DRY 
DRY 
in one of my parlours, in fuch manner as to require the 
pulling down part of the wainfcot every third year, and 
perceiving that it arofe from a damp ft'agnated air, and 
from the moifture of the earth, l determined, in the 
month of June, 17S3, to build a narrow clofet next the 
wall through which the damp came to the parlour, which 
had the defired effedt; but, though it put a total (lop to 
the rot in the parlour, the evil foon appeared in the clo¬ 
fet ; fungi of a yellow colour arofe, to a great degree, in 
various parts of it. In the autumn of the year 1786, the 
clofet was locked up about ten weeks; on opening it, 
numerous fungi were obl'erved about the lower part of 
it, and a white mould was fpread by a plant refembling 
a vine or fea-weed, and the whole of the infide, china, &c. 
was covered with a fine powder of the colour of brick- 
duft. It being then cleaned out, I foon perceived that the 
evil had impregnated the wood fo far as to run through 
every fhelf therein, and the brackets that fupported them; 
it had alfo feized upon, and deflroyed, a moveable board 
for breaking fugar on. I therefore, in the beginning of 
the year 1787, determined to drip the whole clofet of 
lining and floor, and not leave a particle of the wood be¬ 
hind ; and alfo to dig and take away about two feet of 
the earth in depth, and leave the walls to dry, fo as to de- 
ttroy the roots or feeds of the evil. When, by time, and 
the admiflion of air, and good brufhing, it had become 
fufficiently dry and cleanfed, I filled if, of fufficient 
height for my joifts, with anchor-fmith’s afhes ; knowing 
that no vegetable would grow in them. My joifts being 
fawed off to their proper lengths, and fully prepared, 
they and the plates were well charred, and laid upon the 
afhes ; particular directions being given that not any 
fcantling or board might be cut or planed in the place, 
Jell any dull: or (havings might drop among the alhes. 
My flooring-boards being very dry, I caufed them to be 
laid clofe, to prevent the dirt getting down, which I 
thought in a courfe of time might bring on vegetation. 
The framing for lining the clofet was then fixed up, hav¬ 
ing all the lower pannels let in to be fattened with but¬ 
tons only; that, in cafe any vegetation (hould arife, the 
pannels might with eafe be taken out to examine them. 
This having now been done upwards of fix years, and no 
vegetation or damp appearing, the whole of the pannels 
and floor remaining in the fame (late as when firft put in, 
I (hall have a fatisfatlion in taking a part of the floor 
up, if the fociety think proper to appoint a committee to 
examine the place.” 
In confequei.ce of the foregoing letter, a committee was 
appointed by the fociety, to examine and repoit the ttate 
of the clofet, who met on the 15th of May, 1794; the 
wainfcot being taken down, and the flooring-boards taken 
up, they were all found entirely free from any appear¬ 
ance of the rot; and from all the circumttances then ob- 
ferved, it was the opinion of the committee, that the 
method advifed by Mr. Batfon, when fully and complete¬ 
ly put in execution, appeared to have anfwered every 
intention mentioned in his letter ; and this opinion feented 
the more juftly founded, as two pieces of wood (yellow 
fir) which had been driven into the wall as plugs, with¬ 
out being previoufly charred, were affedted by the rot. 
The fociety, however, appear not to feel latisfied that 
the above experiment detects the radical caufe of the 
evil; and therefore, in their TranfaCtions of the year 1802, 
vol. xx. p. 32, they award “ To the perfon who (hall dif- 
cover to the fociety the caufe of the dry-rot in timber, 
and difclofe a certain method of prevention fiuperior to 
any hitherto known, the gold medal, or thirty guineas.” 
To DRY-RUB, v. a. To rub clean without wetting : 
At twelve years old the fprightly youth is able 
To turn a pancake, or dry-rub a table. Anon, in Dodjlcy. 
DRY'ADES, nymphs that prefided over the woods. 
Oblations of milk, oil, and honey, were offered to them; 
and fometimes the votaries facrificed a goat. Virgil .— 
They are ufually painted of a brown or tawny complexion, 
hair thick like mofs, and their garments of a dark green. 
Vol. VI. No. 333. 
93 
DRYAN'DR A, f. [fo named by Thttnberg fn honour 
of his friend Jonas Dryander , M. A. a Swede, and mod 
excellent botanift; now librarian to fir Jofeph Banks, 
and the Royal and Linnasan Societies.] In botany, a ge¬ 
nus of the clafs dioecia, order tnonodelphia, natural or¬ 
der tricoccae, (euphorbiae, JuJJ.) The generic characters 
are—I. Male. Calyx: perianthiunt two-leaved: divi- 
fions ovate, acute, ttiorter than the corolla. Corolla five- 
petalled ; petals obovate-oblong, from reflex patulous, 
ungiticular. Stamina : filaments nine, united below into 
one body, unequal, fhorter by half than the corolla; an¬ 
ther* minute. II. Female. Pericarpium: tricoccous or 
tetracoccous, three-grooved or four-grooved, wrinkled, 
flefhy. Seeds: folitary, oblong. What Thunberg calls 
the corolla, Juflieu names the calyx.— Ejfential Character. 
Calyx two-leaved 3 corolla five-petalled ; (or, calyx five¬ 
leaved, refembling a corolla, furrounded by a two or 
three-leaved calycle ;) ftamina nine ; fruit three or four¬ 
grained. 
Dryandra cordata, or wrinkled dryandra. Stem arbo¬ 
reous, a fathom or more in height. Branches round, with 
a wrinkled back, dotted, fmooth. Leaves at the ends of 
the twigs, approximate, alternate, petioled, cordate, 
acute, entire, five-nerved, the nerves branching, fmooth, 
paler underneath, fpreading, ahand in length and breadth. 
Flowers yellow. From the feeds they exprefs an oil for 
lamps, and the table. The elasococca of Commerfon, 
commonly called arbre d'Anile, or oil-tree, if not the fame 
with this, is of this genus. By Thunberg obferved in 
Japan, where it is called abrafm. 
DRY'AS, f. [fo called by Linnaeus, from the Dryades t 
or nymphs of the oaks; the leaves bearing fome refem- 
blance to thofe of the oak.] In botany, a genus of the 
clafs icofandria, order polygynia, natural order of fenti- 
cofae, (rofaceae, JuJJ.) The generic characters are—Calyxr- 
perianthittm one-leafed, eight-parted; divifions fpread¬ 
ing, linear, obtufe, equal, a little ttiorter than the co¬ 
rolla. Corolla: petals eight, oblong, emarginate, fpread¬ 
ing, inferted into the calyx. Stamina: filaments nume¬ 
rous, capillary, Ihort, inferted into the calyx ; anther* 
fmall. Pittillum : germs many, crowded, fmall; ftyles 
capillary, inferted into the fide of the germ; ftigmas Am¬ 
ple. Pericarpium: none. Seeds: numerous, rounditti, 
compreffed, furriifhed with extremely long woolly ttyles. 
—Ejfential Character. Calyx five to ten-cleft; petals five to 
eight; feeds tailed, hairy. 
Species. 1. Dryas anemonoides, or five-petalled dryas: 
five-petalled ; leaves pinnate, with all the pin.nas diftinft. 
This is a very fmall plant, native of Siberia; the radical 
leaves are commonly ternate, compound, confittingofa 
middle leaflet longer than the reft, and two lateral ones: 
fometimes the leaves have more than three divifions; 
they are of a bright green, and very fmooth ; the foot- 
ftalk is round ; the (talk is terminated"by a iingle flower, 
which is large in proportion ; the calyx is outwardly 
green, and inwardly lanuginous, and of a filvery appear¬ 
ance ; the corolla is pale yellow, the petals ftriated; the 
ttamens are extremely numerous, and fhort; the germs 
converge into a globe, and are coated with a white down. 
2. Dryas oCtopetala, or eight-petalled dryas: eight- 
petalled; leaves Ample. This delicate ever-green plant, 
with its fnow-white blolibins, is a great ornament to al¬ 
pine heights. T. he ftalk and branches are woody and 
perennial, lying flat upon the ground, and fpreading wide 
about the root in tufts. Leaves ever-green, ovate, turned 
back at the edge, ending very obtufely, gnd fometimes 
emarginate, deeply and bluntly ferrate, or more properly 
crenate, wrinkled on the upper fide, and hoary under¬ 
neath, having woolly foot-ftalks, and a large hulbert- 
fhaped ttiptile to each, embracing the Hem. The ttrudture 
of the ttipules renders this genus the connecting link be¬ 
tween rofa and the reft of the fenticolat. Viilars fays, it 
has the leaves of germander, the petals and fruit of ane¬ 
mone, the calyx and ttamens of geuni, with which genus 
it might be united. It foi*ns large tufts, like arbutus aL 
pina, but the leaves are crenate and fmaller, and the 
B b fiower* 
