oct.- — dec. 1857.] Mode of protecting Timber from Fire. 117 



On a mode of protecting Timber from Fire. By Mr, Abel. 



[This Valuable Memorandum is specially worthy of the attention of 

 Res ; dents in Burmah and the Tenasserim Provinces, where the frequent 

 occurrence of fire has proved so destructive, and where any arrangement 

 insuring protection against the conflagration of wooden or thatched build- 

 ings would be most important ]— -Ed. M. J. 



From F. A» Abel, Esq., Chemist of the War Department, Wool- 

 wich, S. E., SMh July 1857; to the Secretary East India 

 Company, 



I have the honor to address you upon a subject which I have 

 been strongly recommended by Colonel Sandham, Commanding 

 Royal Engineer at Chatham, to bring to the notice of the Honora- 

 ble Court of Directors of the East India Company. 



During the late War, I was called upon by the Engineer autho- 

 rities to suggest some simple, cheap, and efficacious means for 

 protecting wooden hutting from fire, and at the same time, I was 

 instructed by the Secretary of State for War, to examine into the 

 merits of certain proposals laid before him for the same purpose. 



The result of my experiments on this subject was the prepara- 

 tion of a protective material applicable even after the erection of 

 huts, in the same manner as whitewash, tar, or paint, and which 

 was shown to afford such important protection to wood in case of 

 fire, that experiments upon a proper scale were ordered by Lord 

 Panmure to be tried at the principal camps in Great Britain, and, 

 at the same time, permission was given me by his Lordship to pa- 

 tent the material of which permission, however, I declined to avail 

 myself. 



It was subsequently arranged by the Inspector General of For- 

 tifications, that a full trial of the value of the material should be 

 made by Colonel Sandham and myself at Chatham. The accom- 

 panying abstract from the professional papers of the Royal Engi- 

 neers contains a copy of our joint report to Lord Panmxjke on the 

 results of these experiments to which I beg most respectfully to 

 call the attention of the Honorable Court of Directors. 



