310 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



(a sweet substance wliich forms in soap making, sa-ponification^ 

 originally observed in the formation of common plants by boiling 

 oil with oxide of lead and water — Brande.) The Seeds grew 

 promptly and vigorously. He says that glycerine must possess 

 the faculty of re-establishing the vitality of seeds. Experiments 

 ought to be tried further, both as to their preservation for trans- 

 portation and their vitality. 



It will be curious that in a substance hardly yet known, to find 

 the power to preserve seeds on long voyages, &c. 



Glycerine is a mild colorless syrup produced by stearic acid in 

 the manufacture of stearine candles. 



We invite further examination of its properties, for it will be 

 very important if experience should prove it to have both the 

 power to preserve seeds and to stimulate their growth when put 

 into the soil ! 



CHESTNUT TIMBER OF OLD. 



An inquiry is being made relative to the importance of this 

 timber in architecture and the policy of re-establishing forests of 

 it, where it anciently abounded. It is said that our ancestors, 

 centuries ago, made their floors and many other parts of oak, be- 

 cause they were strong and stiff, bearing well all the weight we 

 put upon them. But that the rafters and other parts of the roof 

 were made of chestnut because the rafters were arranged in sharp 

 angles, from 50^ to 7°, and being covered with lead or with tiles, 

 were very strong at that sharp angle — that spiders avoided hang- 

 ing their webs upon it, and no worm bored into it ! Roofs built 

 500 or 600 years ago of .chestnut were still sound. The roofs of 

 old Lutetia (Paris,) were built of chestnut from the extensive for- 

 ests then existing in the department of the river Seine. The chest- 

 nut tree has but little {auhier,) sap, and loves a sandy soil, and 

 grows more vigorously than oak. We doubt the theory of spiders 

 not loving chestnut timber. It is true that the cliestnut roofs of 

 old churches are rather free of their webs, but they are also too 

 high for the flies, so that spider of course does not lay his snares 

 for them there. 



Moreover, on examining the timbers of the roof of a building of 

 the age of Saint Louis, we found them about one metre in cir- 



