504 THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE.

Book
H.
1736.
"
We spake before of squaring
;
and I would now recommend the quartering of
Buch trees as will allow useful and competent scantlings to be of much more durableness
and effect for strength, than where (as custom is and for want of observation) whole beams
and timbers are applied in ships or houses, with slab and all about them, upon false suppo-
sitions of strength beyond these quarters.
1737.
"
Timber that you have occasion to lay in mortar, or which is in any part con-
tiguous to lime, as doors,
window cases, groundsils, and the extremities of beams, &c.,
have sometimes been capped with molten pitch, as a marvellous preserver of it from the
burning and destructive eflects of the lime ; but it has since been found rather to lieat and
decay tliem, bv hindering the transudation which those parts reipiire
; better supplied witli
loam, or strewings of brick-dust or pieces of boards; some leave a small hole for the air.
15ut though lime be so destructive, whilst timber thus lies dry, it seems th.ey mingle it
with hair to keep the worm out of ships, which they sheathe for southern voyages, tliough
it is held much to retard their course.
1 738.
"
For all uses, that timber is esteemed the best which is the most ponderous, and
which, lying long, makes the deepest impression in the eartli, or in the water being floated
;
also what is without knots, yet firm and free from saj), which is that fatty, whiter, and
softer part called by the ancients utbumai, which you are diligently to hew away. My
I.ord Bacon (Exper. 6.o8.) recommends for trial of a sound or knotty piece of timber, to
cause one to speak at one of the extremes to his companion listening at the other; for if it
be knotty, the sound, says he, will come abrupt."
PRESERVATION OF TIMBER.
1 739. The preservation of timber, when employed in a building, is the first and most im-
portant consideration. Wherever it is exposed to the alternations of dryness and moisture,
the protection of its surface from either of those actions is the principal object, or, in other
words, the application of some substance or medium to it wliich is imperviable to moisture;
but all timber should be perfectly dry before the use of the medium. In Holland the ap-
(ilication of a mixture of pitch and tar, whereon are strewn pounded shells, with a mixture
i)f sea sand, is general ; and with this, or sinall and sifted beaten scales from a blacksmith's
forge, to their drawbridges, sluices, and gates, and other works, they are admirably ]3ro-
tected from the effects of the seasons. Semple, in his work on aquatic building, recom-
mends, that "after your work is tried up, or even put together, lay it on the ground, with
stones or bricks under it to about a foot high, and burn wood (which is the best firing for
the ])ur])ose) under it, till you thoroughly heat, and even scorch ii all over; then, whilst the
MTood is hot, rub it over plentifully with linseed oil and tar, in equal parts, and well l)oiled
tt)gether, and let it be kept boiling while you are using it ; and this will immediately
strike and sink (if the wood be tolerably seasoned) one inch or more into the wood, close
all the pores, and make it become exceeding hard and durable, either under or over water."
Semple evidently supposes the wood to have l)een previously well seasoned.
1740. Chapman (on the preservation of timber) recommends a mixture of sub "ulphate
of iron, which is obtained in the refuse of cojiperas pans, ground up with some ch^ap oil,
and made sufficiently fluid with coal-tar oil, wherein pitch has been infused and mixed.
1741. For common purposes, what is called sanding, that is, the strewing upon th
painting of timber, before the paint dries, particles of line sand, is very useful ill the pre-
servation of timber.
1742. Against worms we believe nothing to be more efficacious than the saturation of
timber with any of the oils; a process which destroys the insect if already in the wood, with
that of turpentine especially, and jirevents the liability to attack from it. Evelyn recom-
mends nitric acid, that is, sulphur immersed in aquafortis and distilled, as an effectual ap-
plication. Corrosive sublimate, lately introduced under Kyan's patent, has long been
known as an effectual remedy against the worm. Its poisonous qualities of course destroy
all animal life with which it comes in contact ; and we believe that our readers wlio are
interested in preserving the timbers of their duellings may use a solution of it without
infringing the rights of the patentee. But the best remedy against rot and worms is a
thorough introduction of air to the timbers of a building, and their lying as dry and as free
from moisture as jiracticable. Air holes from the outside should be applied as much as
];ossible, and the ends of timbers should not, if it can be avoided, be bedded up close all
round them. Tiiis jiractite is, moreover, advisable in another respect, that of being able,
without injury to a building, to splice the ends of the timbers should they become decayed,
without involving the rel)uilding of the fabric; a facility of no mean consideration.
1 74.S. The worm is so destructive to timber, both in and out of water, that we shall not
apologise for closing this part of our observations with Smeaton's remarks upon a species of
worm which he found in Bridlington piers.
"
This worm appears as a small wliite soft
substance, much like a maggot
;
so small as not to be seen distinctly without a magnifying
glass, and even then a distinction of its parts is not easily made out. It does not attempt