WOODY FIBRE. 43 



diately be formed by an union with the oxygen of the 

 air, and will condense on the cool surface of the glass. 



b. Water exists in several states: 1. As the simple 

 liquid; 2. As steam or vapor; 3. As ice or snow. 

 Each of these forms have their peculiar properties 

 and benefits. As a fluid, it renders the bodies of all 

 animals plump, moist, and elastic, while it also gives 

 life to all plants and vegetables, forming their circu 

 lating fluids. 



As a vapor, it prevents the outer surfaces of plants 

 and animals from drying away too much, intercepts 

 the rays of the sun which w r ould otherwise scorch and 

 burn us, and performs many other important offices, of 

 which there is not space to speak here. As ice, its 

 action in alternate freezing and thawing, thus ex 

 panding and contracting, is to loosen and mellow the 

 soil. This is the effect produced by ridging stiff clays 

 in autumn, that the frost may have free access. 



SECTION IV. OF ORGANIC BODIES CONTAINING CARBON, 

 HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN. 



By far the most abundant body in the organic part 

 of all or nearly all plants, is called woody fibre, some 

 times cellular fibre. This is the stringy, woody part 

 of straw, flax, hemp, wood, &c. If any of them are 

 bruised and soaked until every thing that can be 

 washed away is gone, a mass of white fibres remains, 

 which is tolerably pure woody fibre. Cotton or pith 

 are the purest natural forms of this substance, a. It 

 is white, tasteless, insoluble in water, and will not in 

 its natural condition support life. b. It constitutes 

 the largest portion of nearly all plants, that is in their 

 dry state; this distinction is necessary, because many 

 plants lose more than half of their weight of water by 

 drying, this may be seen in most of the common grasses. 



Woody fibre is < omposed of carbon, hydrogen and 



