DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70266#0093
LETTERS FOUND IN THE MIDDLE OF A BEECH.
75
On the left side is branded the mark of the Merseburg
stud; though, according to all probability, the horse was
presented by a duke of Zeitz, to the court of Dresden.
LETTERS FOUND IN THE MIDDLE OF A BEECH.
COMMUNICATED BY J. THEOD. KLEIN, SECRETARY OF
DANTZIC, F. R. S.
In the year 1727a beech-tree was felled near Elbing,
for the domestic use of John Maurice Moeller, then post-
master of Elbing, now secretary of his native city. The
trunk being sawed into pieces, one of these, three Dant-
zic feet, six inches long, cleft in the house, discovered se-
veral letters in the wood, about one inch and a half from the
bark, and near the same distance from the centre of the
trunk. Two of these, D. B. shew their old bark sound and
smooth. The wood lying between the letters and the bark
of the trunk, as well as between the letters and the heart of
the tree, is likewise solid and sound, bearing not the least
trace of letters. The characters gp q. being somewhat hol-
low, receive the bark of the letters D. B.
The same letters are seen in the bark of the tree, only
that they are partly ill-shaped, partly almost effaced;
whereas those within bear due proportion, as if done with
a pencil.
It is an ancient custom, to cut names and various cha-
racters on the rind of trees, especially on such as are smooth.
That this has happened to our beech, the inspection of the
bark sufficiently shews. An incision made, the tubuli con-
veying the nutritious juice, and the utriculi in which it is
prepared, are divided and lacerated, and more of them, as
the incision was made deeper and wider; and consequently
the sap is not carried on in the circulation, but extravasated
l 2
75
On the left side is branded the mark of the Merseburg
stud; though, according to all probability, the horse was
presented by a duke of Zeitz, to the court of Dresden.
LETTERS FOUND IN THE MIDDLE OF A BEECH.
COMMUNICATED BY J. THEOD. KLEIN, SECRETARY OF
DANTZIC, F. R. S.
In the year 1727a beech-tree was felled near Elbing,
for the domestic use of John Maurice Moeller, then post-
master of Elbing, now secretary of his native city. The
trunk being sawed into pieces, one of these, three Dant-
zic feet, six inches long, cleft in the house, discovered se-
veral letters in the wood, about one inch and a half from the
bark, and near the same distance from the centre of the
trunk. Two of these, D. B. shew their old bark sound and
smooth. The wood lying between the letters and the bark
of the trunk, as well as between the letters and the heart of
the tree, is likewise solid and sound, bearing not the least
trace of letters. The characters gp q. being somewhat hol-
low, receive the bark of the letters D. B.
The same letters are seen in the bark of the tree, only
that they are partly ill-shaped, partly almost effaced;
whereas those within bear due proportion, as if done with
a pencil.
It is an ancient custom, to cut names and various cha-
racters on the rind of trees, especially on such as are smooth.
That this has happened to our beech, the inspection of the
bark sufficiently shews. An incision made, the tubuli con-
veying the nutritious juice, and the utriculi in which it is
prepared, are divided and lacerated, and more of them, as
the incision was made deeper and wider; and consequently
the sap is not carried on in the circulation, but extravasated
l 2