WOOD. 



of which one ounce renders eighteen quarts of water fuf- 



ficiently mucilaginous, and thefe ferve to form four pounds 



' and a half of wood-flour into cakes. Thefe cakes are to 



be baked in an oven until they are quite dry, and become of 



a brownirti-yellow colour on the f\irface. After this they are 



to be broken to pieces, and again ground repeatedly, until 



' the flour pafs through a fine boulting-cloth, and upon the 



finenefs of the flour does its fitneff to make bread depend. 



The flour of a foft wood, fuch as birch, will be fufRciently 



prepared by the procefs as defcribed j but the flour of a 



hard wood will require the fteps of baking and grinding to 



' be repeated. 



! Thai, the wood thus prepared is altered in it", nature and 

 ' rendered foluble, is proved by the quantity of real itarch 

 ' that is obtaii! J from it by the fane procefs, by which it is 

 : feparated from wlieat-flour. If wood-flour tied up in fine 

 linen be long kneaded in a veflel of water, the water is ren- 

 ; dered nnlky, and depofits flowly a quantity of itarch, which 

 with boiling water forms a thick, tough, trembling, tenp.oious 

 ; jelly, like that of wheat-llarch, and it is only neceflTary to 

 ■ fee this ftarch to be convinced that the wood-fiour is foluble 

 I and nutritious. This ftarch c.ainot be afcribed to the mu- 

 ' cilaginous matter added to the ground wood before it is 

 baked, as the added mucilage does not amount to more 

 ' than the one-hundred and forty-fifth part of the wood, 

 ! whereas the wood-flour lofes about half its weight by the 

 ; reparation of the ilarch. The refiduum left in the linen 

 i feems to be the woody fibres unchanged, which have not 

 : been ground fufiiciently fine. 



! Wood-flour docs not ferment fo readily as wheaten-flour ; 

 I but profL-ilor Autenrieth found fifteen pounds of birch-wood 

 ; flour, with three pounds of four wheat leaven, and two 

 I pounds of wheat-flour, mixed up with eight meafures of 

 ; new-milk, yielded thirty-fix pounds of very good bread. 

 [ The beft mode of preparing it was to mix up the five 

 I pounds of wheat leaven and flour with a portion of the 

 ; wood-flour and milk to a preparatory dough ; let it ftand 

 ; for fome hours in a moderately warm place to rife, and then 

 I to knead in thoroughly the rell of the wood-flour and milk. 

 This dough is rolled out into thin cakes, allowed to ftand 

 1 in a warm place to rife for a longer time than wheat-flour 

 I requires, and laftly to be put into the oven and baked 

 I thoroughly. 



I ProfelTor Autenrieth made many experiments upon ani- 

 I mals, as well as upon himfelf and family, in order to afcer- 

 ! tain the nutritious properties of wood-flour, in the various 

 i forms of foup, dumplings, cakes, &c. ; and he found that 

 I it was not only very palatable in all thefe forms (efpecialiy 

 \ when combined with milk or fome fatty fubftances), but 

 alfo fufiiciently nutritious, and that it did not diforder the 

 digeftive organs, or apparently produce any other ill eflTefts. 

 From thefe experiments, it is obvious, fays the writer 

 from whom we have made thefe extrafts, that in cafes of 

 neceflity wood may be made to furnilh a confiderable quan- 

 tity of nourifliment ; but it is no lefs obvious, that th.e pro- 

 cefs is fo troublefome and cxpenfive, that it never can be- 

 come an article of food, except where there is an abfohite 

 fcarcity of provifions. On fuch occafions the labour is of 

 very fecondary importance, and at any rate cannot be fo 

 profitably applied as in procuring the means of fubfiilencc. 



In fome diftrifts of Norway and Lapland, the bark of 

 the fir is manufadtured into a fpecies of bread, apparently 

 much inferior in quality to the bread of wood. flour, and 

 this with dried fifli and a little rein-deer tallow ro'..flitute 

 the chief articles of food among the lower clafft-s, d.ifing 

 the protracted and rigorous winter of thefe inhof,.ltable 

 climates. See Von Buch's Travels in Norway and Lapland. 



Wood, Difttllation of. Sec Charcoal, Colour, Guk- 

 Ponvder, Pyroligneous ylcid, and Woov/upra. 



Wood, T.-nacity and Strength of. See Cohesion and 

 Strength of Materials. 



Wood and Wood, a term in ftiip-buildnig, implying 

 that when a tree-nail, &c. is driven through, its point is 

 diredly even with the infide furface, whether plank or 

 timber. 



AVooD, Cord, denotes wood for the fire, generally the 

 branches or loppings of trees, piled up in order. See 

 Cord. 



Wood, FoJJil, Subterraneous. There are divers places where 

 wood is found under ground : fiippofed to have been over- 

 turned, and 1, ,n-ied there from the time of the Delug?, or 

 at fome other period. 



Whole trees, or parts of them, are very frequently found 

 buried in the earth, and that in different flrata ; fometimes 

 in ftone, but more ufually in earth ; and fometunes in fmall 

 pieces loofe among gravel. Thefe, according Lo the time 

 they have lain in the earth, or the matter they have lain 

 among and in the way of, are found differently altered from 

 their original ftate ; fome of them having fuffered very little 

 change, and others being fo highly impregnated with cryf. 

 talline, fparry, pyritical, or other extraneous n.atter, as to 

 appear mere m.alTes of ftone or lumps of the common mat- 

 ter of the pyrites, &c. of the dimenfions, and more or lefs 

 of the internal figure of the vegetable bodies, into the pores 

 of which they have made their way. 



The foffil wood, which we find at this day, may, accord- 

 ing to thefe differences, be ranged into three kinds : I. The 

 lefs altered. 2. The pyritical. And, 3. The petrified. 



Of the trees or parts of them lefs altered from their ori- 

 ginal ftate, the greateft ftore is found in digging to fmall 

 depths in bogs, and among what is called peat or turf-earth, 

 a fubftance ufcd in many parts of the kingdom for fuel. In 

 fome places there are whole trees fcarc.ly altered except in 

 colour ; the oaks in particular being ufuallv turned to a 

 jetty black : the pines and firs remain as inflammable aa 

 ever, and often contain between the bark and wood a plain 

 refin. Parts of trees have been alio found unaltered in the 

 ftrata of clay and loam, among gravel, and ibmetimes even 

 in fohd ftone. See Fojil Plants, and Bog Wood. 



It is idle to imagine, that thefe have been thus buried 

 either at the Creation, or, as many are fond of believing, 

 at the univerfal Deluge : at the firft of thefe times the ftrata 

 muft have been formed before trees were yet in beuig, and 

 the peat wood is fo far from being of antediluvian date, 

 that much of it is well known to l-.ave been growing within 

 thefe three hundred years, in the very places where it is 

 now found buried. See Morass. 



The fubftances that are more altered are the larger and 

 longer branches of trees found bedded in the ftrata of ftone, 

 and partly affumirig its nature ; and the ihorttr and I'nialler 

 branches found in pits of blue clay, v.liich externally bear 

 the refemblance of what they once were, hut, having their 

 pores filled with ihe matter of the common vitriolic pyrites, 

 internally appear to be maffes of that matter. 



The irregular maffes or fragments of wood are principally 

 of oak, and moft ufually found anionii gravel, but vjrionfly 

 altered by the infinuation of cryftalluie and ftrong particles. 

 Tlieie make a bi,-autiful figun>^hen cut and ptililhed, as 

 they commonly keep the regular grain of the wiod, and 

 flievv tlie feveral circles which mark tlie different years 

 growth. Thele, according to the diffcreni matter which 

 has filled their pores, affume various colours, and the ap- 

 pearance of the various foflils that have impregnated them. 

 Of thefe fome pieces have been found with every pore filled 

 6 with 



