ike fallen warriors, on their sides.'

All that is very true, particularly about housemaids. Indeed, I have
rarely found any woman who cared sufficiently for her books to really
fondly tend them.

The principal enemy which books have is DAMP. This means ruination, more
perhaps to the paper than to the binding, though both suffer. A fungus
growth comes on the leather, and inside there come stains and 'fox'
marks. Damp is caused (1) through lack of fires or warmth; (2) through
too many sides of a room being exposed to the elements without having
the walls battened; (3) the thaw following a frost, proper means for
warmth not being adopted during the frost. The only remedy for damp is
the trying process of opening each volume and suspending it open, after
wiping with a dry cloth each page affected. The next worst enemies are
gas and heat.

Gas alone, provided the books are not placed high up, will not be nearly
so destructive as it is generally supposed; but all atmospheres heated
too highly are destructive. Mr. Poole, a very experienced American
librarian, has reported as follows, and, I think, very rightly:--

'The burning of many gas lights doubtless has a tendency to increase the
evil by increasing the heat. Yet the deterioration of bindings goes on
in the libraries where gas is never used. This fact shows that the chief
injury arises from heat, and not merely from the sulphurous residuum of
gas combustion.'

Mr. Poole made an experiment in the upper gallery of a library, and
found that--

'While the temperature of the floor was 65 deg. Fahr., that of the upper
gallery was found to be 142 deg.. Such a temperature dries up the oil of the
leather, and burns out its life. Books cannot live where men cannot
live.' Similarly, Mr. Blades wrote in his little manual:

'The surest way to preserve your books is to treat them as you would
your own children, who are sure to sicken if confined in an atmosphere
which is impure, too hot, too cold, too damp, or too dry. It is just the
same with the progeny of literature.'

In London particularly dust, smoke, and soot get at books and do great
damage. To have the top edges gilded is an excellent way to prevent dust
getting into the leaves. Books which have roughly trimmed tops harbour
dust much more readily, and it is with great difficulty removed from
such. If a book is very dusty, a small brush is perhaps the best means
to adopt to remove the offending particles. Books should