MEANS  OF  RENDERING  TIMBER  INCOMBUSTIBLE.  325 
be  found  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify  some  trouble  by  those 
in  the  right  place  to  have  weight  in  the  matter.  My  talented 
and  respected  friend,  Professor  Crace  Calvert,  suggests  the  use 
of  sulphate  of  ammonia  (an  excessively  cheap  salt)  to  be  applied 
to  such  things  as  curtains,  carpets,  &c,  after  every  cleaning. 
Professor  Abel  has  lately  drawn  attention  to  this  subject  at 
Woolwich,  and  a  patent  has  been  taken  out  (as  is  always  done 
directly  public  attention  is  drawn  to  a  fact,  however  long  known 
before  to  scientific  men,  though  never  really  applied)  for  a  modi- 
fication of  this  silicate  of  soda  and  its  application.  One  thing 
occurred  to  me ;  that  if  the  whole  structure  of  the  timber  could 
be  impregnated  with  the  protecting  substance,  it  would  be  bene- 
ficial, and  borrowing  a  scrap  of  Kyan's  Invention,  I  fancied  his 
cylinders  and  steam,  vacuum,  and  so  on,  could  be  applied  to 
this  end,  merely  substituting  silicate  of  soda  for  his  anteseptic 
compound ;  and  after  entertaining  this  idea  with  myself  and  a 
friend  for  a  month  or  two,  I  am  gratified  to  see  the  thing  already 
in  practice  by  Lieutenant  Jackson. 
There  is  one  thing  that  suggests  itself  to  me,  and  that  is,  that 
the  cost  of  apparatus,  &c,  besides  greatly  additional  trouble, 
would,  also,  create  great  prejudice  against  its  adoption.  The 
object,  then,  of  this  communication,  is  principally  to  suggest 
what  I  fancy  is  at  least  worth  trying  by  those  having  power  to 
do  so — that  before  the  tree  is  felled  a  hole  be  bored  in  its  trunk 
through  the  bark  straight  to  the  heart  or  pith;  that  a  vacuum  be 
then  partially  created  in  its  cells  and  arteries,  by  the  exhaustion 
of  the  sap  and  the  introduction  of  a  solution  of  silicate  of  pot- 
assa,  or  soda  in  its  place. 
Will  not  the  silicate  gradually  and  surely  deposit  itself  in 
every  interstice  of  the  fibre  of  the  wood  without  any  further 
trouble?  As  I  conceive  such  events  as  those  of  Gilbert  Street, 
&c,  behove  all  to  do  their  mite,  I  beg  leave  respectfully  to  sug- 
gest this  idea  to  the  consideration  of  those  better  able  to  judge 
of  its  value  than  myself,  and  to  conclude  in  the  well-known 
words,  «  Non  omnia  omnes  possumus,"  leaving  the  question  to 
be  answered  by  those  capable  of  doing  so. — London  Chemist, 
May,  1858. 
