Louis DfcCoppet Berg, architect, Trinity biiildiii^, >rc\v York: 



I beg to Bay that I deem these tests of the utmost imiiortniicc to iirchiteets and engineers. You will remembir 

 that up to within a few years ago we were using constants for the strength of timber, which were proven by Prof. 

 Lanza's limited tests on full-sizod timbers to be utterly beyond the strength of the beams. Tlicso eonstauts were 

 derived from tests on small specimens, niade by Hatfield and others, and, if it had not been for tlie large factor of 

 safety used, many accidents would liave hajipenod. A series of tests such as yoii propose will give us an intimate 

 knowledges of the action of our Auiprican timbers in large sizes when under strain, and will not only enable us to cal- 

 culate more accurately and safely the strength of our buildings, but will prove a great economy to all builders in 

 allowing us to use smaller factors of safety, which can safely be done where the actual strength and behavior of the 

 timber are accurately known. 



Kudolph Hering, M. Am. Soc. C. E., M. Inst. C. E., M. Can. Soc. C. E., New York City: 



We need much more information regarding the qualities of timber for constructive purposes, and private enter- 

 pvise can not give us results as extensive or impartial as can be obtained through the aid of the fiovernment. It 

 is true that we possess a great deal of information on the subject already, and for the most common cases in prac- 

 tice we are tolerably satisfied with the existing information as to tensile, compressive, and transverse strength of 

 test pieces of the common timbers of our country. But we are lacking reliable iufVuiuation regarding such rpiali- 

 ties in large beams as actually used in structures. We are not always safe in applying the results of small test pieces 

 to largo beams. We have likewise very imperfect knowledge concerning the durability of all the varieties of Amer- 

 ican timbers with reference to the conditions of growth, climate, moisture and temperature. I should consider that 

 in this direction particularly the benefits arising to the country from increased knowledge on the subject would be 

 very large. 



E. L. CortheU, C. E., Chicago, 111., and Broadway, New York: 



In my profession as a civil engineer I have, with others of my profession, filt the necessity of much more 

 extensive and thorough tests of timber than have ever yet been made, at least in our country. The rules that h.ave 

 been given us in the books for the use of timber have been found to he, in many cases, unreliable, for the reason 

 mainly that the experiments and tests have been made on small specimens instead of full-sized sticks. I have 

 recently had my attention called to this while making an examination of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 where tests are now being made on full sizes of timber with results v.arying in almost every instance from 

 accepted formulie. I therefore desire to express my interest in the work which you have undertaken, which, as I 

 understand it, is an elaborate investigation of the physical properties of our timbers. This investigation, as I 

 understand it, relates to the conditions of gTowth as well as to the uses of the timber. This is a work in which 

 the entire country must necess.arily be interested, for the works which we, as engineers, are building for commerce 

 are for the use of the public, and it is of the greatest importance that, when we use timber in bridges, buildings, 

 and other works, we use it properly and within safe limits of strain. Our General Government should not hesi- 

 tate a moment in giving your Department all the funds it requires to make and to continue to make the most thorough 

 investigations and tests of American timbers. 



R. D. McCreary, engineer, "Western New York and Penn. Railroad Company, Buffalo. N. Y. : 

 The data until recently relied upon by engineers in proportioning wooden structures were based in the main 

 upon comparatively crude experiments with small and imperfect specimens of the various kinds of timber, and 

 not upon the sizes nor the varying conditions of timber used in practice, and resulted in largo factors of safety 

 to cover known and unknown defects in the material used. A larger knowledge of the value of timber under the 

 practical conditions of construction is much needed, and in my judgment your investigations and tests should be 

 continued until this end is fully attained. 



John R. Freeman, engineer department of inspections, adjustments, and surveys, Boston, Mass. : 

 For many years engineers have been using data derived wholly from extremely small specimens of selected 

 woods, and the few tests which have already been made on large-sized sticks would indicate that the large sizes of 

 timber, such as are commonly used in engineering structures of importance, will withstand scarcely half so great a 

 breaking strain as our old data would indicate. I most earnestly hope that at the coming session of Congress such 

 more liberal appropriations will bo earnestly sought as will enable the work to he pushed vigorously forward. 



Henry B. Seaman, C. B., 10 "West Twenty-iunth street. New York City: 



Constructors are in the greatest need of a series of tests of this kind, and the results will be invaluable to .all 

 who have occasion to u.se wooden structures, and to trust property or life to their safety. The engineering profession 

 has for years used data obtained from small specimen tests, trusting to a judicious factor of safety to cover the 

 deficiencies of experiment. More recent tests on large specimens, however, indicate that our former results were of 

 little value, and in many cases have led to the use of timber strained dangerously near the breaking limit. That 

 we m.ay at last obtain definite and authoritative knowledge upon this subject is a source of congratulation, and 

 the progress of the experiments will be watched with the greatest interest. 



J. B. Davis, assistant professor, civil engineering. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.: 

 I hope now to see results from tests of commercial shapes and sizes, bought iu the open market, substituted in 



onr text-books and works of reference for those derived from plaything sticks (splinters really) chosen from the 



choicest spot in the best piece to be found. 



