ROT 



ROT 



invention, grandeur in their mafTes, gaiety of colour, and 

 talle in the management of the draperies, they are frequently 

 wild and extravagant in compolition and efFeft. 



He exhibited his talents early in life, and painted when 

 very young a large picture of the AlTumption of the Virgin 

 for the church of La Nunciata at Florence, which was dif- 

 tinguifhed by the novelty and intrepidity of its ftyle. He 

 painted feveral other piftures there, and then went to Rome, 

 where reputation had already forerun him. In that city, he 

 painted an altar-piece for S. Maria della Pace, and the 

 Decollation of St. John for the church of St. Salviati. He 

 remained there till it was facked in 1527, and then fled to 

 Votterra, where he painted a fine pifture for the oratorio of 

 St. Carlo. He went afterwards to Venice, and there painted 

 for Aretin his celebrated pidture of Mars and Venus ; but 

 not being fufiiciently employed in Italy, he accepted an in- 

 vitation from Francis I. of France, who then emulated the 

 character of an encourager of art and fcience. By this mu- 

 nificent monarch, RofTo was employed both as an architect 

 and painter, and the building and decoration of the palace 

 of Fontainbleau were intruded to his care, and he was gra- 

 tified with a handfome penfion, and lived in affluence and 

 efteem, as he was not only an able artift, but a man of literary 

 acquirements, and of polifhed and agreeable manners. 



The unhappy termination of the life of RoflTo affords 

 a leffon to thofe whofe minds are inclined to indulge fuf- 

 picious fenfations. He had lived in friendfliip with one 

 Francefco Pellegrini, a Florentine painter, who was in the 

 habit of vifiting him occafionally. Soon after one of his 

 vifits Roffo's houfe was robbed of a confiderable fum, and 

 he rafhly fufpedted Pellegrini to be the thief. He accufed 

 and profecuted him, but he having endured examination and 

 the torture, to which he was cruelly put to extort confeflion 

 without any fign of guilt, was declared innocent. As foon 

 as he was releafed, the unfortunate Florentine publiflied a 

 juil and fevere ftatementof his cafe, and appealed forjuftice ; 

 to this RofTo had nothing to plead, and to avoid the infamy 

 and remorfe to which the injuftice he had been guilty of 

 muft necelTarily fubjedl him, he put an end to his exiftence 

 by poifon in 1541, at the age of 45. The greater part 

 of his paintings at Fontainbleau was deftroyed by his rival 

 and fucceffor Primaticcio, to make room for his own pro- 

 duftions. 



ROSS-SHIRE, col. 2, 1. 2, for 13,280 r. 12,829 ; ^nd 

 after inhabitants, add — -viz. 27,640 males, and 33,213 

 females : 7490 famihes being employed in agriculture, and 

 2499 in trade, manufaftures, and handicraft. 

 ROSTRATA. See Whale. 



ROT, Dry, 1. 2, add— See Boletus. Col. 7, at the 

 clofe, add — Mr. Robert M'William, in a valuable " Effay 

 on the Origin and Operation of the Dry-Rot, with a View 

 to its Prevention or Cure ; to which are annexed, Sug- 

 geflions on the Cultivation of Forefl-Trees, and an Ab- 

 ftrad of the feveral Foreft Laws, from the Reign of Canute 

 to the prefent Time," 4to. 18 18, has demonflratively fliewn, 

 that the common praftice of felling oak in the fpring 

 is an error which ought to be avoided ; and that the fea- 

 foniiig of timber is not lefs important as a means of pre- 

 venting this difeafe. This ingenious author confiders fungi 

 as 3.proxtmate caufe of the dry-rot ; and as to the origin of 

 fungus, he knows of no found argument againft its having 

 been created, like other vegetables, at the beginning of all 

 things. After many inveftigations and refearches, the caufe 

 of vitality has not been fatisfaftorily afcertained. Dr. Darwin, 

 in his Speculations on the Origin of Microfcopic Beings, 

 adopted the incomprehenfible doftrine, that their vitality 

 is fpontaneous. BufFon, Reaumur, Priellley, Ellis, Ingen- 



houz, and many others, have been bewildered in their con- 

 jeftures and hypothefes refpedting this fubjeft. After all, 

 whether the parents of microfcopic beings, animal and 

 vegetable, exifl univerfally and invifibly in the atmofphere, 

 according to Dr. Prieflley's theory- ; or whether their 

 vitality be fpontaneous, according to the hypothefis of 

 Dr. Danvin, we mufl admit the faft, that nature fufFers no 

 fit recipient for animal or vegetable life to remain void ; that 

 microfcopic beings of both kingdoms are always ready to 

 feize on every thing which can afford them fubfiilence ; and 

 that fungi find an appropriate nidus in difeafed and de- 

 cayed vegetable matter, more particularly if it continues in 

 a ilate of moiiUire and warmth ; whence the wood-work 

 and walls of vaults are ufually covered with mouldinefs or 

 mucor. It has been maintained by writers on this fubjeft, 

 as well as by our author, that fermentation always takes 

 place in the vegetable matter deftroyed, previoufiy to the 

 appearance of the fungus ; but as all fap-wood, whenever 

 felled and employed either in a green or feafoned ftate, con- 

 tains a greater or fmaller quantity of faccharine matter, this 

 matter, under certain degrees of continued warmth and 

 moifture, is difpofed to run into fermentation. In the pro- 

 cefs of putrefadlion, carbonic acid gas and hydrogen gas are 

 evolved in great abundance ; and as carbon and hydrogen 

 are effential conftituents in the pabulum of plants (whatever 

 may be the origin of their vitahty), we thus obtain fome 

 knowledge of their mode of fupport. To deprive thefe 

 noxious fungi of the means of fubfiftence is the great defi- 

 deratum in the prevention or cure of the dry-rot. Of the 

 fungi which attach themfelves to buildings, Mr. M'WiDiam 

 enumerates the following ; vi%. mucor or mould, boletus 

 lachrymans, agaricus coriaceus, A. dorneiticus, and an 

 agaricus refembhng Mr. Sowerby's A. bulbofus. Thefe 

 fungi are eafily propagated either by feed or root ; the 

 latter (hooting in various direftions will lay hold of timber, 

 and penetrate into its fifTures or creeks. In preparing cement 

 for buildings, thefe vegetable fubftances (hould be .-carefully 

 excluded ; as they are lometimes brought with the fcrapings 

 of pubhc roads, fometimes in the water from ftagnant pools, 

 which contain myriads of feeds that are capable of germina- 

 tion, and only require a favourable temperature to itart into 

 life ; and whoever confiders the facility with which fungi 

 are generated, it feems furprifing that any building fhould 

 be exempt from the ravages of the dry-rot, rather than 

 that fome fhould be attacked by it. Warmth, moifture, 

 and air, are acceffary to the germination and fupport 

 of fungi ; but a redundancy of any of the three, according 

 to the prefent author, will deilroy the equilibrium on which 

 their aftion depends, and the dry-rot will ceafe tiU that is 

 reftored, when the difeafe reuimes its aftivity. The range of 

 temperature within the limits of which fungi will vegetate 

 is prodigious. The dry-rot will proceed rapidly at 80", as is 

 evident from the circumftance of fhips returning from tro- 

 pical climates, almoft covered with fungi ; at 90°, loo", 

 110°, its progrefs becomes more and more flow, and at- 

 120° it will in general be arrefted ; but Mr. M'William 

 thinks, that no degree of hzdX Jhort of combujiion will deftrcrj-, 

 though it may fufpend, its corrupting influence. In defcend- 

 ing the fcale of the thermometer, it is found that the dry-rot 

 proceeds very faft at 50°, more flowly at 40^\ and is only 

 fufpended at 32° : for no degree of cold with which we are 

 acquainted will deftroy the corrupting principle, and prevent 

 its return after the temperature has been raifed to 45° or 

 50°. Hence it is obvious, that the apphcation of mere local 

 and artificial heat can be of little or no avail. The great 

 remedy, or preventive, on which Mr. M'William principally 

 relies is, in accordance with the general theory, the free cir- 

 culation 



