178 General Notices. 



promises to be the best substitute that has yet appeared. The articles are 

 evidently written with care and a knowledge of the subject ; and, where neces- 

 sary, they are illustrated by woodcuts. It is very copious in architecture, 

 an art which is every day becoming more popular. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Preservation and Staining of Wood. — At the Academy of Sciences, Paris, 

 at the sitting of Nov. 30. 1840, M. Dumas, in the name of a commission 

 composed of Messrs. Arago, de Mirbel, Poncelet, Gambey, Audouin, Boussin- 

 gault, and himself, made a report on a memoir by M. Boucherie. Though we 

 have given rather a minute analysis of this work, we think we ought, con- 

 sidering its great importance, to repeat the facts already spoken of, in the very 

 words of the commission. 



M. Boucherie has endeavoured to render wood much more durable, to 

 preserve its elasticity, to prevent the variations in bulk which it undergoes 

 from drought and moisture, to diminish its combustibility, to increase its tena- 

 city and its hardness, and, lastl}^ to give it various durable colours, and even 

 smells. To say that these endeavours have been fulfilled by new and simple 

 methods by no means expensive, and by the aid of common substances at a 

 very low cost, is sufficient to characterise the importance of the author's 

 labours. 



To imbue an entire tree with conservative, colouring, or other substances, 

 the author has recourse to no complicated or expensive mechanical means ; 

 he takes advantage of all the absorbing force (force aspiratrice) of the vege- 

 table itself, and that is sufficient to transport from the base of the trunk to 

 the leaves all the liquids that are intended to be introduced, provided they are 

 kept within certain limits of concentration. Thus, if a tree in full sap is cut at 

 the base, and plunged in a tub containing the liquor it is meant to absorb, it 

 will ascend in a few days to the highest leaves ; all the vegetable tissue will 

 be imbued, except the heart of the tree, which, from its hard nature, particu- 

 larly in old stems, always resists penetration. It is not even necessary that 

 the tree should have all its branches and all its leaves ; a few reserved at top 

 are sufficient for the purpose. 



It is not necessary to have the tree standing, which would often render the 

 operation impracticable ; it may be cut down after having all the useless 

 branches lopped off, and its base then put in contact with the liquid to be ab- 

 sorbed, which penetrates, as usual, into all the parts. Indeed it is not even 

 necessary to cut down the tree ; for a cavity made in the trunk, or the 

 greater part of the surface divided with a saw, is sufficient, by putting these 

 parts in contact with the liquid, to cause a rapid and complete absorption 

 of it. 



If M. Boucherie has resolved the grand problem he proposed in a simple 

 and practical manner, he has shown no less sagacity in the choice of the 

 substances he has adopted to answer the purposes mentioned above. When 

 the durability and hardness of wood are to be increased, and dry rot or 

 moist decay avoided, he introduces into the tissue pyrolignite of rough iron 

 (fer brut). This substance is well chosen ; for crude (brut) pyroligneous 

 acid is produced in all forests by the making of charcoal : it is easy to trans- 

 form this into pyrolignite of iron, by putting it in contact, when cold, even 

 with old iron, and the liquid thus prepared contains much creosote ; a sub- 

 stance which, independent of the salt of iron itself, has the property of 

 hardening wood, and of preventing rottenness, as well as the ravages of 

 insects, in timber used for building. Authenticated experiments made in the 

 cellars of Bordeaux, on hoops prepared by the author, have yielded the most 



