154 : College of Forestry 
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 of the residues were digested by boiling in a mixture 
of hydrochloric acid and potassium chlorate (5 gms. of potas- 
sium chlorate to 100 ce. of 80 per cent hydrochloric acid) 
for fifteen minutes. ‘The woody residues from this oxidizing 
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 ground infiltrated wood appeared 
to be filled with a light, reddish brown 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 neu- 
tralized with sodium hydroxide gave brown precipitates 
respectively, the one in the case of the sound wood being 
the darker. These precipitates in both cases undoubtedly 
represent additional humie acid, the formation of which was 
rendered possible by the decomposition of humic substances 
resulting from the digestion of the woody substance with the 
hydrochloric acid-potassium chlorate mixture. Since they 
did not represent the main product to be studied, their inves- 
tigation was not carried further. 
The woody residues left from the oxidizing treatment were 
then submitted to a cold extraction with absolute alcohol for 
twenty-four hours. In both cases the alcohol instantly 
assumed a brown hue due to material entering into solution. 
This treatment 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. Roughly 
estimated, about twice as much material was obtained from 
the infiltrated wood as from the sound wood. both extracts 
were dark brown in color and exhibited a vitreous fracture. 
