^ CURE or THE DRY ROT. 



PurabiUty of The incorruptibility of charcoal is attefted by undoubted 



charcoal. hiflorical fa^s, at the deftruaion of the famous temple at 



Ephefus. It was found to have been erected on piles that had 



been charred ; and the charcoal in Herculaneum, after almoft 



2000 years, was entire and undiminifhed. 



I am. Sir, 



Your mod obedient Servant, 



BENJAMIN JOHNSON. 

 Jpfwich, December 26. 



Letter frotn Richard Ramsden Bramley, Efq, of Leeds^ 

 relative to the Dry Rot in Timber, 



To CHARLES TAYLOR, Efq. 

 SIR, 



latroduflion. I take the liberty of inclofing to your care an EfTay on the 

 Dry Rot in Timber, which you will be fo obliging as to lay 

 before the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. Should 

 this Eflay be deemed worthy of attention, or (hould any farther 

 notice be neceflary refpedling it, every information that may 

 promote the views of your refpeftable Society will be given 

 witli pleafure by. 



Sir, 



Your moft obedient Servant, 



R. RAMSDEN BRAMLEY, 

 Leeds, Aug. 26, 1799. 



As the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c, have 

 for fome years offered a premium for the difcovery of the caufe 

 occafioning the dry rot in timber, of which, it feems, no fa- 

 tisfaflory account has yet been received ; fliould the following 

 prove fo, it will give the author much pleafure. To bring the 

 matter to the teft by experiments, would require the obfer- 

 vation of a long period, and in felefied fitualions. 



Wood, u fed for the general purpofes of man, is cut down 

 at different periods; and although it may be felled at the proper 

 leafon, or when moil free from fap or moiilure, it is not aU 

 ways to be effeded. 



Even admitting it to have been cut down in the mofl favourr 



able iituation, it ftill abounds with fuch an extra proportion of 



4 moiflure 



