Address of the President. 17 



probable that it has been partly changed into an isomeric 

 hydrocarbon. 



" Towards the exterior, where the woody fibre is more open, 

 so as to admit a little of the limited quantity of air which 

 penetrated into the peaty layers around the tree, some of the 

 oil has been resiuified ; whilst in the outer layers, where the 

 wood is cracked, the resin is further oxidised into a solid 

 crystalline matter. 



" It wovJd be interesting to ascertain if the wood in the 

 upper portion of the tree, where it comes near the surface of 

 the bog, and must consequently have had a freer siipply of 

 air, contained more of this solid crystalline matter than in the 

 lower parts further removed from air. 



" The crystalline matter appears to belong to the same class 

 as Fichtelite, Schcererite, Tekorctine, Phyllorctine, etc. etc., which 

 have been obtained from fossil pines found in bogs in Bavaria, 

 Denmark, and elsewhere. It is not, however, identical with 

 them. These bodies fuse at temperatures varying from 113° 

 to 200° Fahr., whilst only a part of the Lochar pine-tree crys- 

 tals fuse at these lower temperatures, the greater part requir- 

 ing for this purpose above 300° of Fahr. The published 

 accounts of Fichtelite and the other oxidised products from 

 turpentine found in fossil pines, show that these bodies also 

 cannot be regarded as really simple, but that they are mix- 

 tures of different substances. Should a sufficient quantity be 

 obtained for a more complete examination, a considerable 

 series of fossil products would undoubtedly be found to be 

 derived from the slow metamorphosis of the turpentine of the 

 ancient pines. 



" The roots of pines from the Irish bogs, found in abun- 

 dance at Macroon, near Cork, appear to be saturated with a 

 matter similar to that of the Lochar pine-tree. The roots are 

 torn into threads, and sold for firewood. They have a greasy 

 feel too, and barn at once, on the application of llame, with 



