The rare fossil resin, which is the occasion of this 
paper and which I obtained for analysis through the 
kindness of Professor Liebig, was received from Mr. 
Fikentscher of Redwitz in the north of Bavaria. 
In that region are beds of turf several feet in thick¬ 
ness, which contain large quantities of wood — stems 
and branches — in various stages of preservation. 
The greater portion of this in pine wood, which is 
so little changed after lying in these turf beds for cer¬ 
tainly hundreds of years, that to all appearance, except 
that it has become quite dark in color, it does not differ 
from well dried wood of the same species which is still 
growing in the vicinity. It cuts and splits the same, 
burns about as well, and is little inferior in troughness. 
Professor Unger 1 , who has made a microscopic 
examination of this wood, says that it evidently belongs 
to the still living species JPinus sylvestris ; that it is very 
well preserved, but that in certain parts of the larger 
vessels a peculiar change has taken place, which has 
caused the walls of these vessels to lose their coherence 
and texture. 
1 Annalen d. Physik u. Chemie. Vol. LIX, p. 55. 
