventive, but it is very dan- 

 gerous ; and a concentrated solution of common salt is also 

 said to be effective when applied to the beams in a boiling 

 state. Airing with dry air is also recommended ; but hot-lime 

 wash, which is most commonly applied in cases of dry-rot, is 

 found to be useless. In a paper read before the Architectural 

 Association of London last winter, it was pointed out that the 

 woodwork should not only be dry but kept dry, which is 

 impossible if the air of the chamber in which it is built is 

 damp, as it condenses and absorbs moisture, and various means 

 are open to builders to prevent moisture, but chiefly by secur- 

 ing thorough ventilation, so that there is no corner where the 

 air can stagnate. Mrs Hussey, writing on this subject, says, 

 that once on a visit to an old mansion-house in England, she 

 expressed her admiration to the housekeeper of the splendid 

 condition of the oaken floors and panelling. " Yes," said the 

 housekeeper, " but you can't carry a lighted candle through 

 these rooms." The horror of draughts nowadays is the life 

 of dry-rot. It is also necessary that all vegetable soil be 



