tion; and a strong argument with him in favor of the process is the well-known fact that such matter will gradually penetrate the wood by those forces which tend to give a uniform distribution of fluid within the pores of any porous matter, and which will be influential, though the pores be not full of fluid, the wood being in what is usually called a damp state.

There is one other consideration which was of importance to Faraday in forming a judgment on this process; it is, that, where the exterior is preserved from change, the chances that the interior will decay are greatly diminished. For instance, piles or timbers charred on the outside preserve the interior parts from decay for a much longer period, so he thinks it safe to conclude that even an external preparation of timber would greatly diminish the probability of internal decay; and this, in combination with the gradual penetration of the substance to the centre, is the reason why he entertained little doubt of the value of the process of kyanizing.

But kyanizing has gone out of use in England. It was abandoned many years ago. Mr. JAMES B. FRANCIS, after a most careful investigation of the matter in 1849, attributes the cause to be entirely independent of the success of the process itself, when properly applied.

Among the causes that led to the abandonment of the kyanizing process in England may be mentioned:

1. The mismanagement of the celebrated Anti Dry Rot Company, which was a disgrace, and which created a universal prejudice against the whole subject of the preservation of timber by kyanizing.*

2. The Rothschilds had a monopoly of the product of the Spanish quicksilver mines, and practically controlled the market, as they do to-day; which had, and now has, the effect of materially increasing the cost of corrosive sublimate.

The Anti Dry Rot Company, London, purchased the patent for England of M Kyan. Preparations were made for an extensive introduction of the patent through country; but, after a brief period of considerable notoriety, the manager ran off upwards of £70,000, which ruined the company.

Specimens of Spruce, from a post 9" x 9", 18 feet long, cut in two. One half was kyanized in 1862 and the other half left in the natural state. Both parts were planted to an equal depth in the ground April 29, 1863.

Dug up and photographed in 1891.

spring, April 29, 1863, the specimens were planted in two rows, about four feet of their length in the ground. The posts in the front row are in a fair state of preservation, all, with the exception of No. 12, retaining their forms and strength to a degree that is favorable to the process of kyanizing, while some of them appear to be quite sound from top to bottom. The posts of the back row, which are not kyanized, are completely rotten, and, in order to keep the remnants, they have been boxed in.

The boxing of two sides of each kyanized specimen in the front row, shown in Plate II., is for the purpose of preventing the soil from coming in contact with the interior of the posts, where specimens were cut out in the spring of 1883; but there is no evidence of decay at those points at the present time. The following is a schedule of the specimens: No. 1. Old-growth white pine.

The kyanized specimen of the Italian poplar, No. 12, which is now so much decayed near the surface as to lean over, was in a fair state of preservation up to 1885, a period of twentythree years.

Plates III. and IV. are views of specimens No. 1 and 4 respectively, specified in the foregoing schedule as old-growth white pine and spruce, which have been recently dug up and photographed. It will be observed by a glance at the plates