164 Intelligence and Miscellanies. 



ings which 1 found in a state of rapid decay, I trust I have 

 left in security; and the great room, which was a perfect 

 nuisance from dampness and cold, is now warm as a green- 

 house, the thermometer being easily kept at or near 60°. 



I enclose to you a copy of the report which I made to the 

 House, which 1 will thank you to insert in your Journal of 

 Science, if you think it deserves a place there. It may be 

 important to future artists, to know what has been done, in 

 order that, if time should prove my means effectual, they 

 may be, in future, adopted in similar cases ; or be avoided, if 

 they should be proved by that only sure test, to be unsuc- 

 cessful. 



It is a serious misfortune for their successors, that so few 

 of the ancient artists have left written explanations of the 

 mechanical part of their systems. The Venetian coloring 

 for instance, is proved by the test of three hundred years, to 

 be superior to all other works of equal age, in freshness, bril- 

 liancy and solidity ; but no one now knows what the vehicle 

 w^as with which they prepared their colors, yet a short me- 

 moir would have explained the system. 



II. Letter from John Triimhull to the Speaker of the House 

 of Representatives^ on the subject of the National Paintings 

 in the Rotunda of the Capitol. — December 9, 1828 — Read^ 

 and laid upon the table. 



To the Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives, U. S. 



Sir : On the 30th of May last, I received from the Com- 

 missioner of the Public Buildings a copy of the resolution of 

 the honorable the House of Representatives, dated the 26th 

 of May, authorizing him to take, under my direction, the prop- 

 er measures for securing the paintings in the Rotundo from 

 the effect of dampness. 



l had always regarded the perpetual admission of damp 

 air into the Rotundo from the crypt below, as the great cause 

 of the evil required to be remedied ; and, of course, consid- 

 ered the effectual closing of the aperture which had been 

 left in the centre of the floor as an indispensable part of 

 the remedy. I had communicated my opinions on this subject 

 to the Chairman of the Committee on the Public Buildings, 

 and had been informed that this had been ordered to be done. 



So soon, therefore, as I received information from the Com- 

 missioner that this work was completed, (as well as an al- 

 teration in the skylight, which I had suggested,) and that 

 the workmen and incumbrances were removed out of the 



