Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/166

140 of textile fabrics are usually mounted on frames in the same manner as the laces. Larger pieces are stored in large flat trays or drawers.

Storage cases need not be beautiful, but it is very important that they should be dust proof. Wooden cases are much easier to handle and wooden trays are less likely to buckle under weight than iron or steel ones. As far as fireproof qualities are concerned there is not much to choose, for while the wood will burn, the iron conducts the heat to such an extent that the contents of an iron case are very likely to become charred if exposed to excessive heat.

—Under this head may be included all articles of furniture, wood carving, panelling, wooden chests and even sculptures in wood. All are subject to the same disease and to the same treatment. The pest which commonly attacks wood is the little worm whose tracks may be found in all old pieces and whose living presence may be detected by the little particles of wood that drop from the hole in which the worm works. A light tapping near a suspected spot usually brings out the particles of sawdust and then the piece must be quickly isolated and treated, to prevent the pest spreading to nearby objects. If this is not done, a whole room is likely to become infected in a very short time. In the case of