Cellulose

sel'u-los, a substance allied to starch and found in plants. It is the principal constituent of cell walls. One third of all vegetable material consists of cellulose. It is composed of the same elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, that form starch, sugar, and alcohol, only in different proportions. Cotton fibers are almost pure cellulose. Linen cloth, in fact most fibers, are of cellulose. Soft, unglazed paper is cellulose. Filter paper is of cellulose; so is a hornet's nest. Young wood consists largely of cellulose. Fifty-five per cent of poplar wood consists of cellulose. When heated under certain conditions, as when wood is roasted, cellulose may be converted into wood alcohol. By treating cotton with strong nitric and sulphuric acid the cellulose is converted into a powerful explosive, known as guncotton. Collodion is formed of guncotton dissolved in alcohol. By treatment with sulphuric acid, cellulose is also coverted into glucose, the basis of cheap syrup. Elder pith and cornstalk pith are chiefly cellulose. The latter is now used as an inner lining for the steel hull of a man-of-war. A three foot wall, or padding, made of corn pith is built inside of the steel plates. If by chance a shot should penetrate the steel plate and the pith lining, the water which is admitted would swell the cellulose and plug the shot hole. See Glucose; Alcohol; Armor; Celluloid