DURABLE TIMBER

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 494, 25 October 1928, Page 13

DURABLE TIMBER

WOOD PRESERVED FOR 250.000 YEARS The petrification of wood will preserve it in that form for hundreds of centuries. Certain preservatives have been known to keep wood from decay for some hundreds of years. But under normal circumstances, dead wood will decay and rot away In a comparatively short time. For that reason unusual interest is being shown in the discovery by scientists at the University of California of specimens of wood which through the ages have been kept well preserved in nature’s laboratory. The scientists say that this wood has been preserved for some 250,000 years. The specimens were found thirty miles ofT the Pacific Coast on Santa Cruz Island, and are remnants of an ancient fir forest. The fragments were not petrified, nor had they been kept in oil or any other substance as far as could be determined, but they were in good condition, as were certain cones, leaves and seeds that were found. There were indications that at one time the wood and other growths had been saturated in water. This dismissed the first theory that the preservation was due to the fact that the wood had been left in absolutely drv ground. Professor R. W. Chaney, of the university, who found the specimens, is of the opinion that some chemical substance, not now known, may have formed about the pieces of wood and protected them from decay. This is not the first time such evidence of a natural preservative at present unknown to man has come to light. In the natural tar pits near Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, remains of other ancient trees and plants have also been found. In this case the oily nature of the surrounding Boil probably helped to preserve the specimens. Microscopic examination showed that there had been hardly any alter, ation in the cell structure of the specimens, although they had been in j the ground for many thousands of I years. By removing the oil, the fragj ments were found to be mucb like the wood of to-day and the leaves could scarcely be told from some which had fallen a few months ago. The scientists are pursuing their investigation in the hope of wresting from nature the secret of the process of preservation, which has kept this wood free from decay and corruption for such a long period.