258 Anatoviical Description of the Fir Tree. 



Charges for machines, instruments, and other contin- 

 gencies, in the course of the experiments , . 69 11 (? 



Expenses for board, lodging, &c. of Dr. Sickler and 

 family, frOm the r2th of June to the 26th of Octo- 

 her (on which day he left London), including the 

 hire of his servant .. .. /. 239^18 6' 



Sum allowed to Dr. Sickler in remuneration for the 



time which he devoted to his experiments . . 200 



Sum allowed to Dr. Sickler to defray his travelling 



expenses to Hildburghausen . . . . . . 1.50 



Allowance to the Secretary of the Committee ,. 100 



.i^l,lll 7 

 By order of the Committee, 

 Lond6n, Deer. 31, 1817- James Pulman, Secretary. 



XtilV. Aiiatomical Description of the Fir Tree. By Robhrt 

 M<= William,^ Architect and Surveyor *. 



X HE fir is a genus of the class movcecia, order monadelphia. It 

 has male and female flowers on the same tree, and is propagated 

 by seed. 



After what has been said already of vegetation in general, it is 

 rot deemed necessary to enter again into this subject at any con- 

 siderable Icngtii. The roots of the fir tree are hard and slender. 

 They require a hard, dry, gravellv, or sandy soil; and a coh? 

 climate, not very liable to sudden changes of temperature. Hence 

 it is, that the Scotch and other firs do not arrive at such perfec- 

 tion, in this country, as in higher latitudes. 



When in a favourable soil and climate, fir trees grow to the 

 heightof ninety or a hundred feet, and sometimes much higher. 



The longitudinal divisions of this tree, for it appears to me 

 doubtful whether they can be called vessels, are seemingly of two 

 sorts ; and when viewed at right angles to the radiates, they ap- 

 pear like a bunch of dressed* flax or hemp, after beinc somewhat 

 pressed, so as to render the fibres a little wrinkled. When viewed 

 parallel to the radiates, they have the appearance of a web of 

 the same materials, having four or five threads of the woof close 

 together, as in muslin or cambric, and a space rather more than 

 equal to this without any woof, similar to the space between 

 handkerchiefs in the j/iece, where the warp only appears with- 

 out any woof: and thus they are continued in alternate bars one 



* From Essay on the Origin and Operation, of the Dry Rot, with a View 

 to its Prevention or Cure. 



