The Blade Zones Fonit'ed hij Wood-DestroijiiKj Fuiujl 41 



potassium chlorate) as a characteristic of wound giuu and 

 shows that starch-containing cells which do not exhibit the 

 slightest broYv^ning or gum formation likewise respond to this 

 I'eaction. They did not continue to investigate the chemical 

 nature of the brown decomposition product beyond finding 

 that it was soluble in alcohol after digestion with a mixture 

 of hydrochloric acid and potassium chlorate. This has been 

 one of the chief objects of the present study. 



Both the residues were then digested by boiling in a mix- 

 ture of hydrochloric acid and potassium chlorate (5 gins, of 

 potassium chlorate to 100 cc. of 80 per cent hydrochloric 

 acid) for 15 minutes. The woody residues from this oxidiz- 

 ing treatment, after thorough washing, were compared. It 

 was found that neither was destroyed by the strong oxidizing 

 action but the residue from the infiltrated wood had lost all 

 of its original blackish color and was only slightly darker 

 than that from the sound wood. When examined under the 

 microscope the cells of the gTOund infiltrated wood appeared 

 to be filled with a light, reddish browTi substance, while the 

 cells of the sound wood also appeared to contain a similar 

 substance but in smaller quantity. Both the oxidizing liquors 

 left from this treatment were brown in color and when 

 neutralized wdth sodium hydroxide gave brown precipitates 

 respectively, the one in the case of the sound wood l>eing the 

 darker. These precipitates were not investigated further 

 since they were deemed not to be of any uiaterial importance. 

 • The woody residues left from the oxidizing treatment were 

 then submitted to a cold extraction with absolute alcohol for 

 24 hours. In both cases the alcohol instantly assumed a 

 brown hue due to material entering into solution. This treat- 

 ment seemed to take most of the coloring substance from both 

 woods, although the residues responded slightly to a second 

 and even to a third extraction. The alcoholic filtrates were 

 evaporated to dryness and weighed. Boughly estimated, 

 about twice as much material was obtained from the infil- 



