VARIETIES. 
175 
is  infused  into  every  department,  and  laudable  efforts  are  made  to  restore 
the  cheap  management  of  previous  years  ;  those  efforts  are  in  vain,  for  the 
skill  and  fidelity  of  their  officers  and  workmen  cannot  check  the  onward 
progress  of  perishable  material  to  its  destiny. 
Upon  the  25,000  miles  of  railway  lines  in  the  United  States,  it  is  here 
estimated  that  3125  miles  of  the  timber  superstructure  of  their  track  are 
annually  renewed,  requiring  an  outlay  of  3,500,000  dollars  to  furnish  the 
supply. 
These  prefatory  data  show  the  importance  of  seeking  some  effectual 
method  of  arresting  this  erroneous  waste  of  capital.  The  chief  obstacle  to 
this  end  has  been  the  great  outlay  required  in  the  outset  for  the  appara- 
tus employed  by  the  usual  process,  which  is  so  inconvenient  in  character 
as  to  preclude  their  adoption  in  the  construction  of  our  railroads.  These 
objections  of  expense  and  inconvenience  are  applicable  to  the  systems  of 
Kyan,  Bethell,  and  Sir  William  Burnett,  systems  which  have  been  adopt- 
ed upon  the  leading  works  of  Europe,  by  engineers  distinguished  alike  for 
their  genius  and  soundness  of  judgment. 
Kyan's  process  is  the  simple  immersion  of  the  timber  in  corrosive  sub- 
limate dissolved  in  water  •  it  requires  the  employment  of  two  tanks  or  res- 
ervoirs, into  one  of  which  the  solution  is  pumped  while  the  timber  is  being 
withdrawn. 
It  has  been  severely  tested  in  the  dock-yard  of  Woolwich,  and  has  been 
employed  with  success  in  the  Bavarian  state  railways.  The  writer  has 
not  been  able  to  find  any  evidence  against  its  efficacy. 
The  solution  is  an  expensive  one,  besides  being  an  active  poison,  which 
renders  its  adoption  dangerous. 
BethelPs  process  requires  a  strong  cylindrical  tank  of  iron,  a  steam  en- 
gine, an  air  pump,  a  force  pump,  and  a  large  wooden  cistern  or  reservoir 
— when  the  timber  is  placed  inside  the  cylinder,  which  is  air-tight,  a  vacu- 
um is  obtained,  and  the  solution,  which  is  either  coal  oil  or  pyroliguite  of 
iron;  is  forced  under  a  heavy  pressure  into  the  timber. 
It  has  been  successfully  employed  upon  the  Great  Western,  the  Bristol 
and  Exeter,  Manchester  and  Birmingham,  North  Eastern,  South  Eastern, 
Stockton  and  Darlington,  London  and  Birmingham,  and  Cologne  and  Min- 
den  railways.  It  has  received  the  endorsement  of  Robert  Stephenson, 
Brunei,  Bidder,  Braithwaite,  and  other  eminent  names. 
Sir  William  Burnett's  process  employs  the  chloride  of  zinc,  with  the 
same  apparatus  and  mode  of  operation  used  by  Bethell.  It  has  been  suc- 
cessfully tested  on  the  Hanoverian  and  the  Cologne  and  Minden  lines,  and 
has  been  used  on  the  Oxford,  Worcester  and  Wolverhampton,  the  Oxford 
and  Birmingham,  and  the  Vale  of  Neath  railways. 
Brunei  has  taken  an  active  part  in  its  introduction  on  the  public  works 
of  England. 
There  has  been  a  want  of  confidence  relative  to  the  treatment  of  timber 
by  other  systems.    The  processes  of  boiling  timber  or  heating  it  to  a  high 
