196 George's Cause of Dry Rot. 



which we have of late acquired, that we owe by far the greatest portion of 

 the excellence we have attained." 



Mr. Moggridge pays a just tribute to Messrs. Loddiges and their establish- 

 ment, " such as is not to be met with in the possession of any prince 

 in Christendom." It is also highly gratifying to us to observe him duly 

 appreciating the extraordinary genius of Dr. Darwin, whom, we believe, we 

 are not singular in considering the greatest theoretical vegetable physiolo- 

 gist that has appeared in this country. Dr. Darwin was the first to argue 

 that every bud of a plant is an individual vegetable being; a fact which 

 seems to have been neglected till it was brought into notice by M. du Petit- 

 Thouars some years ago ; but now, when certain false doctrines (p. 175.) are 

 giving way, will be received and acted on as it ought to be. 



The processes of vegetable life are explained and illustrated by plates, 

 representing the umbiUcal vessels spread on the cotyledons of the bean, the 

 spiral vessels of the vine leaf, the longitudinal fibres in the bark of the 

 willow, and the continuous masses of tubes and cells in vegetable bodies. 

 " Whilst the eye of every person of taste or sensibility is gratified by the 

 beauty internal, as well as external, which vegetable life presents to his 

 inspection, and whilst the exquisite skill and most decided marks of design 

 which it exhibits, proclaim to the heart and the understanding that its 

 Author is great and good, and wise beyond our utmost conception, we must 

 be convinced that the encouragement this Society will hold out to the in- 

 dustrious classes to look to their gardens, as a sure and certain source of 

 never-failing amusement and profit, can be regarded only as an object of 

 unmixed good. The comforts and benefits to be derived from a well cul- 

 tivated garden, by a poor^man's family, are almost beyond calculation. What 

 a resource for hours after work, or when trade is dull, and regular work 

 scarce ! What a contrast and counteraction is the healthy manly employ- 

 ment which a cottage garden affords, to the close, impure, unwholesome 

 air, the beastliness and obscenity, the waste of time, the destruction of 

 morals, the loss of character, money, and health, which are the inmates of 

 too many common ale-houses ! The experiments of Lord Cawdor, Mr. 

 Estcourt, and others, on a larger scale, in a neighbouring county, aiFord 

 abundant confirmation to the belief, that, whilst the cultivation of the gar- 

 den of the cottager increases the means of the maintenance and comforts 

 of his family in no ordinary degree, in investing him with a property 

 peculiarly susceptible of injury from trespass, it teaches him to respect the 

 property of others," 



George, John, Esq., Barrister at Law : The Cause of the Dry Rot discovered ; 

 with a Description of a Patent Invention for preserving decked Vessels 

 from Dry Rot, and Goods on Board from Damage by Heat. London. 8vo, 

 pp. 186, plates. 



The liability of timber used in the construction of ships and houses to be 

 destroyed by what is called dry rot, has been long known as a misfor- 

 tune, occasioning immense losses to private individuals, as well as to the 

 nation in the premature decay of ships of war. No circumstance has more 

 engaged the attention and pens of both practical and scientific men, than 

 the discovery of a protection against this national evil. Many have been 

 the causes assigned; and many expedients have been had recourse to, as 

 means of prevention, but still without success. In general it has been attri- 

 buted to imperfect seasoning; and, therefore, every effort has been made to 

 prepare timber for use which should be free from liability to decay in this 

 unaccountable manner, and though the cause has hitherto remained a 

 secret, the effects are every day occurring to an alarming extent. 



The present writer has assigned as its cause an incident never adverted 

 to by any previous writer on the subject, and what, indeed, many would 

 have considered as rather useful than otherwise, and even, perhaps, em- 



