An essay addressed to captains of the Royal Navy, and those of the merchant service, on the means of preserving the health of their crews, with directions for the preservation of dry rot in ships / by Robert Finlayson.

  • Finlayson, Robert (Surgeon in the Royal Navy)
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay addressed to captains of the Royal Navy, and those of the merchant service, on the means of preserving the health of their crews, with directions for the preservation of dry rot in ships / by Robert Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    89/102 (page 77)
    Qn applying it to the skin, as expect it would neutralize the gallic acid in the heart of oak. .;tjFarther, alkaline solutions, owing to their gieat affinity for water, would hasten that de- cay in timber which they are intended to pre- vent ; moreover, men could not live in a ship so saturated. ^ All the benefit, therefore, to be derived from lirae-water, solutions of glue, common salt, oil, &c. is to be obtained from common paint alone; so far as they are capable of closing the pores, £6ad .rendering the wood less pervious to heat and humidity, are they useful, and no farther.* ^jiOf the Growth and Properties of Moss m?; . preserving Timber. M(*si5 js produced by an accumulation of dead yggetables, preserved in a partially decayed |]iat©>; by a steady range of low temperature. P Moisture has another destructive influence on timber. vix. that of causing it to throw off its coat of paint. If a ^ece of timber is painted, after having been previously saturated with water, on the arrival of the first frost, the j«uflt will be observed to scale off. This is owing to water obeying different laws from most other substaiices, or oc- cGp;^ihg a greater space in the frozen, than it did in the «.'qUcou8, state.