426 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
other gentlemen, took part, as to what kind and degree of vitality existed in plants 
and animals which had been for a long period secluded from the ordinary stimu¬ 
lants of vitality. 
The President related the fact that seeds had vegetated after being confined 
for the space of 2,000 years. He had also seen the Gordius and Filaria dried 
up and apparently dead, become alive by exposure to a damp atmosphere. 
Mr. Golding Bird stated that he had repeated Mr. Crosse’s experiments, 
but unsuccessfully. He had taken every precaution, and varied his experiments, 
but the results were always the same. He believed in the mode in which Mr. 
Crosse had prepared his solutions of silica that no silica was left in solution at all. 
He had performed his experiments in precisely the manner described by Mr. 
Crosse, submitting the solution to the action of the electrodes of the galvanic 
battery, by means of a cotton filter.'^ 
The Rev. F. W. Hope read a letter from Sir Thomas Phillips, on the subject 
of preserving books from the attacks of insects. The writer thought the paste 
was the principal object of attack. He had observed that the insects which 
attacked the books deposited their larvae in the wood of the library, and he there¬ 
fore placed several pieces of Beech wood smeared with paste in his library; and 
when he found, by the perforations in it, that the insect had deposited its ova, he 
removed the piece of wood and destroyed it; and he had thus succeeded in pro¬ 
tecting his books from further attacks. This insect was the Anohium striatum. 
He had two other Coleopterous insects in his library—a small black Beetle, and 
another six times as large, imported from Frankfort, belonging to the family 
CtirculionidcE^ and which deposited its ova in Oak wood. 
Mr. John Curtis observed that he believed the paste of books was not the 
only object of attack, as he had seen the leaves of books destroyed by insects. 
Several members then detailed their experience with regard to the preservation 
of objects in Natural History from the attacks of insects. Some placed great 
confidence in frequently exposing the specimens to turpentine. Some used 
nothing but camphor, whilst others had employed a spirituous solution of corro¬ 
sive sublimate with the greatest success. 
The President observed that his books had suffered greatly from the boring 
* From what passed at the above meeting there can be no doubt that Mr. Crosse had exposed 
the materials of his experiments to the deposition of the ova or larvae of the Acari, the most com¬ 
mon of which is the Acarus domestica that infects cheese. The ova of this insect is so small that, 
by computation, it is said, 90,000,000 may be contained in a space not larger than a Pigeon’s egg. 
There are two ways by which insects might have gained access to Mr. C.’s experiments:—1st, 
by being accidentally swept or blown from some substance containing them into the solution ; 
or, 2ndly, they miglit have been deposited on the cotton used as a filter in order to bring the 
solution in contact with the electrodes of the battery. 
