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NOTICES OF AUTHORS. 



out and lecture on tliis science, as being of far more 

 importance than many which are aheady endowed. 

 We think that steeping in fresh, water pits for several 

 years, till a kind of acetous fermentation take place 

 in the timber, or till it become of a blue colour ; or 

 in tan-pits ; or for a shorter period in strong brine 

 pits ; or even salting the timber like herrings, after 

 it is blocked out ; or forcing pyrohgneous acid, or 

 composition of chlorine, or other solution, antiseptic 

 or obnoxious to Hfe, into the pores of the timber 

 ^^h.en dry, by pressure ; or perhaps by charring the tim- 

 bers after they are cleaned do^Mi on the stocks ready 

 for the plank, by playing on them a jet of flame from 

 a flexible gas pipe, — might, some of them, be found 

 preventive of the rot, and at same time not to impah 

 any of the valuable qualities of the timber. 



We are a little shy in committing om'selves, lest 

 we should be impressed as a diy-rot physician or 

 professor ; but if the following plan for preservation 

 of vessels when unemployed has not aheady been 

 tried, we recommend it to the notice of om* Na^y 

 Board. 



Let eveiy part of the vessel be cleared out, and 

 every port-hole or external opening be made as au-- 

 tight as possible. 



I^t a quantity of recent-biuned limestone (lime- 



3 



