A correspondent of a daily contemporary writes as follows from Sheerness under date of Monday :-

" Sir W. Barnett, M D , Director-General of the Navy Medical Department, paid his annual official visit on Saturday. The learned officer was then witness to the failure of his far-famed solution, so far as its properties for preserving timber while immersed in water are concerned, by the following interesting experiment.

About 18 months ago a series of small logs of ash, elm, pine, teak, 'condie,' or New Zealand fir, beech, and oak, after having been duly immersed in his solution, were deposited at neap tide at the mouth of the harbour, with another series of the same kinds of wood in its natural state. On being taken up and laid out for inspection on Saturday, externally Sir William's series exhibited the smoothest surface, but on being split open, with certain exceptions, like the series which had not been immersed in his solution, they exhibited one living mass of 'pholades' the generic name, we believe. of the worm in question encased, were not broken in their teataceous coverings. The Malabar teak in both cases was riddled like a sieve, so were the ash, the elm, and the beech ; the pine was in, rather better condition; the oak was not much affected; the 'condie' was as perfect as when at first laid down, with the exception of one single worm. who had found his way into one of the extremities of the log, which had not been immersed in the solution.

The exterior of all the kinds of wood was considerably injured by a smaller insect, particularly so were the pine and teak. As has been stated, the exterior of Sir William's series was not so much decayed, but as to the interior, we saw little difference from that of the other ; indeed. this the distinguished officer himself admitted. Some of the worms inhabiting the interior were eight or nine inches long while few were shorter than two inches. All were about the circumference of a medium-sized quill, and each possessed a testaceous coveting and cell for itself.- Bell's Weekly Messenger.

SG & SGTL ; Vol 4 ; Page 112.

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