460 Inquiries relative to the Structure of Wood. 



Fourteen grammes of ash-shavings, after being highly 

 dried on a marble slab over a chafing-dish, were exposed 

 to the air, in the month of February, in a large room 

 whose temperature was about 20 F., and in 15 hours 

 they had gained 1.65 grammes in weight. 



Fourteen grammes of the same sort of shavings, hav- 

 ing been first scorched in the stove till they had assumed 

 a brown color, were at the same time dried over the 

 chafing-dish, and exposed with the others to the cold air 

 for the same length of time ; but they gained in weight 

 only i.oi grammes, while those which had not been 

 scorched, as already stated, had gained 1.65 grammes. 



Fourteen grammes of the shavings of lime-wood, in 

 their natural state, and fourteen grammes of the same 

 kind of shavings, after they had been violently scorched 

 in the stove, were dried together over the chafing-dish, 

 and then 'exposed in the open air, at the temperature of 

 40 F. for 15 hours. The shavings in their natural 

 state gained 1.33 grammes in weight; while those that 

 had been scorched gained 0.7 grammes. 



A similar experiment, upon shavings of the cherry- 

 tree, some in their natural state, and others scorched, 

 was productive of the same result. 



Whence we conclude that wood in its natural state 

 attracts the moisture of the air more copiously than it 

 does after having been subjected to the first degree of 

 carbonization. 



From similar experiments upon wood and charcoal, I 

 find that dry wood attracts humidity more powerfully 

 than dry charcoal. 



It would be worth ascertaining, whether wood is not 

 also more powerfully attractive of gas than charcoal ; 

 but as I have not time to enter upon this particular 



