BEEPJZ1NG PROCESS. 



BELGIUM. 



pared in solution, by adding cautiously, to a 

 boiling solution of one hundred and twenty 

 pounds of sal-soda, one hundred pounds of 

 Italian boracic-acid. When the lumber is taken 

 out it is placed in a drying-room, heated by a 

 current of hot air, at from 100 to 180 Fahr. 

 The dissolved sap may be precipitated by alum 

 or otherwise, and the clear liquid treated with 

 a small quantity of lime or soda, or both, and 

 the precipitate may be used as a color or for 

 manure, etc., while the liquid may be used over 

 again, with some additional borax. 



Experience and science agree that the most 

 impeding deficiencies to the purity, strength, 

 and lasting durability of wood result from the 

 sap, which remains therein, after the trees 

 have been felled. The sap, being destined by 

 Nature to absorb and retain a sufficient quan- 

 tity of water for the subsistence of the living 

 tree and to provide all parts of the plant with 

 the proper nourishment, is fully endowed with 

 properties beneficent thereto. Consisting 

 mainly of albuminous substances dissolved in 

 water, it is extremely deliquescent and very 

 prone to spontaneous decomposition. Its 

 quantity in green wood amounts to over fifty 

 per cent, in weight. 



The borax acts as a solvent in the most 

 neutral and indifferent manner, neither decom- 

 posing itself, nor the wood, nor the soluble 

 matter, which it keeps dissolved, like sugar in 

 water, and can, therefore, always be reworked 

 and used over and over again without any ma- 

 terial loss. 



Spruce-wood cut for sounding-boards was 

 carefully seasoned, first in the air and then in 

 the heated dry-room of one of our first piano- 

 manufactories, and considered well dried. It 

 was then Beerized, when it was found to have 

 still shrunk more than one inch on every foot 

 in width across the grains and very percepti- 

 bly lengthwise. The increased density was 

 easily observed with the naked eye, the knife 

 proved increased hardness, and other trials 

 showed increased strength. 



We know that the sap substances, which 

 unprepared wood contains, are of a deliques- 

 cent nature, and that timber, therefore, never 

 can be perfectly dried or kept in that condition 

 by mere exposure to action of the air. Scien- 

 tific researches prove that beams and other tim- 

 ber, after having been kept in a dry place for a 

 century, retain still from twenty to twenty- 

 five per cent, of water, and that wood, when 

 rendered perfectly dry by the aid of heat, re- 

 absorbs a certain quantity of water, when again 

 exposed at common temperature to the atmos- 

 phere in its ordinary state of humidity. 



The whole quantity of invisible sap-liquid 

 present in apparently dry wood can, therefore, 

 be not less than twenty-five per cent., which 

 acts upon the wooden substance in the same 

 manner as a deliquescent liquid affects paper, 

 that is to say, it expands the wood consider- 

 ably and diminishes its cohesion, tenacity, and 

 strength. 



We have not here the space to enumerate 

 the various advantages consequent to the im- 

 proved quality wood experiences by its purity, 

 perfect dryness, and complete protection from 

 decay. The chemist will, hereafter, be re- 

 lieved from many very tedious and still de- 

 fective operations, he has had thus for to re- 

 sort to, in getting the wooden substance chem- 

 ically pure and freed from its soluble portion. 



The skilful mechanic will use such prepared 

 wood with admirable success for clock pen- 

 dules and a thousand other purposes, where 

 the deficiencies of the common wood fail to 

 answer. Other properties of the prepared 

 wood, which may be more generally useful, are 

 the perfect dryness which enables it, in spite 

 of its increased compactness, to readily and 

 thoroughly absorb any oily, resinous, or like 

 matter, with which it may be easily saturated 

 to form a durable, water-tight material. This 

 circumstance, in connection with the absence 

 of all albuminous or putrescible matter, makes 

 such wood highly adaptable to street-pave- 

 ments. By merely varnishing the prepared 

 wood, the durability and brilliancy of the sur- 

 face are greatly increased. 



In cases where dry wood is objectionable 

 and a surplus quantity of water in the wood is 

 necessary in order to obtain constant plia- 

 bility, as, for instance, in manufacturing wood- 

 hangings, any deliquescent matter, such as 

 glycerine, chloride of calcium, etc., has to be 

 added to the last water used in the process to 

 extract the borax absorbed by the wood. 



In such cases the Beerizing is necessary to 

 protect the wood from decay. 



The sound of Beerized wood is materially 

 improved by its purity and compactness, and 

 still more strikingly by traces of borax re- 

 maining in the sounding-boards, which con- 

 tribute considerably to its hardness and elevate 

 its resonant power wonderfully. 



The increased hardness consequent on this 

 process results from the same cause from which 

 stale bread becomes harder than fresh bread. 

 But, as hinted above, traces of borax left in the 

 wood increase its hardness very considerably. 



A reduction of its inflammability and com- 

 bustibility by Beerizing wood may easily be 

 obtained by not washing out all the borax used. 

 Mere traces of this fire-proof body will prevent 

 the wood from burning too readily and render 

 its combustibility difficult; the access of air 

 being impeded by the film of fused borax. 

 This process is the invention of Sigismund 

 Beer, of New York. 



BELGIUM, a kingdom of Europe. King, 

 Leopold II., born April 9, 1835; succeeded his 

 father, Leopold L, on December 10, 1865. 

 Heir-apparent, the brother of the King, Count 

 Philip of Flanders, born March 24, 1837; mar- 

 ried April 25, 1867, to Princess Maria of 

 Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ; has one son, Bald- 

 win Leopold, born June 3, 1869. 



The area of Belgium is 11,373 square miles. 

 The population, according to the census of 



