WOOD 



WOOD , LEON ARD ( 1 860- ) , a maj or-general 

 in the United States army, under whose influ- 

 ence and authority military camps for college 

 students and citizens' training camps, such as 

 that at Plattsburg, N. Y., have been estab- 

 lished. He is one 

 of the few men 

 who have at- 

 tained such high 

 rank in the 

 United States 

 army without 

 having had a 

 West Point edu- 

 cation. After his 

 early schooling at 

 Pierce Academy, 



Middleboro, MAJOR-GENERAL WOOD 

 Mass., he attended Harvard University, from 

 which he received the degree of Doctor of Medi- 

 cine in 1884, and that of Doctor of Laws in 1903. 

 He was appointed assistant surgeon in the army 

 in 1888, and in twelve years rose to the rank 

 of major-general of volunteers, being at that 

 time the youngest major-general in the army. 



In the Spanish-American War he commanded 

 the First Cavalry, known as the "Rough Rid- 

 ers" and famous for the gallant charge at San 

 Juan Hill; of this regiment Theodore Roose- 

 velt was second in command. In 1898 Wood 

 was awarded a medal of honor by Congress for 

 distinguished service under Captain (later Ma- 

 jor-General) Lawton, in the campaign against 

 the Apache Indians. 



He served ably as military governor of Cuba 

 from 1899 to 1902, and as governor of the 

 Moro province, 1903-1906, he restored order in 

 the Philippines. In 1903 President Roosevelt 

 appointed him major-general in the regular 

 army. In 1906 he was placed in command of 

 the Philippine division of the army, and in 

 1908 was made chief of the Department of the 

 East, with headquarters in New York. In 1910 

 he was appointed chief of staff, holding this 

 position until 1914, when he again was placed 

 in command of the Department of the East. 

 After the entrance of America into the War of 

 the Nations General Wood was transferred to 

 the Department of the South, with headquar- 

 ters at Charleston, S. C. He is an ardent ad- 

 vocate of military preparedness, and is the au- 

 thor of The Military Obligation of Citizenship 

 and Our Military History. 



WOOD ALCOHOL, al'kohahl, also known as 

 WOOD SPIRIT, or METHYLATED ALCOHOL, is a 

 colorless or slightly yellowish liquid, much like 



WOOD CARVING 



ordinary alcohol. It is called wood alcohol, or 

 wood spirit, because it can be obtained by the 

 dry distillation of wood, that is, by heating 

 wood, bones, or other organic matter in closed 

 vessels. It mixes with water in all proportions, 

 and it is cheaper than ordinary alcohol. It is 

 much used as a solvent of fats and oils, and in 

 the manufacture of varnishes and dyestuffs. It 

 is also employed for preserving specimens in 

 museums of natural history. Wood alcohol is 

 very dangerous to drink; a person drinking it 

 runs the risk of blindness within the course of 

 a few days. C.B.B. 



WOOD CARVING, or sculpture in wood, is 

 an art of great antiquity. As far as is known, 

 the Egyptians were the first to practice it for 

 decorative purposes, and in the early develop- 

 ment of the plastic art it occupied an important 

 position. Many of the specimens of the Egyp- 

 tian craftsmen which have been preserved, dat- 

 ing from about 4000 B. c., are low reliefs of ani- 

 mals or plants and graceful patterns of the 

 lotus and palm. The earliest examples of the 

 Greeks, who developed their ideas of sculpture 

 from the Egyptians, were crude wooden images 

 of their gods ; in many instances they combined 

 wood with marble. Roman ornament is a con- 

 tinuation of the Greek and Etruscan styles. 

 The prows of Roman war vessels and galleys 

 were carved with the heads of animals, while 

 their chariots were of varied carved ornamen- 

 tation. 



From the early years of the Christian Era 

 wood carving was employed extensively in the 

 decoration of churches. Panels and doors were 

 carved with scenes from the Old and the New 

 Testament. The doorways of the wooden 

 churches of Scandinavia and Denmark, dating 

 from the ninth to the thirteen century, are 

 among the finest examples of early medieval 

 wood carving. The fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 

 turies were remarkable throughout all of Eu- 

 rope for the wood carvings used for ecclesiastic 

 purposes. The wood carvings of Germany dur- 

 ing this period were among the finest in the 

 world; Nuremberg, especially, produced some 

 of the greatest masters in the art. 



The tendency to produce elaborate effects 

 with the smallest outlay of money and labor 

 has had a baneful influence upon the wood carv- 

 ing of modern times. It is, however, practiced 

 with great skill in Switzerland and the Austrian 

 Tyrol, while the Moslem carvers of Persia, 

 Syria and Egypt execute beautiful panels and 

 other decorations for ceilings, pulpits and all 

 kinds of fittings and furniture. The mosques 



