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Scan 276
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 262. See the scan on archive.org.
1wood when exposed to the air, almost the only one which not only does not partially destroy but actually increases its flexibility and elasticity, is the mother liquor of salt works. A slip of pine wood, 118 of an inch thick and 23.6 inches in length, charged with this mother liquor, was capable of being bent into three concentric circles without being broken, and, when released, would again become straight, the elasticity being found to increase in proportion to the quality of the liquor absorbed. Of course, no analogous process could be artificially employed on violin wood after being cut, and when its living power of absorption and conversion had ceased, seeing that the presence of so much humidity would, after the instrument was varnished, probably only insure its speedy decay, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that the natural nourishment afforded by a soil so strongly impregnated with this substance would result in the aspiration of some materials favourable to the development of its straight growth and native elasticity.
3It is also worthy of note that the adherence of resinous varnishes was not affected by the application of the above liquor. Further experiments have proved that it is possible even to neutralise the effects of the vegetable albumen in wood, which is exceedingly prone to decomposition, and is indeed, the chief cause of its decay. This vegetable albumen, which closely resembles animal albumen both in properties and composition, is, being humid, a hindrance to the sonority of wood, and it may be that some ameliorating effect in this regard is naturally accomplished in the Tyrolese pines by the nourishment drawn from
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