FIR-WOOD STRUCTURE. 299 



gitudinally fibrous woody body appears ; at b it is transversely 

 bound with a different bark. 



The manner in which this rod has been pointed is shown 

 in fig. 3, in which, by a section at the point of the rod, 

 the annual rings are displayed. The interior of the wood in 

 this, as in other hard woody fragments of which the coal to a 

 great extent consists, appears light in colour and solid, so that 

 a clear sharp section could be effected, showing that the annual 

 rings one after another were removed. Consequently the section 

 was easily prepared for microscopic examination, which confirms 

 with all requisite exactness the employment of art in the point- 

 ing of the rod. 



Prof. Schwendauer, the respected colleague of Prof. Riitimeyer, 

 had the kindness to undertake the microscopic examination, 

 which is thus described : 



" The fragments of wood from the Brown Coal or Lignite of 

 Wetzikon handed to Prof. Schwendauer for examination are 

 really more or less sharply pointed, and in such a manner as 

 evidently to indicate the action of Man. From the microscopic 

 examination the Professor concludes : 1. That the structure of 

 the wood undoubtedly corresponds with the Coniferous type ; 2. 

 That the occurrence of resin-ducts in the wood, and the absence 

 of the large oval pores and of the tooth-like thickening in the 

 cells of the medullary rays, not only excludes the white fir (Abies 

 pectinata), but also the species of the genus Pinus which occur 

 in Switzerland (Pinus sylvestris, montana, Mill., and cembra). 

 The spiral thickenings of the woody cells of the yew (Taxus), 

 and the absence of resin-ducts in cypresses (Cupressineca) , ex- 

 clude these trees from consideration ; and there remains only, 

 of the indigenous Coniferse, the larch and the red fir (Abies 

 excelsa), which cannot be distinguished from each other by 



Fig. 3. Section at the point of rod, fig. 2, showing the annual rings in the 

 wood. 



Fig. 4. Microscopic section of the surface represented in fig. 3 : c, point- 

 ing of the rod ; a b } boundary of an annual ring. 



The transverse spots and streaks indicate medullary rays which have been 

 cut obliquely, as the section of the surface was not exactly radial. The 

 shading is parallel to the direction of the fibres. 



