“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.”
Proverbs vi. 6.
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE CAUSES OF DECAY IN FURNITURE, WOOD CARVINGS, ETC., AND THE MEANS OF PREVENTING AND REMEDYING THE EFFECT OF SUCH DECAY.
Although trunks and boxes are of themselves of little importance, they derive great consequence from the valuable deposits of written papers, deeds, books, &c., which they frequently contain, that are subject to destruction from timber-destroying insects. It is well known that the smell of Russian leather, which arises from an essential oil, is a preservative of books. Leather or woods impregnated with petroleum, or with oil of coal-tar (which has a smell not much dissimilar) would be productive of the same effect, because known to be peculiarly obnoxious to insects: these oils are, however, very inflammable.
At all times beech-wood is exposed to the attacks of beetles, and it cannot be used, even for household furniture, without being impregnated with some kind of oil or varnish, as a defence against these insects—a very curious fact, for the growing trees are remarkably free from the attacks of wood-devouring insects. Larch being solid, and its juices hot, pungent, and bitter, is rarely affected with the larvæ of insects.
Mr. Westwood, Hope Professor of Zoology, Oxford, says: “The insects which in this country are found to be the most injurious from their habit of burrowing into the wood of furniture, belong to three species of beetles, of small size, and cylindrical in form (the better to enable them to work their way through the burrows in the wood), belonging to the family Ptinidæ, and known under the systematic names of Ptilinus pectinicornis, Anobium striatum, and Anobium tessellatum.
“In the perfect state, the insects of the genus Anobium are well known under the name of the “deathwatch,” as these insects produce the ticking noise occasionally heard in old houses. It is also the Anobium striatum which is so injurious in libraries; the grub burrowing through entire volumes, and feeding upon the paper, and especially the pasted backs of the books.
“The destruction of these insects, when enclosed in articles of furniture, is by no means easy, although with care much mischief might be prevented. The saturation of the wood with some obnoxious fluid previous to its being used up in the manufacture of objects of value would be beneficial.