396 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
Per cent of Pentosans Corresponding to the Furfurol of the 
Foregoing Table, i.e. Furfurol & 1.84. 
Kind of Wood. Per cent of Pentosans in materials dry 
at 100° C, 
Inner Wood. Outer Wood. Bark. 
Birch Wood (see p. 388). 
Sugar Maple felled in October . . 38.10 33.46 19.29 
Alder felled in January .... . 20.11 1. Al 20.83 
II. 13.79 
LVOVYOINME als sere Sy MP tea ae Ee ee an 
REN SN Py srt acs Bin Ne? on aeons Steet Ree” Sean 
Date Stones .......... (1.) 9.64) Different samples and 
$s As ot eee mg Le ae oe different analysts. 
Apricot tones) 225.5. .>.u shen else been ae 
PEACH PLONGS = bs. satu yen pee ea nae 
Cane Sugar... g) 5 6 <0 3c 5 Pea eee ea ee 
Manne Aid) Poy} Sr Stan el ee 
The comparatively small proportion of pentosans in the date 
stone and ivory nut, taken in connection with the fact that these 
particular seeds are known to contain much mannan (7. e. a hexo- 
san) points to the conclusion that in the germination of these 
seeds it is the hexosan rather than a pentosan which serves to 
nourish the young sprout.* 
So too, as bearing upon the question whether pentoses (xylose) ° 
are to be regarded as a food, assimilable by animals, or — stated 
in somewhat different terms — whether xylan is to be spoken of as 
a foddering material in the same sense as the insoluble hexosans, 
it is of interest to recall the facts that those chemists who have 
tried occasionally, for experimental purposes, to feed cattle or 
sheep with sawdust have found that some little trouble and trickery 
are necessary in order that the animals may be induced to eat the 
powdered wood, while it is known that the horn-like hexosans of 
the ivory nut, and of date stones and other palm seeds — which 
are as hard or harder than most woods — are, when powdered, 
readily eaten and utilized by animals. Indeed, Tsuji t has called 
attention to the use as human food in Japanese households of the 
root of Conophallus konnjaku, the dry matter of which is said to 
contain at least fifty per cent of mannan and probably much more. 
* See, for example, Reiss, Landw. Jahrbiicher. 1889, 18. 748, e¢ seq., 
756, 757, 764; Hoffmeister, Ibid. 17. 244; E. Schulze and Steiger, Ver- 
suchs-Stationen. 36, 456. 
+ Versuchs-Stationen. 45, 436. 
OE —————— 
