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art II.] Pearson : Antiseptic Treatment of Timber. 
The present tendency of the Railway Companies is to import Australian 
Jarrah and Karri sleepers, as well as Baltic Creosoted Pine and this is 
without doubt due to the high prices of the 1st class sleeper woods 
obtainable in India and possibly to the shortage in supply and not to the 
quality of Teak, Deodar, Pyinkado and Sal sleepers. 
Auxiliary Species. 
The utilization of our so-called “ inferior species ” is another plea in 
favour of the introduction of the antiseptic treatment of these timbers. 
Under this head are classed all timbers other than the four species already 
mentioned. Of these “ inferior species,” which should more properly be 
termed “ auxiliary species,” many are unfit for sleepers owing to their in¬ 
ability to withstand the wear and tear to which they would be subjected, 
while others are not found in sufficient abundance to make them worthy 
of consideration. There remain a certain number of species which owing 
to their abundance and technical quantities are suitable, but which owing 
to their liability to the attacks of insects and fungi, cannot be classed as 
really good sleeper timbers. A complete list of such timbers will be 
considered later; sufficient is it to say that it was to those species that Sir 
Dietrich Brandis referred in his report, dated 21st October 1878, on this 
subject and which Dr. Warth had in his mind when he drew up his 
scheme in 1878 for erecting a plant for treating such species with chloride 
of zinc and sulphate of copper. In 1905, My. F. D. Couchman, drew up 
a memorandum on the subject, as also did Mr. Eardley-Wilmot, the 
late Inspector-General of Forests. Both these officers advocated the 
necessity of the more extensive utilization of these auxiliary species. 
Lastly, the Advisory Committee of the Royal Society in their letter to 
the India Office, dated 18th March 1909, represented the urgency of 
collecting all available data on this subject and pointed out the necessity 
of laying down definite lines along which enquiry should;be conducted. 
Enough has been said above to illustrate the importance of this sub¬ 
ject and the amount of attention that has already been given to it by the 
Government, the Railway authorities, and other interested parties both in 
India and in Europe. 
(2) SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT METHODS OF TREATING 
TIMBER WITH ANTISEPTICS. 
It is here only proposed to give a summary of the processes now in 
rise and to briefly compare their relative values one with another. In 
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