denying that the appearance of the timber is against it. It would seem to stand to reason that a soft,
spongy wood cannot be very durable, and we presume we must allow that the wood of the Englishgrown
Cedar sometimes is of that character. A table, which Sir Joseph Banks had made out of the
Hillingdon Cedar, is said by Loudon to have been soft, without scent (except that of common deal),
and possessed little variety of veining; and he mentions that the same remarks applied to a table which
he had made from a plank from one of the trees of Whitton Park. The layers were distinctly marked,
the softer or summer side of each being whitish, loose, and spongy, the harder or winter part being closegrained,
and of a light-brown colour.
The strength of the timber in this country is also no indication of that in its native country. It
seems unquestionable that in the latter it is much greater than in English-grown timber. The old branch
which Sir Joseph Hooker brought from Lebanon gives a totally different idea of the hardness of Cedar
wood from what English-grown specimens do; but as there is no prospect of the Lebanon timber
ever becoming an article of commerce in our days, our practical concern with it is very much limited to
the former.
Loudon tells us that the result of some experiments which he made on the strength of a plant from the
large tree at Whitton, which was blown down in November 1836, was that he found it very inferior in point
of strength to the common English-grown Scotch Pine. The colour and strain of the wood, he adds, were
precisely the same as those of a specimen received by Mr. Lambert from Morocco—that is, of the Cedrus
atlantica. We have in our account of the Deodar given the particulars of a comparative trial of the
strength of that tree and the Cedar, from a specimen presented to the Royal Horticultural Society by Mr.
Tillery, the gardener of the Duke of Portland, where the Deodar had been inarched or grafted on the
Cedar, so that the lower part or stock furnished timber of the Cedar, and the upper part timber of the
Deodar. A piece a foot in length and an inch square was taken from each, within a foot of the spot
where the graft had been made, so that it furnished a portion of the timber of each, which not only had
lived under the same climate, exposure, and other conditions of life, experienced the same degree of
temperature at the same time, had bent to the same blasts, been
frozen by the same cold, thawed by the same sunshine, and
refreshed by the same showers; but were also of the same size and
^•s* 3* Breakage of cedrus Libani age, growing on the same root, and, of course, in the same soil.
We could never, therefore, expect to have a fairer opportunity of
testing the strength of the two timbers with entire impartiality, always supposing the climate to be equally
suitable to both. On testing these the Cedar broke under a weight of 378 lbs., the Deodar under that of
448 lbs., which would make the latter about one-sixth stronger than the former. Figs. 32 and 33, drawn
from these pieces of wood, shew the nature of the fracture of each. The tenacity of the Cedar (fig. 32),
as indicated by its deflection under the weight which broke it, was still less than that of the Deodar
(%• 33)- It would therefore appear that little can be said in
favour either of the strength or tenacity of home-grown Cedar.
We are more disposed to accept its incorruptibility when
not exposed to the weather, as also a modified degree of
fragrance, and consequent power of resisting the attacks of
insects.
The true explanation of the discrepancy between the received belief in the endurance of the timber
taken from Lebanon, and the apparent aptitude to decay of that grown in England, is doubtless the
difference in their rate of growth. It is not improbable that the difference in the longevity, the durability,
as well as in the fragrance of the Lebanon and English trees, may be in proportion to their slowness of
growth.
Loudon gives the actual weight of Cedar wood per cubic foot, as determined by Varennes de Fenille,
Mussenbrack,
Mussenbrack, and Hassenfratz, respectively at 29 lbs. 4 oz„ 42 lbs. 14 oz„ and 57 lbs.; but these results
are obviously, from their disparity, arrived at by experiments on green wood, and are of course of no value.
The real specific gravity is said to be 6.13.
The bark is available for tanning, and an analysis made by Professor Chevreuil makes its astringent
properties in comparison with those of the Oak as 12.75 to I 9 .75, that is, as about 1 to 3. On this point we
cannot speak from personal knowledge. We have, however, little doubt that the idea of the Cedar bark
being suitable for tanning, originated in the supposition that the Cedar is most nearly allied to the Larch,
the bark of which is applied to that purpose. But, as already explained, that the nearest ally to the Cedar
is not the Larch, but the Silver Fir, we should consequently not expect its bark to have tanning properties
in any greater degree than the Silver Fir. Probably all the Abietmce, or, for that matter, all the Conifers,
have a certain amount of astringency in their bark; while some of them, such as the Larch and the
Welli?igtonia {Sequoia), have it in a more remarkable degree than others.
The resin of the Cedar is not so abundant as that of many other Conifers. It besmirches the cones,
and flows from wounds in the bark, but chiefly abounds in the seeds. Professor Chevreuil found 41 per
cent, of resin in the seeds of the Cedar, while he got only 21 per cent, in those of Pinus Cembra, 24 per
cent, in those of P. Pinaster, and 9 J per cent, in P. Pinea; but there is no common basis of comparison
between the Cedar and these species. The seeds of all the Silver Firs overflow with odoriferous
resin, while the seeds of Pines are as free from resin almost as nuts, which they resemble. The resin is
put to no use in modern days, but in ancient times the Egyptians, who were far advanced in many of the arts,
applied it to various purposes. According to Vitruvius, they used it as one of the ingredients for embalming
their mummies; and they rubbed it over the leaves of Papyrus and other objects, to preserve them
from the attacks of insects. The Romans adopted this prescription, or something analogous to it, which
they called Cedria. The books of Numa, which were found uninjured in his tomb 500 years after that
monarch's death, had been steeped in or rubbed with it to preserve them from insects. The details of the
manufacture have not come down to us; but Dr. Hoffmeister gives the following account of the process
as applied to the Deodar at the present day in Koonawur, in the Himmalayahs :—
i Cedar wood (or the cones) cleft into many small pieces is carefully squeezed into a new round pot, in such a manner that
I out when the pot is whirled round and round. It is then turned upside down over a copper bowl set in a little pit, every opening
being filled up with small stones and moss. Round about the pot a heap of billets of wood is piled up so high as entirely to cover it and kept
burning for fully two hours. Next morning the little pot is opened, and the copper vessel removed, in which the cedar oil is found to have
gathered in the shape of a thin liquid substance resembling tar. . . . It is used as a medicine internally and externally in cases of intestinal
disease, and in eruptions of the skin."— Hoflmeister's " Travels in Ceylon and Continental India," 184S, p. 367.
We read in Pliny, Dioscorides, and Scribonius Largus, that it was used for curing the toothache.
We may consequently be pretty sure that it was a preparation similar to creosote, whose antiseptic
properties it seems to have possessed. There is nothing new under the sun.
M. Pomet gives the following account of the properties which the druggists of last century supposed
it to possess:—
"The Cedar of Lebanon is a tree which GLUWS LO U prodigious size, and of a pyramidal figure, whose branches arc adorned with little
narrow green leaves, and the fruit like our pine-apples. It is from the trunk and the large branches of this tree that there flows, during the
great heats, without any incision, a sort of white resin, very clear and transparent, which we call Cedar gum, of which the largest trees yield not
less than six ounces a-day. Here are likewise, during the hot season, little bladders made by the scorching of the sun, which, being pierced,
afford a clear white liquor, like water, of a strong penetrating smell, and is of the turpentine kind ; and when the tree ceases to produce any
more of that, being cut, there flows an unctuous matter, which, drying as it runs down the tree, is what we call resin of Cedar, which is very
rare in France, as well as the other productions of this tree. This resin is of a very fine yellow, bright and transparent, and of a very
grateful odour.
The true oil of Cedar is admirable for curing tetters and scabs in horses, cattle, sheep, and other beasts; but as these sorts of oil arc too
dear, we will institute in their place clear oil of pitch, which upon that subject is called oil of Cedar, as you will find in the chapter on pitch."—
Pomet " On Druggs" (English Translation, p. 66, 1712).
La Roque, in his " Voyage de Syrie et Mont Liban," already referred to, narrates the following
peculiarity as one of the properties of the Cedar; and feeling that this property may be difficult of belief,
brings