FFFTF.
Five For First To Find - SockHeadLoupez
I wanted the original Only God Can Make a Tree to be here because this is the most beautiful tree in Orange County, in my opinion. But there was another geocache nearby which has since been archived. At the British Museum some years ago, I saw artifacts which were crafted 3,000 years ago in North Africa. The beauty and durability of wood that we so conveniently call "bio-degradable" resonated profoundly with me.
The numerous wooden Egyptian sarcophagi we saw have remained in almost perfect condition since they were constructed. Then it hit me: they are composed of....air and water. Yes, air and water. With all your Intellect and modern resources, what can you make from air and water that can be used to build bows and arrows, spears, fishing poles, houses, bridges, furniture, pencils, and countless other things that will last perhaps 3,000 years? Or 400,000?
With just a smattering of research, I learned of wood tools dating back to 400,000 years ago in Germany. These are called the Schöningen Spears, eight in number. They were discovered between 1994 and 1998.
Wood is composed primarily of two organic polymers (long term chains of these molecules), cellulose C6H10O5, and lignin C9H10O2, plus C10H12O3, and C11H14O4 . [See diagrams of chemical structure of cellulose and lignin below at left. The basic molecular building blocks of cellulose are warped, while those of lignin are flat.] Just three elements, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are necessary to make wood from carbon dioxide and water . Gas and liquid are broken down and reassembled to make a solid so durable that spruce spears have been discovered near Hanover, Germany which have been carbon dated as 400,000 years old. Synthesis of wood by trees is extremely complex and sophisticated. To the best of my knowledge, it has yet to be duplicated in any laboratory. Wood is crudely imitated by man, but not duplicated. "Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge." - Thomas Edison
Trees provide us with much more than mere tools. They represent fuel to warm us and cook our food, to lend warmth and comfort to our living space - from food to tools to decorations to living quarters to art. These renewable, sturdy plants are simultaneously biodegradable as well as incredibly durable, depending on how we choose to use them. How inconsistent. How fortuitous. Our atmosphere consists of 19% oxygen, an extremely reactive element. It has remained in dynamic equilibrium for hundreds of thousands of years, and will continue to do so. Rainfall around the world is one part of the water cycle which also contributes to the benefit of mankind by watering trees for countless millennia.
"I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree.
/. . . A tree that looks at God all day,
/. . . .
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree." – (Trees, by Mr. Joyce Kilmer, 1913)