Inquiries relative to the Structure of Wood. 465 



seerwood to be charcoal ; on the contrary, we have just 

 seen that it requires 100 parts of seerwood to obtain 

 43-33 P arts f dry charcoal. 



Neither is seerwood simply a hydrure of dry wood, 

 as we shall see in the sequel. 



It should seem that the fabric of a plant, which may 

 perhaps be nothing but pure charcoal, is always cov- 

 ered with a substance analogous to the flesh which con- 

 ceals the skeleton of an animal. This vegetable flesh 

 does not exist in considerable masses ; for, as the 

 plant is not under the necessity of moving from one place 

 to another in search of nourishment, it has no need 

 either of flexible joints in its skeleton, nor of muscles 

 capable of exerting a great force ; and it probably arises 

 from the circumstances of the skeleton and the flesh 

 being very intimately blended together, that they are not 

 discriminated and distinguished from each other. 



I consider seerwood as the skeleton of the plant, 

 with the flesh, though quite dried, still adhering to it; 

 and as we have seen that there are 43.33 parts of char- 

 coal in 100 parts of seerwood, I should say that 100 

 parts of seerwood are composed of 



Charcoal 43.33 parts. 



Vegetable flesh, dried 56.67 



Making together .... 100.00 parts. 



The beautiful analyses of Messrs. Gay-Lussac and 

 Thenard have shown us that seerwood is composed of 

 carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen ; and that two different 

 species of wood analyzed by them (the beech and the 

 oak) were composed of these three elements in nearly 

 equal proportions. They also discovered that the oxy- 

 gen and hydrogen in these woods are in the requisite 



VOL. II. 30 



