Art of moulding Carving in Wood . 431 
it is properly dried it will become warped, and if it be too 
dry it cannot be corrected but with a file, which is tedious 
and laborious, whereas if the proper moment be seized 
the paste may be cut like wax ; especially if the sawdust 
has been fine which is necessary for the exterior strata* 
The figures may then be completely dried in a stove, 
"by which means they will acquire a degree of desic- 
cation and solidity hardly to be conceived. Figures 
thus moulded may be bronzed or varnished : they will 
then be unalterable by the effects of moisture or dry- 
ness. 
I have already said that Flanders and not common 
glue ought to be employed for the exterior strata, be- 
cause this glue is almost colourless ; * whereas the 
other, being dark-coloured, gives too obscure a tint 
even to walnut-tree wood. Being desirous to try whe- 
ther my moulded figures would be unalterable by the 
effects of moisture or dryness, I made the following ex- 
periments i 
Experiment I. 
I exposed in a large bell-glass filled with atmospheric 
air two figures, one of which was varnished and the other 
not. I placed under the bell Saussure^s hygrometer and 
a capsule filled with water, after having moistened the 
sides of the bell. The air was soon saturated with wa- 
ter, and the hygrometer marked 100 degrees. I ob* 
served no alteration whatever in the varnished figure, 
and the other exhibited no other sensible alteration than 
a commencement of solution in the glue, so that on ap- 
plying my finger to its surface it was found to be some- 
what viscid 5 in a word, the figure was not in the least 
warped. 
* When this cannot be had, a glue fit for the purpose may be made by boiling’ 
shreds of parchment in common water till dissolved.—' Tilloch, 
