PHILOSOPHIC AND PRACTICAL 
 
 INQUIRY 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 NATURE AND CONSTITUTION 
 
 OF 
 
 TIMBER; 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSES AND 
 ORIGIN OF THE DRY ROT; 
 
 SOME IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS, INTRODUCTORY 
 TO THE SUGGESTION OF A BETTER METHOD 
 FOR SEASONING TIMBER; 
 
 A PROPOSAL TOR EFFECTUALLY PRESERVING TIMBER 
 AGAINST EVER CONTRACTING THE DRY 
 ROT, OR INTERNAL DECAY; 
 
 ^ AND THE PARTICULARS AND RESULT OF A SET QF 
 SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS MADE, AND TENDING 
 TO ESTABLISH THE AUTHENTICITY OF 
 THE ABOVE PROPOSAL. 
 
 « J'AI BONNE CAUSE/' 
 
 By JOHN LINGARD, 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 1820. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The Author begs to state, that the purport of this Treatise is,^ to 
 submit to the Government of this country, and to the Public at 
 large, a remedy, to stop that dreadful disease in Timber, called the 
 Dry Rot, as also, a palliative to prevent the premature decay of 
 Timber in general i which has been prosecuted by the Author, at 
 great Individual expense arid labor, for the last two years, upon a 
 series of experiments and study not to be controverted. 
 
 This Treatise is not given to the public as a disclosure of the 
 remedy, or as a perfect literary composition, but as matter of fact; 
 and to solicit that patronage, either public or private, as will enable 
 the Author to establish this national desideratum, of such import- 
 ance to the country. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 So many have been the authors, who have unsuccessfully proposed 
 to themselves the accomplishment of the object to which the pre- 
 sent undertaking is directed, and so great has been the difficulty of 
 the subject itself, that some persons will probably, from those very 
 circumstances, be perhaps inclined to consider the present as only 
 a similar attempt to effect what they may, though very erroneously, 
 suppose an impossibility; and consequently will, without reading, 
 reject it. 
 
 But to such persons it is apparently necessary to observe, that, 
 in all cases, and in all inventions, many unsuccessful attempts have 
 preceded that which has at length established itself by the strong- 
 est evidence of reason and facts; and that, till the actual reception 
 of this last, the subject has been regarded by all, or the greatest 
 part of the rest of mankind, as unattainable. These previous dis- 
 couragements have not, however, beenxjf sufficient avail to determine 
 better informed persons from exerting their endeavours on other 
 principles ; and it is for the interest of the world at large, that sin- 
 cere and well-weighed attempts, founded on rational grounds, 
 should be at least so far encouraged in the first instance, as to have 
 a fair opportunity afforded for trying the merit of their pretensions 
 to success. What, for example, would have been the state of all 
 the arts, if successive attempts at improvement, at different times, 
 on rational grounds, had never been made or encouraged ? or, what 
 must have been the condition of literature or science in general, if 
 one opinion, however erroneous, was not to be questioned or ex- 
 amined, because it had antiquity to boast ? or another, however 
 correct, was not to be received or admitted, because it had never 
 
358 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 [4 
 
 occurred to the minds of authors who had florished more than 
 two thousand years ago ? 
 
 Every man of sense and candor must see, it is as great an impu- 
 tation on his understanding, not to admit or perceive the force of 
 an argument well proved by all the rules of logic and reason, as it 
 would be to credit and give assent to one wholly destitute of those 
 supports. And, although it is not uncommon in these times to 
 hear persons endeavouring to defend groundless assertions, which 
 they have hastily, incautiously, and inconsiderately made, merely 
 because they cannot bring themselves to admit the possibility of 
 their having before been mistaken in their opinions-, yet it is 
 evident, that this conduct, instead of raising, tends to ruin their 
 reputation for abilities, with all who can think justly on the sub- 
 ject; because they are obliged to profess, as they invariably do, 
 that they canaot discern what is, perhaps, perfectly clear to every 
 one else. Nothing is, or can be, so injurious to science or intelli- 
 gence of all kinds, as fallacious arguments ; because, by their means, 
 the investigation of truth, instead of being promoted and assisted, 
 is rendered more difficult and laborious. But, on the contrary, it 
 is but justice to acknowledge, that in the instance of the Government, 
 and those in public situations in this country, although from the 
 multitude of unfounded applications they have been obliged to be 
 cautious, yet when once a decided ground of probability for success 
 has been established, they have always been ready to attend to sug- 
 gestions for material and substantial improvements. 
 
 Considering its magnitude and importance to this country at 
 large, it is hoped that, in the present instance, men of science, and 
 those in situations affording the means and power of making expe- 
 riments, as well as requiring In their nature, that all possible bene- 
 ficial improvements should be made within their several depart- 
 ments, will see the necessity of judging coolly and deliberately 5 
 and that they will, in consequence, candidly lay aside all former 
 impressions, arising from the present mode of conducting the pro- 
 cess for seasoning timber for ship-building in this or any other 
 country, or the unsuccessful schemes hitherto proposed to preserve 
 it from decay. It is also trusted, that they will first examine, (and 
 with the more attention and stricter scrutiny, the better,) the facts 
 and principles on which the present proposal rests : and if they find 
 it, as it is believed they will, fully supported, that they will exert 
 themselves to the utmost, in endeavouring to obtain or afford the 
 means of subjecting it to the necessary decisive experiments on a 
 larger scale, for the purpose of establishing its merit ; and adopting 
 the remedy, if its utility is satisfactorily proved. 
 
 Jf professional gentlemen in the use of timber would only turn 
 
5] 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 359 
 
 their eyes to the emporium of magnificent buildings in foreign 
 parts, win they not be convinced, that the long duration of tim- 
 ber was the grand cause for such magnificent erections ? Seldom 
 or ever wanting repair, consequently one stupendous pile was 
 erected after the other. If, with a little expense, the timber of 
 this country, as well as that brought from foreign parts, can be 
 made as durable now as in those times, may not the same spirit for 
 magnificence arise in this country ? There Is no article of more 
 interest and consequence to Great Britain, than timber, both for 
 ship and other building; yet there is no article so neglected in 
 study or practice to Improve its durability; and it is often half de- 
 cayed before brought into use. 
 
A 
 
 PHILOSOPHIC AND PRACTICAL 
 
 INQUIRY 
 
 SECTION L 
 
 ON THE EXISTENCE AND PREVALENCE OF DECAY IN TIMBER. 
 
 No person, it is supposed, can be so little acquainted with Natu- 
 ral History, as to be ignorant that, although the progress of growth 
 in timber trees is slow and gradual, yet, when once arrived at ma- 
 turity, its advances to decay are abundantly rapid. Nor is it ima- 
 gined necessary to inform any one of the fact of the actual existence 
 of the disease in timber, denominated the Dry Rot y or to remind 
 him, how often it has occasioned expensive litigations between 
 builders and their employers, in order, when it has occurred, to 
 ascertain and determine on whom the loss and expense, which it 
 has produced, ought, in justice and reason, to fall : but it may be, 
 perhaps, matter of new and original intelligence to many persons, 
 to be told, that this evil exists, to an astonishing extent, among the 
 shipping in this and all other countries in Europe, whether employed 
 in the Navy, or for commercial purposes ; that no building, in 
 which timber is used, is secure from it, even though the timber 
 has previously undergone the usual process of seasoning ; and that^ 
 a remedy for it, in the case of the Navy of this country alone, 
 would prove, as has been ascertained on an accurate computation, 
 a saving, in the short period of every fourteen years, of not less 
 than twenty millions, at a time when this country is at war. 
 
 By persons best acquainted with the subject, it has been ascer- 
 tained that, on an average, every ship in the Navy, and in the Mer- 
 
7] 
 
 Mr. Lingard's Inquiry^ S^c. 
 
 361 
 
 chant service of this country, trading to the East or West, or any 
 hot climate, is, in consequence of repairs from time to time made, 
 for the purpose of taking out decayed planks and replacing them 
 with new and sound, very nearly wholly rebuilt in the course of 
 fourteen years. Besides this, it is not uncommon to see a stupen- 
 dous ship, which has cost the owners fifty thousand pounds in build- 
 ing, condemned to be broken up in a few years ; — comparatively 
 few, when we consider that timber is of nearly 200 years growth 
 before it is fit for large ships. 
 
 Even in private life, it is no less frequent to find, that whenever 
 a nobleman or gentleman has been at the expense of building or 
 purchasing a noble mansion for his residence, the purchase money 
 has been only a part of what he has had to pay ; for the building 
 has been subject to the dry rot, and, in a very short space of time 
 •he has had to expend as much more in repairs, in order to remove 
 decayed timbers, and supply their places with sound. 
 
 Any discovery or invention, which would in any considerable 
 degree lessen these evils, by retarding, even for a few years, the 
 decay of timber, would so far be entitled to encouragement ; but 
 one, if it could be found, which should efFectually stop it, by dis- 
 uniting the principles from which the decay of timber must arise, 
 cannot be too highly praised, or too strongly recommended. That 
 such a discovery is still within the reach of possibility, and even of 
 probability, notwithstanding the failures of those who have hitherto 
 professed to suggest a remedy, it is reasonably presumed will be 
 fuliy demonstrated in the course of the ensuing pages ; and that 
 such an one has been actually found, will, it is imagined, be no 
 less evident, from consulting and weighing the experiments here- 
 after stated :— it is not the mere hasty suggestion of the moment, 
 but the result of deliberate investigation. Every experiment, that 
 could be suggested, has been tried 5 and although those stated are 
 only a small part of what have been made, because it would have 
 been too tedious to have inserted the whole, yet it may with truth 
 be asserted, that in no one instance has any failure occurred. And to 
 such an extent has the desire for ascertaining the facts been car- 
 ried, that gentlemen of the best abilities and information, chemists 
 of the first celebrity and talents, and others in various departments, 
 have been, at diflerent times, consulted on the surest methods of 
 evidencing the positions on which it rests. It has stood them all ; 
 and it is conceived that these tests are decisive, and justify its 
 author in asserting, that the desideratum is at length obtained, and 
 that the advantages arising from it will be of the first and highest 
 importance. Some of these will be found hereafter pointed out ; 
 but to anticipate all the modes in which timber or wood may he 
 
S62 Mr. Liijgard's Inquiry into the [8 
 
 applied, and consequently to state the whole extent of the benefit, 
 is not, perhaps, within the compass of possibility. 
 
 SECTION IL 
 
 ON THE CAUSES OF THE INTERNAL DECAY OF TIMBER. 
 
 The principal reason why former attempts have not generally suc- 
 ceeded has been, that their authors have not considered the primi- 
 tive question in its full extent, but have taken it up only just at 
 that part when decay appears, in which it was evident that the 
 application of some remedy was necessary ; though, it is plain from 
 their failure, that they had no idea of what kind the relief ought to 
 have been. They have not endeavoured to trace the cause and 
 source of the evil, by an investigation of the circumstances attend- 
 ing the growth of the tree, from the time when it first begins to 
 shoot up from the earth, or the decay of it, since it arrived to ma- 
 turity ; but have confined themselves solely to the object of stop- 
 ping its progress, by the application of some palliative, which 
 might, for a time, counteract or retard putridity. They were not 
 aware, that the natural constitution of the tree might, perhaps, pro- 
 duce some principle hostile to that on which their system was 
 founded : nor have they been sensible, that the union of two 
 principles, innoxious in themselves, might produce a third by no 
 means of the same nature ; and that, although their proposed re- 
 medy might not be calculated to increase either of the two first, 
 it might yet prove ineffectual to prevent the production of the last, 
 and so be defeated in its intention. 
 
 To avoid a similar inconvenience in the present case, the nature, 
 constitution, and growth of timber and other trees, in all their 
 various stages of progress, either to maturity or subsequent decay, 
 have been most assiduously studied and examined ; and the inquiry 
 has produced the following observations as its result, which, as being 
 the only solid foundation on which a remedy can be applied with 
 any hopes of success, are here communicated. 
 
 The laws of matter and motion, of gravity and attraction, are by ^ 
 no means peculiar to the solar system, but equally prevail in the 
 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms also \ and without the 
 assistance of the laws of motion, no phenomenon in nature can be 
 successfully investigated or explained. 
 
 Now, the first law of motion is, that all bodies have an equal in- 
 difference to motion or rest, and therefore require some other power 
 
9] 
 
 Nature and Constitution of Timber. 
 
 363 
 
 to put them into either of those situations. If once at rest they con- 
 tinue so till some power, acting upon them, sets them in motion ; 
 and when once put in motion, they persist in it, moving in the 
 direction of a straight line, unless some other power interposes 
 to check their motion, and set them at rest. Till this power occurs, 
 their motion will still continue the same as at first, even after the 
 power, which set them in motion, is removed ; for the power of 
 motion, having been once communicated, does not require constant 
 application or continuance, unless some impediment, such as the 
 air, &c. be encountered. 
 
 The second law of motion is, that the degree of motion is al- 
 ways commensurate to the force applied ; and that the change, 
 from rest to motion, or from motion to rest, is never sudden, but 
 gradual, from one degree to a less, and so ultimately to the con- 
 trary of its original situation ; and that the proportion of these 
 minor degrees is always adequate to the power opposed. A body 
 at rest, when acted upon by any power, yields to that power, be- 
 cause it has not the contrary faculty or quality of resistance : it 
 moves in the same straight line in which the force applied is direct- 
 ed, and acquires a greater degree of velocity in proportion to the 
 greater degree of the force of th^ power applied ; so that, if the 
 power be increased to twice its original force, it will communicate 
 a double degree of velocity to the object on which it acts. If its 
 power be advanced to three times, the velocity will be increased to 
 three times also. 
 
 To apply these principles to the present purpose, it is only neces- 
 sary to observe, that, by the action and power of fermentation, the 
 effect of heat and moisture united, the vegetation of a tree is set 
 in motion, and that heat and moisture are the vital principles for 
 the growth and nourishment of the tree : by a chemical union they 
 produce fermentation, which creates motion, and would, in itself, 
 destroy the tree, if it were not for a continual supply of cool matter 
 from the roots, and the faculty of discharging, by evaporation, all 
 the superfluities of heat and moisture in perspiration, thus prevent- 
 ing putridity. 
 
 But when the tree is cut down, although it contains the quality 
 of being acted upon by heat and moisture, it loses those powers, 
 from the want of a supply of the juices from the roots, and the 
 faculty of discharging, by evaporation, the superfluities of heat 
 and moisture, from which putridity proceeds ; the consequence is 
 decay. 
 
 The motion of the juices is as necessary for the preservation of 
 the growth of the tree,, as rest, in the same matter, is necessary for 
 the preservation of the timber, when cut down. If the former is 
 
364 
 
 Mr. Lingard^s Inquiry into the 
 
 [10 
 
 stopped, the tree dies : if the latter is set in motion by fermenta- 
 tion, the timber rots. 
 
 Heat and moisture, when in unison, never fail to produce fermen- 
 tation in the juices of timber \ and the property of fermentation is 
 to expand, distend, and dilate the tree, when growing, and to cause 
 corruption and putrefaction, after it is cut down* In both cases it 
 is the same principle, motion by fermentation, which occasions the 
 effect ; and that only by the same means and method, the motion 
 or agitation of the juices. 
 
 Matter and motion are still further exemplified, in the case of the 
 vegetable kingdom, by the circumstance that, in all its productions, 
 from the tenderest flower upwards to the sturdy oak, they are pro- 
 pagated by portions of matter comparatively very small \ such as 
 merely a seed, or a slip, or cutting, which, if not sown or planted, 
 would remain at rest ; but, when sown or planted, the power of 
 vegetation sets their juices in motion; and this motion, however 
 small in degree, will not stop or cease, without some cause to 
 impede it. Frost, and the chill of winter, will, for a time, check 
 vegetation, till the sun has acquired sufficient power to set it again 
 in motion : and thus it is, by the power of setting vegetation in 
 motion in the juices, that the tree grows and expands \ and, from 
 % mere shoot or acorn, in the case of the oak, becomes, in the space 
 of about two centuries, a stupendous and magnificent tree. 
 
 While the juices of the tree proceed in their natural direction, 
 and the same proportions of heat and moisture, as settled by nature, 
 are preserved, which, of course, they in general are, so long as the 
 tree is standing and growing, the effect is visible in the consequent 
 health, improvement, and increase of bulk, and also in the produc- 
 tion of the external foliage peculiar to its kind or species : but, if the 
 course of its circulation be impeded or checked, or the quantities and 
 proportions of these principles of heat and moisture be varied, as 
 they sometimes are, by the intervention of some accident, when 
 growing, and, more usually, after it is cut down, the consequence 
 is seen in a deviation from the usual mode, by decay, sometimes by 
 the production of fungi, a species of spungy excrescence or protube- 
 rance, affording a certain sign of the approach of internal putridity : 
 for, in this last case especially, the tree, when cut down, does not 
 lose the principles of vegetation, but they remain, perhaps, for a 
 time, inactive, though certainly capable of being set in motion, till at 
 length they are forced into action by a change of temperature, or the 
 exposure to different elements : and this naturally leads to the con- 
 sideration of the point as to equality of temperature, and the effect 
 produced v/hen that is not the case ; from which it will be decidedly 
 shown, that the premature decay of timber is occasioned by its own 
 internal acetous matter in fermentation ; and its decomposition or 
 
11] Nature and Constitution of Timber. 365 
 
 destruction effected, by the circumstance of the concrete juices being 
 forced again into motion by some accident, or by some change, 
 which has taken place in the relative proportions of heat and mois- 
 ture, which will be explained in the next section. 
 
 The construction of timber is not sufficiently studied, so as to 
 account for the longer durability of some ships to others ; and more 
 particularly to those which have been noticed for their length of ser- 
 vice, viz. the Royal Sovereign, Royal William, &c. The above two 
 ships were built by royal order : the timber was particularly select- 
 ed from an immense stock, of which at that time England could boast. 
 It is evident, from the following extract, very large timber was select- 
 ed, which will lead to, and prove the point, which I wish to esta- 
 lish, that the centre of the tree is the most prone to decay, although 
 no appearance of decay is visible when the tree is cut down. 
 
 Extract, — In «^ a description of his Majesty's ship Royal Sove- 
 reign, built at Woolwich in the year 1637, to the glory of our Eng- 
 lish nation, and not to be parallelled in the whole Christian world, 
 one thing is particularly worthy of remark at least, if not of admira- 
 tion (her timbers) 5 one oak tree made four of the principal beams 
 of this great ship." — In the year 1684?, which is 47 years after she 
 was built, her planks were stripped off, and the original timbers 
 that were then remaining in her were sound, and no easy matter 
 to drive a nail/' 
 
 The centre of all vegetables is the tenderest part : and in the very 
 centre of a tree lies the circle of propagation which, if possible, 
 should always be cut out, as it is the first part to decay, after the 
 sap. A beam made of one whole tree, may be stronger than one 
 of the same size cut out of large timber ; but if a tree is large enough 
 to have one or two saw-cuts down the centre, the circle of propaga- 
 tion is cut out, or laid open to season, therefore beams and other 
 scantling cut out of large timber are not so liable to decay ; which 
 I conceive is proved in the case of the Royal Sovereign, and no 
 doubt was the case with the Royal William, &c. Hill, on the con- 
 struction of timber, is very elaborate on this subject. He proves 
 that all new shoots protrude from the very centre of the branch, and 
 that in the very centre of the trunk and the branches, the same 
 component parts of the tree lie in embryo ; that is, in the very centra 
 is a circle, consisting of rind, bark, sap, and heart, ready to protrude 
 whenever nature calls them forth : this circle is what has often been 
 erroneously taken for the pith; and when the tree has arrived at ma- 
 turity, it is the^ first part to become rotten : hence, hollow trees, 
 and the cause of beams and girders being often rotten, when the 
 smaller scantlings are sound : this circle contains more acid in pro- 
 portion, consequently more subject to fermentation. 
 
 It is proved by Mr. Goetling, in CrelFs Chemical Journal, 1779, 
 
366 
 
 Mr. Lingard^s Inquire/ into the 
 
 [12 
 
 that all timber contains, more or less, the same kind of acid, which 
 is chiefly composed of hydrogen and charcoal. 
 
 There can be no doubt, but it is the acid that causes fermentation 
 in timber, when placed in a situation favorable to create it— which 
 it is the property of my process to prevent. 
 
 My opinions upon the cause and effect of premature decay, and 
 the various causes of decomposition in timber, may appear new, 
 particularly to those who have fallen in with the old opinion ; still, 
 should the opinions of others be considered more consistent, as to 
 the origin of the disease, my remedy to effect the preservation of 
 timber is the same : I have only to observe, my experiments bear 
 me out, and support my opinions ; and that my rules are grounded, 
 according to Sir Isaac Newton's lesson, « by just inductions from 
 experiments and observations, to discover the laws of nature, and 
 then to apply those laws to the solution of the phsenomena in ques- 
 tion.*' 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF EXPOSURE, IN THE CASE OF TIMBER, 
 TO INE^^UALITY OF TEMPERATURE OR ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 A TREE, while growing, is, at all seasons of the year, exposed to 
 two different degrees of temperature at the very same instant ; for 
 the part above the ground is subjected to one degree of atmosphere, 
 while the roots, and that below it, are as certainly placed in another. 
 In winter the roots are in the warmest, and the upper part in the 
 coolest temperature or situation ; and frost and cold, by checking, in 
 the upper part, the necessary heat, put a temporary cessation to the 
 progress of vegetation, so as to reduce it almost to rest. The utmost, 
 therefore, which the roots can do, secured, as they are, from the incle- 
 mencies of the weather and the severities of frost, by being buried in 
 the ground, is to preserve, in nearly a state of comparative inactivity, 
 a supply of those principles of heat and moisture, in their necessary 
 proportions, which may afterwards be set in motion, when the return 
 of summer and genial warmth shall restore to the upper part of the 
 tree the activity of vegetation. If it were not thus, the tree must die/ 
 for want of the necessary materials to sustain it ; and it is the 
 absence of this supply, and that renovation from the earth, of which 
 the tree is deprived, when it is cut down, and consequently severed 
 from the earth, its parent, that prevents a tree, when cut down, 
 from vegetating as when standing. The reason, therefore, why the 
 vegetation of the tree is checked in the winter, is this, that by the 
 
13] 
 
 Nature and Constitution of Timber. 367 
 
 wet the moisture is increased, and by the cold the heat abated ; so 
 that the proportion of the former is rendered greater, and that of the 
 latter less, by which means the relative proportion, established by 
 nature, as necessary for the progress of the growth of the tree, be- 
 comes destroyed. 
 
 In the summer, the situations are exactly reversed ; for then the 
 roots are in the coolest station, as being protected from fhe heat 
 of the sun, and the upper parts of the tree are in the warmest, as 
 being exposed to its rays. And as this tends to relax the rigidity 
 and stiiFness of the fibres of the tree, and to counteract the effect of 
 the cold in the upper parts, by opening those pores which the cold 
 had closed, and expelling that moisture with which they had been 
 filled, the proportion of moisture, which the tree had acquired in 
 the winter, becomes lessened, and the heat increased ; so as to 
 restore the necessary vegetative power. Vegetation is, therefore, 
 then active, and the operations of nature are exerted in full 
 force. 
 
 It is evident, that, in this process, the juices entei* the roots in 
 a cool and unfermented state ; and are permitted to ascend, accord- 
 ing to their nature and aptitude for that purpose, through capillary 
 tubes, to the top of the tree and the extremities of its branches, 
 which they cannot effect in winter, because the stiffness and want 
 of elasticity in the fibres, occasioned by the operation of the cold, 
 produce a degree of resistance to the ascent of the fluid of the 
 juices, which that fluid is unable to overpower. But, in summer, 
 the warmth of the sun opens the pores of the upper part of the 
 tree, relaxes its fibres, and removes that impediment to the ascent 
 of the juices by which they had before been checked. The juices 
 of the tree, in their passage to its summit, and to the extremity of 
 its branches, naturally acquire the principles and nature of the tree, 
 so as to give them a tendency and propensity to produce one kind of 
 foliage, in preference to another; and, as what is thus communica- 
 ted from each tree must, of course, bear a relation to its own species 
 rather than to any other, the juices, thus impregnated, become 
 capable of producing that kind of foliage peculiar to the species of 
 tree through which they have passed. 
 
 As motion is the cause of friction, and friction produces heat, , 
 which may, in the instance of solid bodies, be so increased as to burst 
 out into a fiame, so fermentation is, in the case of vegetable pro- 
 ductions, the consequence of heat and moisture united and confined; 
 and hence must arise, from the over action and exertion of the 
 parts, a degree of heat which would infallibly tend to putrefaction, 
 were it not, that the juices, which, when acted upon, emit their 
 superfluous heat by exhalation and perspiration, and receive and 
 admit in exchange, through the valves, which operate as pumps, a 
 
368 
 
 Mr. Lingard's Inquiry into the 
 
 sufficient portion of cool and fresh air to counteract any such effect. 
 Fermentation is, therefore, the principle of action in the juices, and 
 the cause of vegetation 5 and, when thus corrected by the immission 
 of fresh air, the health of the tree is preserved. During this ac- 
 tive state of vegetation, the tree is under the influence of a high and 
 low temperature : the roots are about 40, and the branches, &c. 
 from 60 to 80 ; and, according to the different degrees of tempe- 
 rature, so is the slow or vigorous motion in vegetation created. 
 
 Similar causes must always be attended with similar consequen- 
 ces, so long as the bodies, to be acted upon*, continue to possess the 
 same qualities. And it is certainly true, that between a tree stand- 
 ing and growing, and one felled and cut down, there can be no 
 essential change or difference of the principles and elements 
 of which it is composed. In both cases it h capable of being 
 acted upon by heat and moisture, though it no longer retains, when 
 cut down, as in the instance of the tree when standing, the power 
 or faculty of expelling, by exhalation or perspiration, the superfluous 
 heat occasioned by the over action of fermentation. Unless, 
 therefore, that power can be set at rest, and the effect of heat and 
 moisture be in themselves destroyed, or some counteracting medium 
 be interposed, so as to prevent the operation of heat and moisture 
 on the timber, it is evident that the internal fermentation, uncheck- 
 ed, must be perpetually, though silently, undermining its health and 
 soundness ; and most certainly, though progressively, effecting its 
 gradual destruction. The tree, therefore, whether felled in spring 
 or in autumn, consists of exactly the same component parts or ele- 
 ments, and is full of the same juices, which, although suspended in 
 their operation by the stop put to its vegetation, in consequence of 
 its being cut down, are yet liable to be revived and called again into 
 action, whenever any other cause than vegetation shall be found 
 sufficient to give rise to that same degree of fermentation which 
 that had formerly produced. And this, in the case of timber cut 
 down, may be effected by local situation and an exposure to heat 
 and moisture, either at the same time, or in uncertain and various 
 succession 5 to which, on numerous occasions, it is frequently found 
 to be subjected. 
 
 In the case of a ship, the ends of the beams are situated between 
 the inside linings and the outside planks ; the top surface is covere4 
 by the floor of the deck, and both the ends and top surface are thus 
 subject to much damp vapor and moisture. For, besides the portion 
 of damp occasioned by the quantities of water with which the decks 
 are perpetually sluiced, for the purpose of a due attention to the in- 
 dispensably necessary objects of health and cleanliness, the space 
 between the inside linings and outer planks acts as a gas pit, from 
 which tM noxious vapor from the hold ascends, and this is absorb- 
 
153 Nature and Conslihition ofTimher. 369 
 
 ed by the ends of the beams, so as, in time, to produce p-utridity. 
 The other thre« sides are between decks, and at least so far dry as 
 not to be exposed to actual positive wet ; but existing, as they do, 
 in a heated atmosphere, from the closeness and confined space, are 
 liable to be acted upon by an unwholesome and destructive caloric 
 and effluvia, exactly calculated to promote the principles of putrefac- 
 tion, for want of a sufficient quantity and circulation of fresh air to 
 carry it oiT. By this the juices of the timber are, through the means 
 of the fermentation thus excited, put into motion \ and the timber 
 is perpetually emitting and absorbing again, without any correction 
 of their noxious qualities, the principles of putridity, which it is the 
 office of the fresh air, when it can be permitted to act freely, to ab- 
 sorb. 
 
 In these two comparative situations, the diiFerence of temperature 
 has been found, by actual experiment and computation, to be far 
 greater than any one, who had not tried it, would be inclined to be- 
 lieve or imagine. For those parts of the beams between the linings 
 are placed in an atmosphere of about 40 degrees, while those be- 
 tween the decks are exposed from 60 to 80 degrees. This is exact- 
 ly the same difference of temperature as is required to produce ac- 
 tive vegetation in the growing tree, and which is the sole cause of 
 the decay of timber in ships \ and whenever it has happened that a 
 ship- has been very soon destroyed, it has been that the inequality 
 of the temperature of the atmosphere has been great, which is suffi- 
 ciently evident from the circumstance of the different degrees of 
 soundness or decay in the different beams, according as it has hap- 
 pened they have been more or less exposed to the influence of both 
 heat and moisture. 
 
 ^gain, we see fir timber floated up and down the river, for a con- 
 siderable distance, from one place to another, or suffered to lie soak- 
 ing in the river for months together: three sides of the piece of tim- 
 ber are evidently exposed to positive wet in a very great degree, nay, 
 even to saturation ; and the fourth, being the upper side, is subject 
 to no degree of damp or wet, except what it may occasionally ex- 
 perience from the rains or dews, but has to sustain the effects of the 
 air and sun: so that the three sides are positively wet, while the fourth 
 is, in all respects, the reverse. No one can doubt that the atmosphere 
 and temperature of the two situations are abundantly different y nor 
 can any one imagine any other than that the disparity in its conse- 
 quences must be equally great ; and that the timber must be very 
 much affected by that cause in the different parts, in proportion to 
 the greater or less degree of heat or moisture, to which it is liable 
 or exposed. If timber is always kept in the same position, so that 
 the very same parts, and no others, should be constantly exposed 
 to either of the two degrees of temperature above mentioned, and 
 
 VOL. XVL Pam. NO. XXXII. 2 A 
 
370 Mr. Lingard s Inquiry into the [16 
 
 to that onlyj while the rest of it was subjected, as above, to the in- 
 fluence of the other, (but it is, beyond all dispute, so situated in 
 ships and buildings,) this irregularity of temperature must neces- 
 sarily introduce putrefaction and decay and this is most certain- 
 ly the cause of all decay and destruction in fir and all other sorts of 
 timber. 
 
 No piece of timber, however solid and sound in its own nature 
 and constitution, can, for a constancy, stand the existence in a 
 difference of temperature at the same instant ; viz. one part wet 
 and the other dry. Nor can it, for any considerable space of time, 
 support the variation of being alternately wet and dry ; and Sir 
 Christopher Wren has himself noticed, that Venice and Amster- 
 dam, being both founded on wooden piles, immersed in water, 
 would themselves fall, if the constancy of the situation of those 
 piles, in the same element and temperature, did not prevent the 
 timber from rotting.* 
 
 The Alhambra Palace in Spain, supposed to have been built 
 3000 years, and mostly of timber, is preserved by the constancy 
 of the temperature, supposed to be prepared with some composi- 
 tion.^ 
 
 The same principle of equality of temperature is no less necessary 
 to be observed in the application of timber to any of the purposes 
 of common life. And in no case is it more requisite, than in the 
 erection of houses and other edifices, whether for the purposes of 
 private or public utility. But even in these, it is not uncommonto 
 see timber so placed, and in such an inequality of temperature, that 
 it must inevitably be destroyed, as it invariably is, in a short space of 
 time, by that species of decay well known by the appellation of the 
 dry rot. For instance, what can be more to the prejudice of timber, 
 or more hostile to the idea of its preservation or continuance in health 
 and soundness, than using it in the manner in which it is perpetually 
 employed for boarding kitchens and other rooms, on the ground 
 floor, where three sides of the joists, and the lower face of the 
 flooring, are bedded in earth so moist, as to amount almost to 
 positive wet, while the upper side of the joists, and the upper face 
 of the flooring, is perfectly dry, and exposed te the effects of 
 heat, from a large fire perpetually burning. The consequence of 
 this has invariably shown itself, from time to time, in the circum- 
 stance of joists and flooring, laid down sound, and becoming rotten 
 in a few months. Instances can be produced of two entire new 
 floorings, laid down in the very same kitchen, in such a situation, 
 
 ^ See his Letter to the Bishop of Rochester, inserted in Widmore's His- 
 tory of Westminster Abbey; and also in Wren^s Parentalia. 
 ^ See Murphey's account of this Palace^ published by Cadell and Davieso 
 
1 7] Nature and Constitution of Timber. 37 1 
 
 in less than ten years, besides the necessity for a third at the end 
 of that time ; independently of partial repairs, from time to time, 
 and removing decayed pieces as soon as they were discovered. 
 
 Even where it has not, as here, been injudiciously or improperly 
 placed, in situations so calculated to promote its very destruction, 
 that it would have been wonderful had it escaped ; it has been found 
 impossible to prevent its occurring in practice in the use and appli- 
 cation of timber to those very purposes, for which it was apparently 
 and evidently intended. Beams of the greatest soundness and 
 health, that could be selected with the greatest possible care and 
 judgment, and some of them of great strength and magnitude, 
 \ have, in a very short period after they had been introduced into 
 the walls of dwelling-houses, manufactories, brewhouses, and other 
 similar erections, been discovered, although not apparently exposed 
 to heat or moisture, subject to the dry rot; because some secret 
 external or accidental circumstance, which could not be accounted 
 for at the time, had imperceptibly introduced heat and moisture 
 united, and so caused fermentation, by setting in motion the inter- 
 nal juices of the timber. Nor has the utmost degree of sagacity 
 or foresight, which couH, as yet, be exerted, been sufficient or 
 able to secure every edifice or erection, with certainty, from expe- 
 riencing more or less, in a very short space of time, the decay and 
 destruction of some of its timbers; or the owner, from the necessity, 
 in some cases, of perhaps taking down and re-erecting the \yhole, 
 for fear it should fall. 
 
 It is not, however, to be inferred, from these, or any other cir- 
 cumstances, that this natural propensity in timber to putridity and 
 decay is necessarily invincible; or that it may not be conquered 
 and effectually subdued, by a proper application of fit and adequate 
 methods, already perhaps in existence. Neither is it to be hastily 
 concluded or imagined, that because all former attempts for the 
 purpose have hitherto failed, all future endeavours must in like 
 manner be equally destitute of success. On the contrary, the pos*- 
 sibility and practicability of such a remedy is here intended to be 
 established ; and it is only owing to their being founded on false 
 principles and erroneous ideas, that all other attempts have missed 
 iheir aim. The facts already stated, which cannot be controverted, 
 have already decidedly shown, that no proposal for this object can 
 -succeed, which does not rest on the principle of excluding foul air 
 by means of a pre-occupation of the pores, by the interposition of 
 ^ome medium in such a manner, as to prevent the possibility of its 
 ever being admitted at any future period, by any circumstance 
 whatever. And this can only be effected by saturating the timber 
 with some such impenetrable composition, not to he soluble in wa^ 
 tery or moveable in a temperatiire under 200; and if timber can 
 
372 Mr. Lingard's Inquiry Into tJie [18 
 
 made to resist that degree of temperature, there is no situation in 
 which it can be placed that will effect it; and it must be sufficiently 
 potent and efficacious to repel any attack from heat and moisture, 
 and to prevent their union from operating in any manner on the 
 timber; by which means it may be rendered capable of being em- 
 ployed without any injury in any situation, however unfavorable. * 
 Such a remedy has actually been found ; what it undertakes to per- 
 form will be more succinctly stated in the ensuing section, and the 
 evidence of its actual success will also be seen in subsequent pages, 
 in an enumeration and particularisation of a series of experiments, 
 made in every way in which it was judged possible to try and as- 
 certain its validity. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 ON THE NATURE OF THE PROPOSED REMEDY, AND THE 
 SEVERAL OBJECTS TO WHICH IT IS APPLICABLE. 
 
 The general object of the remedy intended, to be proposed, or 
 suggested, which consists in the application of a liquid composition, 
 is the very important and weighty purpose of rendering timber, 
 after the application of the composition, impervious to moisture of 
 any kind; and so effi^ctually is this object attained, that the liquid 
 introduced, by which the destructive matter is expelled, can never 
 itself be dislodged; but it lies in the pores in a concrete state, and 
 presents an invincible opposition to all other fluids. 
 
 By this introduction, the timber, as has been actually ascertained 
 by experiment, is capable of being so increased in strength, that 
 though a section of rotten oak branch, not prepared, was broken by 
 the weight of 34 pounds; the other section of the same branch, pre- 
 pared with the composition, could not be broken by the weight of 
 112 pounds; 207 pounds was afterwards tried without breaking 
 the section. 
 
 Strength and durability being its general quality, and undoubt- 
 edly a very extensive object, it is almost superfluous to say, that it 
 must be of the greatest utility possible in every branch or depart- 
 ment in which timber, or wood of any kind, is employed ; and as 
 these are so various, it is impossible, and therefore hopeless to at- 
 tempt it, to particularise or enumerate them alL 
 
 The power and effect of this composition is so great, that it can- 
 »ot be evaporated,' forced out, or extracted, either by damp or the 
 heat of the sun, nor by any exposure or confinement. 
 
 Nor will the timber be liable to contract or expand, the pores 
 being made completely impervious to moisturee 
 
19] Nature and Constitution of Timber. S73 
 
 The additional strength given to timber is, by uniting and conso- 
 lidating the component parts of which it consists, even by making 
 the sap of oak equal to the hearts 
 
 It will effectually prevent the dry rot; because the internal 
 juices cannot be set in motion, as heat and moisture, the parents 
 of fermentation, cannot find admission. 
 
 And as, after the application, the timber becomes impervious to 
 wet and moisture, it is evident that no fungus can be generated; 
 nor the high state of fermentation be created to destroy it in the 
 form of gas. 
 
 The increase in the strength of timber, after the application of 
 the composition, has been found by experiment so great, that a 
 beam of fourteen inches square will be rendered equal in strength 
 to one of sixteen ; and one of ten and a half inches to another of 
 twelve, &c. 
 
 The reduction of scantling, which it is obvious may be made in 
 consequence of the above fact, and which may equally take place 
 in all cases, without exception, in which timber is used, would, in 
 itself, be, in a very short time, an immense saving of expense and 
 timber, with the additional circumstance of an increased durability; 
 and the advantages, to state it only in one instance, would be, that 
 a ship might be constructed many tons lighter with equal 
 strength, and the cargo will be securely protected from damp and 
 mildew. 
 
 In the red and yellow pine, the increase of strength has, on ex- 
 periment, been found equivalent to one sixth; so that scantling, 
 one sixth less, would be equally strong, and might be used with 
 safety. And it is certain the yellow pine, prepared with this com- 
 position, is equal to red, or at least to red not so prepared; or, to 
 express it perhaps more intelligibly, to the present strength of that 
 species, so as to make inferior yellow equal to the finest red. 
 
 The size of masts and spars might be much reduced in conse- 
 quence, and upon the principle of the additional strength they would 
 receive from this composition. 
 
 Boats and barges v/ould be rendered much more secure from 
 leaking, &c. by the use of this composition, as well as stronger, 
 and not so likely to be staved, &c. 
 
 This composition acts also very powerfully upon iron ; for, if 
 prepared, it maybe exposed in the rain for years without contract- 
 ing the least rust. 
 
 All the timber and iron used in the Ordnance department would 
 also be greatly improved by this composition, not only in resisting 
 the effects of wet and dry, heat and cold, but also in the re- 
 duction of scantling, and the increased durability both of wood and 
 iron ; consisting of every material used in artillery, fortifications, 
 
Mr. Lirigards Inqidry inlo the 
 
 [20 
 
 ^ &c. such as gun-carriages, platforms, waggons, &c., no matter 
 what cHmates they must, ni equal degree, be benefitted from the 
 appHcation and use of this same composition, as neither heat or 
 damp can extract it. 
 
 In all the purposes of common life the utility of this composition 
 would be no less conspicuous. In wood buildings, and the wooden 
 materials used in brewhouses, it would be invaluable, as it will 
 resist the effects of steam, so very prejudicial to timber. 
 
 The properties and qualities of the principal article in the com- 
 position have, to a certainty, remained hitherto generally unknown 
 to the world at large and the composition has never been applied 
 by the most sagacious to the present purpose, far which it is 
 peculiarly adapted. 
 
 These, and multitudes mdre, the full extent of which time only 
 could completely develope, would be the infallible advantages 
 resulting from the use of this composition ; for in short, there is 
 nothing constructed of wood or iron, of whatever kind it may be^ 
 to which it is not applicable, and which would derive considerable 
 advantage from such an application. And there is no doubt but 
 all the purposes of bending timber and planks may be effected by 
 the composition, instead of boiling in water, by which means the 
 dry rot in ships has been greatly promoted. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 PARTICULARS OF EXPERIMENTS, ACTUALLY MADE, FOR THE 
 PURPOSE OF ASCERTAINING THE EFFECTS OF THE REMEDY 
 PROPOSED. 
 
 Such are the eflfects to be expected from the use and adoption 
 of this composition ; and in order to evince that these expectations 
 are not destitute of the necessary solid foundation in fact, a suf- 
 ficient number of the numerous and various experiments made on 
 this occasion, although they bear but a very small proportion to 
 the whole aggregate, are here minutely stated. 
 
 1 . Two sections of white deal, each weighing one pound 
 thirteen ounces avoirdupois weight, were immersed for six days 
 each, the one in water, the other in composition \ at the end of 
 which time they were each taken out, and again weighed : that 
 ■v^hich had been in the water had absorbed nine ounces of water % 
 and that in the composition two and a half of composition. 
 
 2. Two similar pieces of yellow deal, weighing each two 
 pounds eleven ounces, were in like manner immersed for six days 
 each, the one in water, the other in composition 5 after which 
 
21] Nature and Constitution of Timber. 375 
 
 time they were taken out and weighed : that which had been in the 
 water had absorbed six ounces of water ; that in the composition, 
 four of composition. The water, both in the white and yellow 
 deal, was all evaporated on the second day after the sections were 
 taken out ; but the composition in the other two sections remains 
 to this time ; viz. from the month of June 1817 to that of February 
 1819, without any loss or diminution, dry and hard. 
 
 From this it appears, that white deal absorbs more water and 
 less composition, in proportion, than yellow and the quantity of 
 water absorbed by the white, accounts for its rapid decay in,ex- 
 ternal situations. Nine ounces addition, is equal to one-third of 
 its original weight ; whereas six ounces, the additional quantity 
 obtained by the yellow in a similar manner^ is not quite one 
 seventh. This accounts for white deal perishing so much sooner 
 than yellow : the greater the quantity of water absorbed, " the 
 quicker is the timber destroyed \ for instance, a piece of seasoned 
 oak would, in the same time, six days, only absorb half an ounce ; 
 so that in a damp situation, the white deal would be rotten in three 
 years, whereas the oak would last 36 years \ viz. twelve times as 
 long ; and the yellow deal, upon the same calculation, would last 
 about twelve years. 
 
 3. The two pieces of white and yellow deal, which had been 
 immersed in the water, were again placed in water for another 
 similar period of six days, and at the end of that time weighed : 
 they were found saturated, but had absorbed about half an ounce 
 of water more than before, which is a proof of decomposition in 
 a small degree (for there must have been a loss of wood to have 
 made room for more water. Timber may in time be completely 
 dissolved by being repeatedly saturated with water, and as often 
 desiccated : this proves that improper seasoning will breed the dry 
 rot :) they were then immediately immersed full of water in the 
 composition, for another similar period of six days, and being at 
 the end of that time taken out and weighed, were found to be nearly 
 of the same weight as when they were put in. Being full of 
 water, nothing more could enter ; the composition only made an 
 external casing. 
 
 4. They were next exposed to the atmosphere, in the month 
 of July, for six days, when no diminution in weiglit was produced ; 
 the composition preventing evaporation, the water could not 
 escape. 
 
 5. After this, they were both cleft asunder, and the whole of 
 the water evaporated and was set free in about 36 hours. 
 
 This demonstrated that the composition was in itself impervious 
 to the effect of heat, and that it had disunited the action of heat 
 and moisture, although the composition itself was not dry : for 
 
376 Mn Lingard^s Inquiry into the [22 
 
 it is to be understood and observed, that the composition is a 
 saturating solution, and not a coating like paint. It is well known 
 that wet wood cannot be painted, therefore paint could not have 
 done the same thing. 
 
 6. A piece of white deal plank, about 21 inches long, nine 
 broad, and three thick, weighing about nine pounds, was prepared 
 with the composition, lightly, and placed to dry for about 21 daya 
 in the autumn of 1817 : it was then laid in a very heavy rain the 
 whole day, set up on one end in a gutter, the upper end receiving 
 all the water, which ran off from the roof : after continuing four- 
 teen hours in this situation, it was found, on being weighed, 
 not to have absorbed an ounce of water, (if the end of the plank 
 had been planed instead of being a rough saw-cut, it would not 
 have absorbed a drachm,) when a similar piece, which had been in 
 like manner exposed in the rain, but Vi^ithout any preparation from 
 the composition, had imbibed not less than eight ounces. 
 
 7. Two pieces of deal board, about nine inches square, weigh- 
 ing one pound two ounces each, were laid on the grass, in a very 
 heavy rain, for fourteen hours in the country : one piece had been 
 prepared with the composition, the other had not \ that prepared 
 was, when weighed after this exposure, precisely of the same 
 weight as when it was laid down | but that unprepared had acquired, 
 by absorption, an additional weight of two ounces and a half. 
 
 This evidently proves^ that water is not admissible into wood 
 80 prepared, though from wood unprepared it cannot be excluded. 
 
 8. A chump of oak, about twenty-one pounds in weight, with 
 two bolt-holes in it, was laid in the composition for a few days 5 
 at the end of that time, two iron bolts were driven into the holes, 
 and the ends, in order to keep out all atmospheric air, were se- 
 cured by pieces of lead. This piece of oak, so treated, has been 
 put in damp situations, and even in ^water for weeks together at 
 a time, and then deposited in a vault, where, from confined air 
 and damp, much carbonic acid gas is produced : here it continued 
 thirteen weeks, and at the end of that period it was taken out and 
 exposed in diiFerent atmospheres or temperatures for eighteen 
 months, after which the bolts were driven out, when they were 
 found uncorroded by rust, and as fresh as if they had just come 
 from the smith's forge ; for the composition had prevented the 
 gallic acid from flowing, or even moving, so that no fermentation 
 could take place. 
 
 The next class of experiments was directed to the ascertainment 
 
 of the effect of the composition on decayed wood, in the several 
 
 stages of its progress towards destruction, and the following ob- 
 servations are the result : — 
 
23] Naturae and Constitution of Timber. 377 
 
 In all cases in which decomposition or destruction has teen 
 effected, it has been uniformly found, that the internal and exter- 
 nal parts have been distended and dilated, and that the sharp edge 
 which the piece of wood has originally had, has become rounded 
 or blunt \ but even this may be in proportion to the greater or 
 less degree of decay. 
 
 9. A piece of dog-wood, taken from a close hurdle, so very 
 rotten in itself as hardly to bear the touch, was broken in half : one 
 half was laid in the composition, and the other half exactly in the 
 state in which it had been broken off : that laid in the composition^ 
 became in twelve months time so changed from what it had been, 
 that had not the circumstance of the exact correspondence of its 
 irregularities with those of the piece from which it had been bro- 
 ken, plainly shown it to have been the same identical piece or sec- 
 tion, it might reasonably have been conjectured that it had been 
 substituted instead of the former ; for the internal and external 
 distention of the parts became wholly reduced ; and, by the con- 
 sequent shrinking of the parts into their natur-al and original size, 
 the edge was rendered as sharp as when it was first cleft by the 
 hurdle-maker. 
 
 10. A piece of rotten oak branch, about twelve inches long, 
 and one inch thick, which had been blown down by the wind in 
 the month of February, 1818; the whole branch was covered 
 with moss, and so extremely tender, as to snap with its own weight 
 only. This piece of twelve inches long, was broken into two 
 sections \ one of them was prepared with the composition at that 
 time, the other remained in its rotten state. On exhibiting these 
 experiments in the month of February, 1819, before two scientific 
 gentlemen, particularly conversant in chemistry, it was proposed to 
 break the above-mentioned two sections of oak, in order to show, 
 that the composition had, besides an antiseptic, or antiputrescent 
 quality, the power of communicating also a considerable degree 
 of additional strength. The section not prepared broke, and no 
 wonder, with abundant ease ; and it was expected that although 
 the other would probably require more force and exertion, yet 
 that also would still be capable of being, by an adequate degree of 
 power, in like manner broken. But this was not the case j for 
 the power of the composition had so far exceeded the degree of 
 .strength attributed to it, that after several attempts, it was found 
 impossible to break the piece which had been prepared. 
 
 It is not here intended to rest on the utility of applying this 
 composition to wood, where destruction has already gone too far, 
 as it is to show the possibility, to prevent it from ev^r beginning-rrr 
 an object of infinitely greater importance. But these experiments 
 unquestionably lead to, and justify a very rational conclusion, 
 
378 
 
 Mr. Lingard's Inquiry into the 
 
 [24 
 
 that if, as here, the composition has been sufficiently powerful to 
 arrest destruction in its progress, it cannot be less efficacious Jn 
 preventing decay from ever occurring, — a matter of certainly less 
 comparative difficulty. 
 
 The success of the above trials, in the case of decayed wood, 
 naturally led to another class of experiments, of a similar kind, on 
 those sorts, which were in their own natures and constitutions 
 soft and porous, in order to decide, whether even they might not 
 be rendered firm and solid, and equally capable of effectually 
 resisting the attacks and efforts of early decomposition and 
 decay. 
 
 11. Accordingly, two pieces of a tender larch pole were chosen 
 for this purpose j one piece was saturated with the composition, 
 the other left in its tender, light, and natural state. That prepared 
 became dense, solid, heavy, and hard, more resembling box or yew 
 than larch, or the piece from which it had been taken. 
 
 Several similar experiments have been also tried upon fir, the 
 specimens of which can be easily produced ; and some of these 
 have been done not less than two years, and the pieces are now so 
 compressed and hard, that they resemble oak in firmness. 
 
 The nature and cause of this effect, may, perhaps, be rendered 
 more intelligible, and its credibility be further established, from 
 observing and considering the following particulars, which come 
 under almost daily notice and observation, in the exercise of a 
 very familiar trade or occupation, of which few persons of intel- 
 ligence can be supposed wholly ignorant. 
 
 The operation of the composition upon the various sorts of 
 wood, in these instances, is to expel and dislodge the fixed air 
 from the pores \ and, by introducing and placing itself in its stead, 
 to prevent its return into the pores which it formerly occupied. 
 The very same effect is produced, upon precisely the same prin- 
 ciple, in the process of binding a book ; and there is just the same 
 apparent difference between the weight of the sheets before and 
 after they have been beaten, as they always are, when in reality 
 there is no difference, as one necessary step to their being 
 sewed together and bound. In the former state, t;he portions of 
 air, with which all the leaves are filled, tend to support and ap- 
 pear somewhat to lessen the natural weight of the sheets \ but. 
 when, by the operation of beating, those portions of air become 
 expelled, the whole mass is rendered dense and heavy, because 
 there is no interposing medium to abate or relieve its pressure on 
 the hand, and its specific gravity therefore increases, and it appears 
 to become heavier, in proportion to its bulk, than it was at first. 
 What in the case of book-binding is effected by manual labor^ 
 
25] Nature and Constitution of Timher. 379 
 
 is on the present occasion produced by the mere use and applica- 
 tion of the composition. 
 
 The next succession of experiments was intended for the pur- 
 pose of ascertaining, whether the composition could 'or not, in any 
 way or to any extent, be extracted or expelled, or forced out by 
 any high degree of temperature, or by the alternate variation from 
 high to low, or from low to high. 
 
 12. To decide whether the composition could be disturbed or 
 set free by heat, some pieces of all sorts of wood were desiccated, 
 or well seasoned, and then saturated fully with the composition : 
 after the composition became somewhat concrete, they were for 
 three days placed in an oven, heated to not less than 80 degrees, 
 but it had no effect ; for no loss of weight was sustained, or next 
 to none, that being fixed air, for it amounted to no more than a 
 drachm in a pound, which does not exceed a one hundred and 
 twenty-eighth part ; nor was there any appearance of external mo- 
 tion, which proves the composition immoveable by confined heat. 
 
 13. They were then placed in water for several days, and again 
 deposited wet in the oven, heated as before ; but still there was 
 no effect to disturb the composition, although the pieces had sus- 
 tained alternate heat and moisture, and afterwards been again sub- 
 jected to heat. 
 
 14. A piece of larch, weighing six ounces, having three ounces 
 of composition in it, which is a very great portion, and must have 
 moved, if it were moveable, was boiled for two hours in water j 
 but still there was no effect, either to dissolve the composition, or 
 admit any fresh quantity of water ; if it had been possible to dis- 
 lodge or extract any of this composition, surely this experiment 
 would have done it. 
 
 15. A piece of oak, of about two inches square, having in it 
 full half an ounce of composition, was also boiled in water for six 
 hours ; but there was still no effect towards disturbing or setting 
 free the composition \ and it was considered, on this occasion, that 
 the smaller the cuttings or sections, the more severe the effect. 
 
 16. Sections of deal boards, prepared with the composition, and 
 others not prepared, have been laid in the ground in a wet ditch^ 
 for several weeks together : in this case, the sections prepared have 
 become somewhat heavier, but when placed in the oven, they re- 
 turned to their former weight as before put in the ditch, but not 
 less. The increase in the weight would, however, never have 
 occurred, had the wood been completely saturated, which It was 
 not. 
 
 The case was evidently different from that above described^ 
 with the sections not prepared with the composition, for those' 
 pieces were double their original weight when taken out of the 
 
380 
 
 Mr. Lingard*s Inquiry into the 
 
 [26 
 
 ditch, but much reduced in their original weight after desiccation 
 in the oven : these circumstances evince, that there was in the 
 latter case some degree of decomposition, but none in the sections 
 which had been prepared, as they could not be reduced below their 
 original weight when put in the ditch. 
 
 Though wood becomes, in consequence of being repeatedly wet 
 and dry, liable to be sometimes heavier, and sometimes lighter, in 
 proportion as heat or moisture most prevail at the time, yet the 
 tendency of seasoning or desiccation of timber is at all times to 
 render it lighter than before, and intended to give it the power of 
 always afterwards continuing so, without experiencing any increase 
 of weight in consequence of any moisture to which it might be 
 afterwards exposed : but this can be only to a certain extent ; and 
 after it is once thoroughly dry and seasoned, it will still always 
 vary in weight when exposed afresh to wet and dry, unless it is 
 prepared with this composition. 
 
 The foregoing experiments, though made at first only with a 
 view to substantiate the facts which they are here adduced to 
 prove, have also led to a very important discovery, by means of 
 which timber, of any dimensions, may to a certainty be perfectly 
 seasoned, without cracking, rending, or splitting at the ends, and 
 this by a method completely practicable. 
 
 So important are the points decided by the foregoing experi- 
 ments, that it is imagined few other tests can be suggested ; and 
 at present, indeed, only the following question has occurred to the 
 mind of the author of this Treatise, as necessary to be solved,— 
 whether the composition has or not, the power and ability to pre- 
 vent the formation of fungi in decomposed wood ? For the ascer- 
 tainment of this, several experiments were tried : no one failed ; 
 and the result of the whole resolves itself into the following con- 
 clusions, which, in order to render them more intelligible, it has 
 been thought necessary only thus briefly to state. 
 
 17. A section of decomposed light elm slab, about twelve inches 
 square, all sap, but apparently dry, unprepared with the compo- 
 sition, was placed in a cupboard, and produced, at the end of ten 
 weeks, an appearance of fungus, covering about two inches in 
 length and one in breadth. 
 
 18. Two similar sections from the same slab, prepared with the 
 composition, but deposited in a damp vault, known to contain 
 carbonic acid gas, at the end of the same period of ten weeks, 
 produced none. 
 
 The unprepared section above-mentioned (17), which had lain 
 for ten weeks in the cupboard, and on which a fungus had already 
 appeared, was cut in half : one of these half sections was placed in 
 the vault, and in four days the fungus had considerably increased. 
 
27] Nature and Constitution of Timber. 38 1 
 
 At the end of ten days, the whole piece was completely covered 
 with a milk-white Turk's cap and Jew's ear fungus. This section 
 was several times disturbed for the purpose of exhibiting, which 
 broke ofF the fungus ; but, upon being replaced in ihe vault, it 
 always again recovered its growth : one of the sections (18) which 
 had been prepared, and which had lain in the vault for ten weeks, 
 without any appearance of fungus, was brought up and placed in 
 the same cupboard for twenty weeks, with intention to ascertain 
 whether the change might encourage the production of fungi \ 
 but at the end of that time it exhibited no appearance of fungus 
 whatever. 
 
 The other section (18) of the prepared slab had now lain in the 
 vault thirty weeks : at the end of that period no one symptom of 
 fungus was produced ; a sufficient proof, as it is Contended, of the 
 impossibility that fungi should generate on wood so prepared, even 
 although it should have been decomposed. 
 
 19. In order that no question might remain behind unsolved, It 
 was, in consequence of the effect which the composition was found 
 to have had on the porous or soft woods, determined to try also 
 what would be its effect on the sap or alburnum of oak. The 
 composition was applied to some sappy loppings of oak, and it 
 succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations which could be 
 formed. The specimen on which this experiment was made is to 
 be seen, as well as all the others here mentioned, and without ex- 
 aggeration, although no description can do justice to the effect ; 
 suffice it to say, that the sap or alburnum is harder and closer than 
 the heart, and is equal to any purposes to which the heart can be 
 applied. 
 
 20c and last experiment, was to prove, that oak or fir, that 
 would not rend straight before prepared, is found to rend in great 
 perfection after prepared, which is another proof of its compressive 
 powers. 
 
 Timbers of large dimensions (if 18 inches square, and 80 
 feet long) can be done with faciUty ; and with greater effect, as 
 to strength and durability, than the small sections here taken for 
 experiments. 
 
 SECTION VL 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Timber can never so alter in its constitution, as that wh^t will 
 affect a small piece, should not equally operate upon a larger. 
 And such has been the success of the experiments, already stated, 
 
382 
 
 Mr. Lingard's Inquiry into the 
 
 [28 
 
 as to justify an assertion, that, if tried on a larger scale, their 
 result would be the same. The only thing, therefore, which 
 can now be wished for, would be a full and fair opportunity 
 of trying, on an extended scale, the effect of the composition, by 
 applying it, under the direction and inspection of its inventor, to 
 some of the frigates or other ships now building or repairing in the 
 several public and private dock-yards in this kingdom. To the 
 granting such an indulgence, and the further additional means 
 necessary for its success, by those persons, in whose power, from 
 their situation, it is to grant the permission, and whose object it 
 must unquestionably be to introduce into their several departments 
 every really beneficial invention and improvement, very strong 
 reasons may be adduced. For it is to be remarked, that everyone 
 of the above experiments is directed to, and tends to establish some 
 very essential point ; that the process and result have been so clear- 
 ly stated as plainly to show how, and why it has succeeded \ that 
 by these means, the whole is rendered so extremely intelligible^ 
 that almost any one can judge of it-, and that a failure in success 
 is by no means probable, as it is manifest, from the evidence which 
 he has produced in his pamphlet, that the author has a clear con- 
 ception of the nature and extent of his subject j and has conse- 
 quently expressed himself in terms, which cannot be mistaken or 
 misunderstood ; and it is the intention of the author to apply his 
 remedy for the public good, if supported. This has not been the 
 case with those, who have undertaken to suggest remedies : the 
 whole of the pamphlets before written on the present subject, only 
 recommend the public to try the remedies they propose, and pub- 
 lish their book for sale : the present treatise is not intended for 
 sale, but may be had gratis. At some future period, a more ela- 
 borate treatise of the present matter, and all new matter that may 
 arise, will be published in the usual way. 
 
 On the present occasion, it may fairly be asked. What more 
 could have been done, than what was actually tried, to ascertain 
 the real power of the remedy suggested ? Can any one point out 
 an error in the facts ? a failure in the conclusions or deductions ? 
 or a fallacy in the argunients or reasons assigned ? or can any im- 
 partial person, among all those best acquainted with the principles 
 of chemistry, and the rules of logic and reason, afhrm^ with any 
 hope of establishing such an assertion, that the facts here adduced 
 do not amount, not only to probability, but even to mathematical 
 demonstration 1 It cannot be denied, but that the object is one of 
 the greatest importance to the nation at large, and to all individuals 
 who have any concern with the use or employment of timber ; and, 
 under the above circumstances, it is hoped that those, in whose de- 
 partment it particularly lies, will in earnest exert themselves to en- 
 quire into the evidence of the facts here stated j a degree of atten» 
 
29] 
 
 Nature and Constitution of Timber. 
 
 383 
 
 tion to which, from their importance, those facts seem justly- 
 entitled. Further hopes and expectations are also entertained, 
 that the result of that inquiry will be an inclination or disposition 
 to adopt, if it is properly substantiated, the remedy proposed ; and 
 a readiness to grant and furnish every necessary means in their 
 power for a full and fair trial, on the largest and most extended 
 possible scale. And lastly, the author trusts, in full confidence 
 of establishing his assertions and conclusions, that neither preju- 
 dice in favor of former erroneous opinions, nor particular interest, 
 should any such be exerted in opposition to sentiments better en- 
 titled to reception, shall be permitted to operate to the ultimate 
 total exclusion, or as any impediment to the admission, of a project, 
 which, if duly established, as it will be by experiment, maybejusjly 
 considered as being, in its extent and utility to the public, perhaps 
 one of the most valuable discoveries that has taken place, within 
 the compass of the two last, or indeed of any preceding, centurieso