The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3 (of 6)

Chapter 390: CHAP. 82.—CARPENTERS’ WOODS.

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The work assembles systematic observations on animals, insects, and trees, combining natural history with practical notes. It surveys insect forms and habits, including bees, silk‑producing worms, spiders, and parasitic species, and discusses reproduction, classification, diseases, and useful products like honey and silk. It then examines animal anatomy in detail, limb by limb and organ by organ, comparing organs, vital functions, and bodily peculiarities across species. Later sections catalogue trees and exotic plants, describing aromatic gums, spices, frankincense, myrrh, and methods for producing and testing unguents and perfumes, and noting their uses and regions of origin.

CHAP. 82.—CARPENTERS’ WOODS.

The wood of the fir is strongest in a vertical 2731 position: it is remarkably well adapted for the pannels of doors, and all kinds of in-door joiners’ work, whether in the Grecian, the Campanian, or the Sicilian style. The shavings of this wood when briskly planed, always curl up in circles like the tendrils of the vine. This wood, too, unites particularly well with glue: it is used in this state for making vehicles, and is found to split sooner in the solid parts than in a place where the pieces have been glued together.