Archimedes Texts

30
it grows blacker and handsomer. Theophrastus
tells us, that the Rich used to make their
Doors of the Lote-Tree, the Scarlet-Oak, and
of Box. The Elm, because it firmly main
tains its Strength, is said to be very proper for
Jambs of Doors, but it should be set with its
Head downwards. Cato says, that Levers
ought to be made of Holly, Laurel, and Elm:
For Bars and Bolts, they recommend the Cor
nel-Tree; for Stairs, the wild Ash or the
Maple. They hollowed the Pine, the Pitch
Tree and the Elm for Aqueducts, but they say
unless they are buried under Ground they pre
sently decay. Lastly, the Female Larch-Tree,
which is almost of the Colour of Honey, for
the Ornaments of Edifices and for Tables for
Painting, they found to be in a Manner eternal
and never crack or split; and besides, as its
Veins run short, not long, they used it for the
Images of their Gods, as they did also the
Lote, the Box, the Cedar, and the Cypress
too, and the large Roots of the Olive, and the
Egyptian Peach-Tree, which they say is like
the Lote-Tree.

IF they had Occasion to turn any Thing
long and round, they used the Beech, the
Mulberry, the Tree that yields the Turpentine,
but especially the most close bodied Box, most
excellent for Turning; and for very curious
Works, the Ebony. Neither for Statues or
Pictures did they despise the Poplar, both
white and black, the Sallow, the Hornbeam,
the Service-Tree, the Elder, and the Fig;
which Woods, by their Dryness and Evenness,
are not only good for receiving and preserving
the Gums and Colours of the Painter, but are
wonderfully soft and easy under the Carver's
Tool for expressing all Manner of Forms.
Though it is certain that none of these for
Tractableness can compare with the Linden.
Some there are that for Statues chuse the Jubol
Tree. Contrary to these is the Oak, which
will never join either with itself or any other
Wood of the same Nature, and despises all
Manner of Glue: The same Defect is suppos'd
to be in all Trees that are grained, and in
clin'd to distil. Wood that is easily plain'd,
and has a close Body, is never well to be
fasten'd with Glue; and those also that are of
different Natures, as the Ivy, the Laurel and
the Linden, which are hot, if glued to those
that grow in moist Places, which are all in
their Natures cold, never hold long together.
The Elm, the Ash, the Mulberry, and the
Cherry-Tree, being dry, do not agree with the
Plane Tree or the Alder, which are Moist.
Nay, the Ancients were so far from joining
together Woods different in their Natures, that
they would not so much as place them near
one another. And for this Reason Vitruvius
advises us against joining Planks of Beech and
Oak together.

But to speak of all these more sum
marily. All Authors are agreed that
Trees which do not bear Fruit are stronger and
sounder than those which do; and that the
wild ones, which are not cultivated either with
Hand or Steel, are harder than the Domestick.
Theophrastus says, that the wild ones never fall
into any Infirmities that kill them, whereas the
Domestick and Fruit-bearers are subject to
very considerable Infirmities; and among the
Fruit-bearers those which bear early are
weaker than those which bear late, and the
Sweet than the Tart; and among the tart ones,
such are accounted the Firmest, that have the
Sharpest and the least Fruit. Those that bear Fruit
only once in two Years, and those which are
entirely barren, have more Knots in them than
those which bear every Year; the Shortest
likewise are the Hardest, and the Barren grow
faster than the Fruitful. They say likewise
that such Trees as grow in an open Place, un
shelter'd either by Woods or Hills, but shaken
by frequent Storms and Winds, are stronger
and thicker, but at the same Time shorter and
more knotty than such as grow down in a Val
ley, or in any other Place defended from the
Winds. They also believe that Trees which
grow in moist shady Places are more tender
than those which grow in a dry open Situation,
and that those which stand exposed to the
North are more serviceable than those which
grow to the South. They reject, as abortive
all Trees that grow in Places not agreeable to
their Natures, and though such as stand to the