Inquiries relative to the Structure of Wood. 439 



the air contained in the water. The shavings were then 

 thrown into the boiling water, and kept in that state for 

 an hour. The water was not long in filling the vessels 

 and pores of the shavings, from which it dislodged the 

 air contained in them ; so that the wood, specifically 

 heavier than the water, was precipitated to the bottom 

 of the vessel, and there remained. 



When the vessel was removed from the chafing-dish, 

 the water was suffered to cool to the temperature of 60 

 F., and then, plunging in both hands, I placed (under the 

 water) all the shavings in a cylindrical glass vase, whose 

 weight I had previously ascertained, which was sus- 

 pended in the water by a silken cord, fastened at its 

 other extremity to the arm of an accurate hydrostatic 

 balance. 



On weighing the shavings in the glass case thus im- 

 mersed, I found their weight equal to 2.651 grammes. 



As the shavings, while dry, weighed 8.121 grammes 

 in the air, and 2.651 grammes in the water, they must 

 have lost 5.47 grammes of their weight in the latter ; 

 consequently they must have displaced 5.47 grammes of 

 water ; and the specific gravity of the solid parts of this 

 wood must be to that of the water at the temperature 

 of 60 F. as 8.1 21 to 5.47, or as 14,846 to 10,000. 



It may perhaps excite some surprise that the solid 

 parts of so light a wood as that of the lime-tree should 

 be heavier, by nearly one half, than water, taken in 

 equal bulks. But this surprise will, without doubt, be 

 increased when I declare that the specific gravities of the 

 solid parts of all kinds of wood are so nearly alike as 

 almost to induce a belief that there is the same identity 

 in the ligneous substance of all sorts of wood as in the 



o 



osseous substance of all species of animals. 



