April, 1892. 
FIGHTING THE DRY ROT, 
77 
more rapidly removed. Masses of this quartzite, weathering 
out into huge blocks, give to the ridge of the Stiper Stones 
its peculiar castellated aspect. 
These instances will suffice to show how much we are 
indebted to the forces that cause decay for the beauty of our 
Shropshire scenery. Valleys are lines of decay. Mountains 
are merely masses of stone that have decayed less rapidly. If 
the materials that made up the original crust of the globe 
had been imperishable, the surface of the earth would have 
remained a rocky wilderness for ever, and life would have been 
impossible. The volcanic rocks which probably formed the 
surface in the earliest times, were converted by the destruc¬ 
tive forces of Nature into the mud and sand that were carried 
into the bed of the seas, where many of the earlier forms of 
life found their home. The decay of volcanic rocks would 
also give origin to soils on which land plants could live. It 
is the decay of the surface crust, combined with the decay of 
animal and vegetable matter, that provides the soil on which 
we all depend for existence. All things, even life itself, end 
in decay, and decay in its turn gives birth to life. 
In pointing out thus briefly some of the functions of 
decay in the economy of Nature, I must not be understood to 
imply that decay is always a good thing. There are some 
things that never decay. The beautiful never decays ; justice, 
truth, love, are imperishable. 
To come near home. Let us hope that the Severn Valley 
Field Club will never decay. Institutions usually continue to 
live that are worth living. Inactivity ends in atrophy ; but 
the effort to do some solid work promotes vigour and growth. 
FIGHTING THE DRY ROT. 
BY W. B. GROVE, M.A. 
The mysterious way in which the dry rot (Merulius Ictchry- 
mans) seizes upon a house, and the enormous damage which it 
is capable of doing when unchecked, have led, in many cases, 
to my being- consulted about the best means of stamping it 
out, by those who had the task of fighting against it. A 
letter just received, narrating the issue of a successful combat, 
will, perhaps, be useful to those who feel a painful interest in 
this matter. It is written bv a builder who asked me in 1891 
•/ 
for advice, and thus relates the progress of affairs :— 
“ In May last I called upon you with reference to the 
fungus in wood floor and joists, &c., of room at Stanley Villa, 
