152 College of Forestry 
sium hydroxide, and concentrated hydrochloric acid. In cold 
concentrated sulphuric acid the wood was carbonized but the 
globules remained intact. Upon heating the acid to boiling 
the wood dissolved together with more or less of the humie 
products. In cold concentrated nitric acid the decomposition 
products were insoluble, but upon heating to boiling the 
globules dissolved together with the wood, forming a brown 
solution. Moreover, tests performed with other sections indi- 
cated that the decomposition products in question were 
insoluble in absolute alcohol, xylene, acetone, ether, petro- 
leum ether, chloroform, carbon bisulphide, and carbon 
tetrachloride. In addition to this, sections of the wood con- 
taining the globules of humic products were placed in a con- 
centrated solution of chloral hydrate and kept at a tempera- 
ture of 55 degrees C. for one week. There was no effect other 
than a slight swelling of the globules. The same sections 
were then washed in water and dehydrated by alcohol. Part 
of them were treated with clove oil and the remainder with 
cedar oil, but the humic products remained insoluble in both 
cases. 
An attempt was made to determine more fully the chemical 
nature of the brown decomposition product by means of a 
comparative analysis of sound and decayed wood. The 
resistant areas of sapwood removed from the pignut hickory 
[Hicoria glabra (Mill.) Britton] log were again employed 
for the study of the decayed wood, and sapwood (gathered 
in the spring) from a living tree of the same species was 
employed for the study of the sound wood. In the case of 
the resistant areas of sapwood in the early stages of the decay 
the periphery of each piece was bounded by a conspicuous 
thick, black layer of infiltrated wood as described earlier. 
The external black layer sharply demarked the completely 
decayed wood from the remaining resistant areas which were 
only in the first stage of decomposition. This black layer, 
as well as the wocd enclosed by it, was very hard. The 
infiltrated wood was shaved off carefully, care beg taken 
not to include the underlying, uninfiltrated wood. The. 
normal sapwood also was reduced to shavings, and, after 
thorough drying, both samples were ground finely. 
