e spot before drying for press-packing and shipment.

The other matters investigated in the Institute laboratory and reported
on as indicated above are rather of commercial significance, and
contributed no points of moment to the chemistry of cellulose.

OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES IN THE TRUNKS OF TREES.

F. H. STORER (Bull. Bussey Inst., 1897, 386).

(p. 172) An examination of the outer and inner wood and of the bark of
the grey birch, at different seasons of the year, gave the following
yields of furfural p.ct. on the dry substance:

________________________________
| | | |
| | Wood | |
| |_______________| Bark |
| | | | |
| | Inner | Outer | |
|_________|_______|_______|______|
| | | | |
| May | 21.3 | 19.6 | 16.7 |
| July | 16.6 | 18.8 | 11.4 |
| October | 16.2 | 16.3 | 12.3 |
|_________|_______|_______|______|

The paper contains the results of treating the woods and various
vegetable products with hydrolysing agents in order of intensity: (a)
Malt-extract at 60 deg.C., (b) boiling dilute HCl (1.0 p.ct. HCl), and
(c) boiling dilute HCl (2.5 p.ct.). The residues were found to yield
considerable proportions of furfural. The following numbers are typical:

________________________________________________________________________
| | | |
| | Birch | Stones of |
| |_____________|__________________________|
| | | | | | |
| | Bark | Wood | Date | Apricot | Peach |
|_______________________________|______|______|________|_________|_______|
| | | | | | |
| Action of malt extract calcu- | | | | | |
| lated as starch dissolved | 4.24 | 3.5 | 5.2 | 1.5 | -- |
| | | | | | |
| Residue boiled, 1 p.ct. HCl | | | Mannan | | |
| gave pentosanes dissolved. | -- | -- | 11.7 | 14.1 | 6.7 |
| | | | | | |
| Residue yielded furfural | 19.3 | 17.8 | 3.4 | 9.6 | 9.