Intelligence and Miscellanies. 165 
room, I came on, and proceeded to take the several meas- 
ures for the preservation of the paintings, as stated in de- 
tail in the following report, which I beg leave to submit to 
the House. 
ist. All the paintings were taken down, removed from 
their frames, taken off from the pannels over which they are 
strained, removed to a dry warm room, and their separate- 
ly and carefully examined. The material which forms the 
basis of these paintings is a linen cloth, whose strength and 
texture is very similar to that used in the top-gallant-sails of 
a ship of war. The substances employed in forming a prop- 
er surface for the artist, together with the colors, oils, &c. 
employed by him in his work, form a sufficient protection 
for the threads of the canvass on this face, but the back re- 
mains bare, and of course, exposed to the deleterious in- 
fluence of damp air. The effect of this is first seen in the 
form of mildew; it was this which I dreaded; and the ex- 
amination showed that mildew was already commenced, and 
to an extent which rendered it manifest that the continuance 
of the same exposure, which they had hitherto undergone, 
for a very few years longer, would have accomplished the de- 
composition or rotting of the canvass, and the consequent 
destruction of the paintings. The first thing to be done 
ry the canvass perfectly, which was accompli 
by laying down each picture successively on its face, upon a 
clean dry carpet, and exposing the back to the influence of 
the warmth of a dry and well aired room. The next thing 
was to devise and apply some substance which would act per- 
manently as a preservative against future possible exposure. 
I had learned that a few years ago, some of the eminent 
chemists of France had examined with great care several 
of the ancient mummies of Egypt, with a view to ascertain 
ors employed, and still retaining: their vivid brightness, had 
also been prepared and applied with the same substance. 
