6 ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, AUGUST 5, 1884. 
ings are mounted in wooden frames, and tastefully decorated with 
fragments of veneer of different colours. The models and illustra- 
tions must prove exceedingly instructive to students of forestry. 
The numerous Collections of Woods exhibited by different 
countries naturally come under the head of Forestry, but when 
dealt with by the juries of the different classes, have to be con- 
sidered in reference to particular qualification for special purposes. 
Woops or Construction are of three kinds, for Civil, Naval, 
and Ordnance purposes, and their value is affected by such material 
qualities as Strength, Toughness, Weight, Durability, and Elasticity. 
Of woods adapted for purposes of construction, the principal 
collections in the Exhibition are from New Brunswick, Norway, 
Denmark, India, Ceylon, Andamans, Johor, British Guiana, and 
Japan. Many of the timbers, as in New Brunswick, Norway, 
Denmark, India, and Ceylon, are well known and commonly 
used, but in looking over the catalogues received from South 
Africa, Sierra Leone, Johor, and Japan, we often find only the 
native names and short descriptions of woods used and valued in 
the countries to which they belong, but in many cases quite un- 
known in Britain, and of the comparative merits of which the 
natives themselves are frequently ignorant. 
It is true that much has been done by the numerous national 
exhibitions to extend technical knowledge; and especially the 
botanical identification of those plants yielding forest produce has 
been greatly advanced at Kew ; while important experiments on 
the strength and resistance of various woods have been carried 
out by Dr Brandis * in Calcutta (1864), and by the late Captain 
Fowke ¢ in London. But it is evident that in some parts of the 
world much still remains to be done, and the vast collections now 
brought together will afford opportunities of placing specimens in 
comparison with each other and with the ordinary woods used in 
trade and construction. 
There is a great deal of value to the country in this Exhibition, 
not only to landed proprietors, foresters, architects, and engineers, 
but also to joiners, upholsterers, and cabinetmakers. It appears 
to me that it would be of great importance in an industrial point 
of view to educate the eye and mind of the artisans in our large 
towns by showing and explaining the principal objects here ex- 
hibited. Organisations might be formed in 
say Glasgow, Dundee, 
* Gamble’s Manual of Indian Timbers, 1881. 
+ Report on Paris Exhibition, 1856. 
