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Part II.] Pearson: Antiseptic Treatment of Timber. 
The question whether the timber is impregnated throughout by this 
process is a most important one. Prom records to hand it seems that it is 
so, especially in the case where moderate-sized scantlings have been treated. 
No doubt if large beams of hard-wood were treated, the duration of the 
period of boiling would have to be considerably longer than would be the 
case with pieces of small dimensions ; probably this would result in the 
cost of the treatment becoming excessive. 
Past Results obtained in treating Timber by the 
Powell Process. 
Much attention has been paid in recent years to this process, both by 
Government officials and by the public in India, as also by interested 
companies and firms in other parts of the world. 
The Powell Company in their various pamphlets give a number of 
records exhibiting the value of the process. Besides these records, which 
are of great value, much information is available from other sources, a 
precis of which is given below. 
Records of Tests carried out in Australia. 
The Chief Engineer, Western Australia Railways, sent the following 
letter, dated 30th May 1910, to the address of the Imperial Forest 
Economist, on the subject of Powellized sleepers for use on the Railways 
in that State :— 
“ Our experiments in respect of Powellizing have been principally in 
the treatment of Karri timbers for the prevention of dry rot. Some four 
years ago a number of processed Karri sleepers were placed in the line 
sandwiched in between sleepers badly affected with dry rot and have stood 
the test well, proving thoroughly resistant to the inroads of the fungus .” 
Note. —Plate I is an illustration from a photograph sent by the Chief Engineer, 
West Australian Railways, showing pieces of treated and untreated Karri, after having 
been laid down in the ground for five months. 
“The Public Works Department also has carried out exhaustive tests 
with Powellized timbers in the North-West of this State (where white- 
ants are particularly numerous and voracious), to determine the efficacy 
of the treated timber in resisting the attacks of the termites, with gene¬ 
rally satisfactory results.” 
( WO ) 
