Address of the President. 15 



" Wood from Lochar Moss. 



" The whole wood is saturated with an oily fluid, which is 

 most abundant between the annual rings, and communicates 

 a dark brown tint to these. Under a magnifier small granules 

 of a whitish uncrystaUine resinous matter is perceived in 

 some places between the woody fibres. The greater part of 

 the substance in the wood is, however, neither crystalline nor 

 solid, and can be pressed in the form of oil out from the dark 

 centre annular spaces. It is tasteless and inodorous, but 

 gives off a faintly aromatic odour when heated. It is higlily 

 inflammable, and distils at a low temperature, the vapour 

 taking fire and burning with a bright luminous but smoky 

 flame. The wood is rendered by this matter highly in- 

 flammable ; it takes fire instantly, and burns with a bright 

 flame. 



" There is no reg^ilar deposit of the white solid in any 

 quantity or layer, and it is only seen in minute traces when 

 the woody fibres are torn apart and examined by the micro- 

 scope. It is quite soluble in alcohol and ether. 



" On submitting the wood to slow (dry) distillation a con- 

 siderable quantity of oily matter sublimes, which on standing 

 becomes semi-solid, but it does not crystallise. 



" Both ether and alcohol readily extract the oily matter 

 from the wood, and, on evaporation, a whitish soft semi-solid 

 but not crystalline matter is left, which has the properties of 

 resin. 



"The ethereal solution is not rendered turbid by the 

 addition of alcohol. Water renders the alcoholic solution 

 quite turbid. It is attacked by strong nitric acid. 



" A second portion of wood from the outside of the tree was 

 forwarded to me for examination after the above remarks 

 were made, which afforded some further insight into the 

 nature of the oily matter between the annual layers. In the 

 more compact parts of the wood there was abundance of this 



