514 



FARMKItS" REGISTER 



[No. 1 



rica, where timber is po abundant, and f?o srene- 

 raliy u^ed! Applied to the prefservation of the 

 timber used in the copstmction of rail roacs= in this 

 country, the discovery would be of incalcu'ahle 

 ntiiity. To show its utiliiyin this pariicular is the 

 object of i.he present comnVaniciiion. 

 Tiie following account of the discovery is taken 

 _^ fi-om the "Arcana ofScience," Ibr 1835. 



"A gentleman of the name of Kyan, consider- 

 ing the well known anti-destructive qualities of 

 corrosive sublimate, proposed to apply that active 

 body to timbers, in order to secure it, from the at- 

 tacks of the formidable disease to which it has 

 hitherto been liable, arising either from the action 

 of the seeds of cryptogamous ,:ianfs vegetafins in 

 the~wood. or fro.Ti the presence of the albununous 

 parts of the tree. He thought the evil might be 

 stopped; that the commencement even might he 

 prevented by the application of corrosive ^subli- 

 mate, in consequence of the chemical combination 

 which takes place between the corrosive sublimate 

 arid those albuminous panicles which Bcrzelius, 

 and others of the highest authority, consider to 

 exist in, and form the Essence of wood; which be- 

 ing the first parts to run to decay, cause others to 

 decay with them. 



"Mr. Kyari was so confident of success, that he 

 submitted his proposition to the Lords of the Ad- 

 miralty, who, in the first instance, required trials 

 to be made, in order to prove the value of the ap- 

 plication. These trials were made; and, at the 

 end of two or three years, their lordships advised 

 Mr. Kyan to take oiit a patent, Avhich he did. 



"Dr. Faraday," (in a lecture on the subject,) 

 "exhibited to his auditors sonno of the pieces sub- 

 mitted to trial by the Lords of the Admiralty, three 

 years before, in the fungus pit at Wbolvvicri. One 

 specimen was a piece of timber which came out, 

 at the end of three years, as sound as it went in, 

 while the unprepared part had decayed up to the 

 very point. No portion of it had bee'n left; it had 

 decayed and become rotten ihrouirhont; but the 

 other piece was left whole and sound, and fit for 

 the construction of vessels. 



A large cube of wood, which had been there, in 

 the first instance, for three years — found sound at 

 the end of that period, and" returned to the pit for 

 two years more, making altogether five years — 

 was taken out perfectly hard^and sound. " There 

 was no sign of decay "in that wood, which had 

 been submitted to the rottinor action for five years, 

 nor of that destruction whicTi seems to havecorae 

 on eo soon in the same pit with other pieces of 

 wood. 



"Sir Robert Smirke had a couple of posts put 

 up under a dripping eave, and both were exposed 

 to the same action. After a certain time, one of 

 them decayed— the other still stands, having been 

 preserved by the power of this substance. 



"Mr. Faraday proceeded to detail a number of 

 experiments which he had made, with a view 

 to discover whether the effects of the corrosive 

 sublimate might be injurious, and which had the 

 cflfect of satisfying him that it could not be so; and, 

 so far as these experiments went to strenffthen his 

 opinions as to its efficacy as a preventive of dry-rot, 

 he says, that he is of opinion that the process would 

 be effectual; and added. 'I think the improvement 

 so great, as fully to justify its extensive applica- 

 tion.' 

 "The experience of five years afTords ample se- 



curity for the success of the discovery. The trials 

 have completely satisfied the minds of all who 

 have Hiterested themselves in the (juestion. At 

 present, the process has been adopted with the 

 timber used in buildin<r the addition to the Temple, 

 King's College, Clarkeswell Church, Westminster 

 House of Correction, and fishmongers Hail; the 

 National Gallery, the new works at the British 

 Museum, and tlie warehouses of the East India 

 Company. The London Dock Company have 

 also adopted it, and many engineers connected 

 with the Liverpool, Manchester, and Stanhope, 

 Tyne, and Wear railway's, in lieu of stone sleepers. 

 A writer in the New Bedford Mercury, says, 

 that "he is personally acquainted with the inge- 

 nious irfventor— has attended the lectures in Lon- 

 don on the subjectj and is satisfied of the efficacy 

 of his plan." 



"The timber to be prepared must be placed in a 

 tank or vessel. A solution of coi^rosive sublimate 

 is then thrown upon it until covered. The propor- 

 tion according to the inventor, is 1 lb. of corrosive 

 sublimate, to 5 gallons of' water. Pine planks are 

 saturated in forty-eight hours. An oak slick, 40 

 feet long and 1 loot square, requires three weeks. 

 Pieces of the timber prepared with a solution of 

 the sublimate, and unprepared pieces — the latter 

 well seasoned— were placed in the 'rotten pit,' at 

 the King's Dock Yard, Woolwich, in 1828. In 

 1831, the writer of this was present when they 

 were withdrawn. The prepared timber was per- 

 fectly sound — I he. unprepared, although of the best 

 Eufrlish oak, was a mass of rot and decayed veg- 

 etable matter. The prejiared timber was left on 

 the ground in the open air six months, and then 

 again placed in the rotten pit, with other pieces of 

 well seasoned limber. At the end of two years 

 the prepared timlier was found quite sound — the 

 seasoned very rotten. 



"The rotten pit, at Woolwich yard, is a cave 

 under ground, SO feet long by 20 feet, and built 

 by order of government for the purpose of testing 

 the efficacy of the various proposed nostrums for 

 preserving timber. The pit is lined, top, bottom, 

 and sides, with vegetable matter in the worst pos- 

 sible stages of corruption — very damp, and full of 

 carbonic acid gas. It is a perfect hot-bed — a can- 

 dle will not burn in it a minute, so foul is the airnf 

 this subterraneous chamber. In fact, no timber, 

 although thoroughly salted, docked, or seasoned, 

 will resist three months the powerful decomposing 

 qualities of the 'rotten pit.' The specimens were 

 placed on the bottom of the pit, and half buried in 

 the putrid veo-etable matter with which the cave 

 is kept supplied. This experiment seemed so con- 

 clusive, that government immediately paid the 

 inventor £10.000, and advised him to take out a 

 patent. He u-as ordered to construct tanks at all 

 the dock yards, and the irovernment timber was 

 imm.ediatciy prepared in the above manner. It is 

 found thatacutiic foot of oak, will absorb three 

 pints of the liquid." 



The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, ap- 

 pointed as commissioners of inquiry into this im- 

 portant subject. Captain John Hayes, B. Rotch, 

 esq., Professor Daniell, Dr. Birkbeck, and Alex- 

 ander Copland Hutchinson, esq. ' 



They report: ''All the persons examined, who- 

 have used the prepared wood, are of opinion that 

 the process renders the ordinary length of time for 

 seasoning timber unnecessary. Sir Robert Smirke, 



