1885.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 67' 



tlierefore, be regarded as unusually fresh and healthy, in spite of 

 tlie honorable age which it possesses." 



If we assume that tiiis professional report was correct, said 

 Dk. Doremus, how terrible the ravages of four American winters 

 on this historic monolith and its plinth ! 



Commander irorringe felt confident of the permanency of the 

 obelisk, remarking, in a way to close all discussion, when Dr. 

 Doremus broached the subject of some ]n-eservative treatment, 

 that "itiiad lasted nearly four thousand years, and will ])rob- 

 ably last four thousand more.'' When a ha,ndful of small frag- 

 ments picked up from the top of the plinth were shown the 

 Commander, he could hardly believe they came from the obelisk. 

 He expressed the hojie that some day it would be polished. 



During the jiast summer, wliile in London, Pkof. Doremus 

 had an interview with Dr. Birch, the world-renowneil orientalist 

 of the British Museum, and showed him the fragments from the 

 obelisk. He was not surprised, and remarked: "You will next 

 find that pieces will come off in flakes, or scale off." As a verifi- 

 cation of the prediction, Prof. Doremus ]iroposed sending, in 

 his care, for the British Museum, a piece of the obelisk with 

 hieroglyphic markings on it, which is now in his possession. 

 The fragment or flake was twenty inches long, and from two to 

 six inches broad, but so fragile that it broke in half while being 

 removed. 



Cleojijitra's Needle was treated, in 1879, by Mr. Henry Brown- 

 ing, Avith a solution of gum dammar dissolved in benzin, to 

 which a small a mount of beeswax was added, and a very small 

 quantity of corrosive sublimate. Prof. Wm. Crookes liad expressed 

 an opinion tiiat parafflne was unquestionably to be i)referred as a 

 water-proof coating for the obelisk. And inquiries regarding 

 Mr. Caffall's treatment of public buildings with paratline elicited 

 only favorable I'eplies. 



Prof. Doremus also referred to the permanent character of 

 paraffln and its use for resisting the action of the most powerful 

 acids and alkalies. 



Mr. p. H. Dudley made the following remarks: 1 visited 

 the obelisk during the time Mr. Caffall was treating it with 

 paraffine, and noticed particularly the flaking and crumbling of 

 portions of the exterior surfaces of the shaft from forty feet 

 above ground down to the ])lintli. Above this the staging was 

 down. 



I was surprised to find parts of the rock so porous and full of 

 minute fractures on the exterior; and gently tapping the shaft 

 with a hand chisel at once indicated the location of many loose 

 flakes from one inch in area to eight or ten inches. ^Most of tiie 

 fractures of the flakes seemed of recent origin, although under 



