114 Gibbs on Dry Rot. : 
alternately close in with one shore or the other, as their winding 
course directs the force of the current. A steam boat therefore 
which has no external wheels or apparatus, will be less exposed 10 
accidents from the shore, the trees upon it, or from drift wood. 
FOR THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
Art. XI. Observations on the Dry Rot, by Col. Groner 
GIBBs. 
"THE late extraordinary decay of Timber, by a disease, 
termed the dry rot, in the commercial and military marme 
in Europe, has excited much attention, and called forth ma- 
ny schemes for prevention or cure. But I have not been 
fortunate enough to meet with any account of its cause, or 
any proposal for a remedy, which could satisfy me, still less 
the Gentlemen skilled in naval affairs. 
It appears, that this disease affects wood, whether dry or 
moist, though more in the latter case: that it has become 
more common within thirty years, and since that time large 
ships have been discovered to be entirely rotten on the 
stocks, before the preparations were made for launching 
them. 
Steaming the ane! has been tried in America, and 
found injurious ; oil and paint are ruinous; and many oth- 
er operations have been recommended, some of which were 
found injurious, others ineffectual, ‘others too costly for tri- 
al. All the ingenuity of the English mechanics seems to 
have been employed in scheeming and failing; much mo- 
ney, and some lives, have been lost in these experiments. 
The Dry Rot has been ascribed to the use of green tim- 
ber, or wood not sufficiently seasoned or docked; but, 
though docking timber is, to a considerable extent, impor- 
tant, yet it is found that this remedy is by no means sure, 
as ships with which this precaution, as formerly, has been 
tried, have been found at times subject to the dry rot; so 
that in spite of every care, large vessels in Europe do not 
last half as long as formerly. 
In the tied States this diseased is by no means as com- 
mon, althous ch it gradually becomes more so. Our mer- 
