In 1849, Mr. Doswell, who had the conduct of experiments on different descriptions of wood at Southampton, where the river was so full of the worm that piles of 14 inches square had been eaten down to 4 inches in four years, reported as follows: “From my examination, last spring tides, of the specimen blocks attached, on the 22nd February, 1848, to some worm-eaten piles of the Royal Pier, I am enabled to report that Bethell’s creosoted timbers all continue to be unaffected by the worms; that the pieces saturated with Payne’s solution continue to lose in substance by their ravages; and that the unprepared timbers diminish very fast, except the American elm, which stands as well (or nearly so) as that prepared by ‘Payne’s solution.’”
The following are the detailed particulars:
Bethell’s Creosoted Blocks, placed February 22, 1848.
| Memel, at low water of spring tides | } Unaffected by worms. |
| Red pine, at low water of neap tides | |
| Yellow fir, at high water of neap tides | A few barnacles. |
Paynized Blocks, placed April 6, 1848.
| Red pine, at low water of spring tides | Worm-eaten. |
| American elm, at low water of neap tides | } A few barnacles. |
| Fir, at high water of neap tides |
Unprepared Blocks, placed April 6, 1848.
| Memel, at low water of spring tides | Much worm-eaten. |
| American elm, at low water of neap tides | A few barnacles. |
| Fir, at high water of neap tides | Much worm-eaten. |
On 1st January, 1852, Mr. Doswell ascertained that, notwithstanding the number of teredines and limnoria to be found in the Southampton Waters, none of the creosoted blocks had been attacked by them.