SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



edge of botany; skill and scrupulous care in collecting 

 good, average, representative samples for testing; chem- 

 ical expertness in the preparation and analysis of tan- 

 nins; and, since the final proof of any tanning extract 

 is the leather it produces, practical experience in the 

 old, esoteric art of tanning. On all counts Russell made 

 good. 



Despite a distressing skirmish with malaria mosquitoes 

 in the swamps of the coastal plain, he completed the 

 survey within two years. He collected two hundred and 

 thirteen specimens; prepared extracts from them; ana- 

 lyzed each and made sample tannins. He has discovered 

 four promising commercial prospects for the Southern 

 tanning extract industry. 



Russell is an unusual example of the devout disciple 

 of pure science who could put through a job of this 

 kind with all its rough-and-tumble field work and its 

 definitely commercial objectives, and yet be content 

 with its scientific rewards. I have seldom met a chemist 

 with a more precisely scientific attitude toward his 

 work and less interest in the practical application of his 

 findings. 



When I inquired about the future of the most promis- 

 ing of the tannin-bearing trees he had found, he an- 

 swered lightly, "I wouldn't know. IVe got the facts; it's 

 up to the extract people now." And, of course, it is. 



"I expected to collect some four hundred specimens," 

 Russell continued, "and no doubt there are many other 



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