226 Incojnhustihility of the Larch. 



so that a circular plate to enclose a space 

 6 in. in diameter will cost about 9^?., or al- 

 lowing 2d. for uniting the two extremities, 

 lid. We have had one circular rim made 

 by Messrs. Cottam and Hallen, Winsley 

 Street, Oxford Street, with the copper on 

 the inside instead of the outside, and, having 

 enclosed a number of snails and slugs in it, 

 we find them, hitherto^ effectually imprisoned, ^''^•■^''■p^^ff^^'' ^''^"^" 

 This we conceive to be a more efficient test 

 of the galvanic influence than employing it to protect a plant ; 

 because, in the latter case, the creature may turn for food else- 

 where, but in the former it must starve if it does not cross the 

 galvanic boundary. — Cond, 



Art. XI. On the Incomiustibility of the Larch. By H. L. L. 



Evelyn, towards the conclusion of his account of the larch, 

 alludes to a supposed peculiarity in the wood of that tree to resist 

 combustion. He refers to the story of a castle besieged by 

 Caesar, and preserved from conflagration by logs of larch wood 

 heaped around it, and he introduces the line 



Etrobusta Larix, igni impenetrabile lignum. 

 From the context, these words have been supposed to be an 

 extract from Caesar, and have been since quoted {Arboret. Brit..) 

 vol. viii. p. 2358. ; Library of Usejid Knowledge, art. Planting, 

 p. 125., &c.) repeatedly, as if from the works of that author. 

 But neither the story of the Castle of Larignum, nor even the 

 word Larix, is to be found in any of the writings of Caesar 

 now extant ; and with regard to the line above mentioned, having 

 lately met with it accidentally, I am enabled to state that it be- 

 longs to the Parthenice of Baptista Mantuanus, not far from the 

 beginning of the poem, 



Omne quod excellens opus et sublime futurum 



Difficiles ortus habet, incrementaque tarda. 



Sic Junco nemus Alcidae — sic tardior exit 



Populeis Abies ramis — sic Abiete Pinus ( ? Prunus} 



Segnior, et Pruno longe vivacior Ilex, 



Et robusta Larix igni impenetrabile lignum. 



It is certainly possible that Vitruvius may have derived his 

 vei-y circumstantial story of the Alpine castle from some portion 

 of Caesar's writings which has not come down to us ; but the 

 only occasion on which that conqueror encountered any opposi- 

 tion among the Alps is known to have occurred in his passage 

 of the Mount Genevre, at the very beginning of his Gallic 

 campaigns, and we have his own brief account of that affair. 



