410. , BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
large quantity of furfurol it would have been said at once that the 
‘* wood-gum”’ obtained from it must have consisted in some part 
of humic acids. ars te 
For the sake of comparison, analyses were made of wood from 
the outer portion (free from outer or innner bark) of the trunk of 
a birch tree felled in May, and also from a white pine board of 
unknown origin. 
As will be seen from the table, sound birch wood gaye up much 
more wood-gum to alkalies and more furfurol also when distilled 
with hydrochloric acid of 1.06 sp. gr. than could be got from the 
doty or the decayed wood. 
There was obtained from the materials, dry at LOO® C.:— 
Sound Outer Wood ofthe 
... Doty Decayed Wood of White Pine 
Birch Wood. Birch Wood. Birch felled (Pinus 
in May. Strobus L.). 
Cellulose (by Lange’s 
KHO process)... 35.19 ALT7 46.73 55.10 
Lignic Acids (do.) . . 14.67 12.83 5.43 21.51 
W ood-Gum = Yves | * 3.46 9.54 12.81 0.96 
RITE OTON ER, oe oe od ee 6.84 19.62 4.66 
Pentosans, calculated 
from the Furfurol, 
a.e. furfurol X 1.84 1.73 12.60 36.10 8.57 
Wood-gum was determined by Thomsen’s* method. The other 
estimations were made by the methods of analysis described on 
pages 387, 404 of this Bulletin. 
The comparatively large quantities of ‘‘ lignic acid” (of Lange) 
found in the decaying and decayed wood is noteworthy and the 
natural presumption would be, of course, that this constituent — 
or the substance from which it is derived— must decay less rapidly 
than either cellulose or xylan. But it should be remembered that 
our methods of analysis are by no means sufficiently accurate to 
justify any one in drawing hard and fast conclusions from the 
results of a few tests. The anomalous behavior of the wood-gum 
obtainable from pine trees — to be mentioned below, in Note C— 
should inculcate caution in reasoning upon a point like this. 
B. Estimations of Cellulose, Lignic Acids, Xylan and Wood- 
Gum in Peach Stones. —Dry, pulverized peach stones, 7. e. the 
hard outer shells or covering of the kernels, when tested by the 
* Journal fiir praktische Chemie. 1879 [N. F.], 19, 159. 
