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dations used for piling under buildings, because, in thesesituations, it receives that moisture which it does notpossess naturally. It bears immense weight and does notdecay. Thus we see that timber which above groundsoon decays, lasts an amazing time in a damp soil. Thisis most evident at Eavenna, a city, the foundations ofwhose buildings, both public and private, are all builtupon piles. The elm tree and the ash contain muchwater and but little air and fire, with a moderate, portionof earth. They are therefore pliant, and being so full ofwater, and from want of stiffness, soon bend under asuperincumbent weight. When, however, from properkeeping after being felled, or from being well dried whilestanding to discharge their natural moisture, they be-come much harder, and in framings are, from theirpliability, capable of forming sound work. The mapletree, which contains but little fire and earth, and a con-siderable portion of air and water, is not easily broken,and is, moreover, easily wrought. The Greeks, there-fore, who made yokes for oxen (called by them tvya) ofthis timber, call the tree £vyaa. The cypress and pineare also singular in their nature; for though they con-tain equal portions of the other elements, yet, from theirlarge proportion of water, they are apt to bend in use;they last, however, a long time, free from decay; thereason whereof is, that they contain a bitter juice, whoseacrid properties prevent the rot, and are not less effica-cious in destroying the worm. Buildings, in which thesesorts of timber are used, last an exceedingly longtime. The cedar and juniper trees possess the samequalities as the two last named ; but as the cypress andpine yield a resin, so the cedar tree yields an oil calledcedrium, with which, whatsoever is rubbed, as books, forinstance, will be preserved from the worm as well as therot. The leaves of this tree resemble those of the cypress,and its fibres are very straight. The statue of the god-dess, as also the ceiled roof in the temple of Diana at