A treatise on the origin, progress, prevention, and cure of dry rot in timber : $b with remarks on the means of preserving wood from destruction by sea worms, beetles, ants, etc.Britton, Thomas Allen
Science
A treatise on the origin, progress, prevention, and cure of dry rot in timber : $b with remarks on the means of preserving wood from destruction by sea worms, beetles, ants, etc.
Britton, Thomas Allen
Dry-rot; Wood -- Preservation
The carbolic acid was, in this experiment, renewed every three or four
days for a month, and a strong vapour pervaded the case for that period,
daring which there was no appearance of worms, dead or alive. At the end
of May the saucers were removed, and the doors of the case thrown open,
so that it might be well ventilated and cleared of vapour, after which
it was closed again; but the saucers were not replaced. This closing
of the case without using the vapour was to prevent the escape of any
beetles which might make their appearance, in the event of the vapour of
the creosote not having destroyed the worms. About the middle of June,
a fortnight after the case was closed again, beetles were seen crawling
upon the white paper with which the bottom was covered. These beetles
would, no doubt, deposit their ova in the usual course, as they could not
escape, and a considerable number of them were found dead upon the white
paper with which the surface underneath the carved work was covered.
In order to test the efficacy of chloroform and benzine, two small glass
cases, as nearly air-tight as possible, were selected, in which were
arranged early in May specimens of ornamental woodwork, all more or less
in bad condition from the worm. The bottom of each, as in the previous
experiments, was covered with white paper; and the objects to be acted
upon raised upon small blocks of wood. In one case chloroform was used,
and in the other benzine in a similar manner to the carbolic acid, i. e.
by placing small pieces of sponge in saucers and saturating them with
the liquid, using five saucers in each case. Both the chloroform and the
benzine had to be renewed much oftener than the carbolic acid, as the
liquid evaporated much quicker.
Within a week after the experiment commenced it was evident that the
action of the chloroform had destroyed the worms as they came to
maturity, and in a fortnight all the specimens of carved work having been
taken from the case, and the dust produced by the action of the worms
shaken out, a number of dead ones were found, as also some dead beetles;
but these were evidently those of past seasons remaining in the crevices
of the woodwork.
On examining the specimens of carved work placed in the case treated with
benzine, there was no appearance of worms or beetles dead or alive.
The two cases, with their contents, were then kept open for a week, and
thoroughly ventilated to clear them as far as possible of all fumes of
either chloroform or benzine.
After this they were closed again, being then free from all traces of
vapour, and were not opened for some months. Throughout the summer, the
temperature being the same as that under which beetles appeared in the
case treated with carbolic acid, no traces of worms or insects were
visible, nor could the remains of any be discovered on the white paper,
with which the lower surface of each case was covered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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