DECAY OF WOODY FIBRE. 359 



According to the careful analysis of Gay-Lussac 

 and Thenard, 100 parts of oak wood, dried at 212^ 

 (100^ C), from which all soluble substances had 

 been extracted by means of water and alcohol, con- 

 tained 52-53 parts of carbon, and 47*47 parts of hy- 

 drogen and oxygen, in the same proportion as they 

 are contained in water. ' 



Now it has been mentioned, that moist wood acts 

 in oxygen gas exactly as if its carbon combined di- 

 rectly with oxygen, and that the products of this 

 action are carbonic acid and humus. 



If the action of the oxygen were confined to the 

 carbon of the wood, and if nothing but carbon were 

 removed from it, the remaining elements would ne- 

 cessarily be found in the humus, unchanged except 

 in the particular of being combined with less carbon. 

 The final result of the action would therefore be a 

 complete disappearance of the carbon, whilst noth- 

 ing but the elements of water would remain. 



But when decaying wood is subjected to exami- 

 nation in different stages of its decay, the remark- 

 able result is obtained, that the proportion of carbon 

 in the different products augments. Consequently, 

 if we did not take into consideration the evolution 

 of carbonic acid under the influence of the air, the 

 conversion of wood into humus might be viewed as 

 a removal of the elements of water from the carbon. 



The analysis of mouldered oak wood, which was 

 taken from the interior of the trunk of an oak, and 

 possessed a chocolate brown color and the structure 

 of wood, showed that 100 parts of it contained 53*56 

 parts of carbon and 46*44 parts of hydrogen and 

 oxygen in the same relative proportions as in w^ater. 

 From an examination of mouldered wood of a light- 

 brown color, easily reducible to a fine powder, and 

 taken from another oak, it appeared that it contained 

 56*211 carbon and 43*789 water. 



These indisputable facts point out the similarity 

 of the decay of wood, with the slow combustion op 

 oxidation of bodies which contain a large quantity 



