1840-1 



On preserving Timber, Sfc, 



313 



of the first chemists of the present day, was a carpetted sitting par- 

 lour ; his laboratory table, a mahogany writing table, and his furnace 

 the parlour grate. 



IX. — On presermjig Timber, ^-c. from the destructive attacks of the 

 White Aiit. — By Aliquis, 



The well known effects of corrosive sublimate in protecting objects of 

 Natural History from the attacks of insects, induced me to make a trial 

 of its power of preserving timber, carpets, &c. from the destructive in- 

 roads of the white ant,~and I am happy in being able to say tha£ the 

 experiments I made were perfectly successful, and justify the hope that, 

 by the means now recommended, we shall soon drive these destructive 

 insects from our houses — or at all events render their visitations com- 

 paratively harmless. 



The strength of the solution I used, was one ounce of the corrosive 

 sublimate to one gallon of water, having previously rubbed the mineral 

 tjp with a little alcohol to increase its solubility ;— wood was immersed 

 in the solution for one week, but carpets and cotton cloth were allowed 

 to remain only for two days. The experiments I varied in every possi- 

 ble way — and uniformly obtained the same result, viz., that the white 

 ant will but very partially, if at all, destroy the substance of any 

 thing macerated in the solution, and that, on discovering its nature, they 

 immediately disappear. 



With woollen cloth the effects were less decisive, as the solution 

 appears to be unable to penetrate the fibres of the wool, and is partially 

 removed by washing — but under cotton carpets, rush mats, &c. the 

 insects will burrow for the first day or two, and then disappear; and 

 with regard to timber they are even more fastidious, as I have observed 

 in their covert ways, that they had placed a coating of earth between 

 themselves and the wood; evidently anxious not even to come into 

 contact with the poison. 



The advantages of preparing wood in the way recommended, are not, 

 however, confined to its immunity from the attacks of the white ant — as 

 it is now generally known that the same preparation (Kyan's patent) 

 effectually resists dry rot, or other decay ; and from the power it is known 

 to possess, of coagulating the albumen contained in the wood— and in- 

 durating the fibres of the softer and cheaper varieties of timber, and 



