A Dkckxxiaj, Uiaohi) 111 



temperature room is maintained for strengtli tests on the linislied 

 products. 



The section devoted to derived j)i-()ducts, deahng with tlie many 

 phases of the chemistry of wood, carries as its working tools the usual 

 chemical lahoratory ecpiipment. Much special eciuipment is used, 

 especially instruments for measin-ing accm-ately tlie various physical 

 and chemical properties of oils, sugars and solutions. Specialized 

 equipment consists of complete semi-commercial ]dants for ])roduc- 

 tion of ethyl alcohol and stock food from sawdust: destructive distil- 

 lation of hardwoods and softwoods; the extraction with volatile solv- 

 ents of resinous woods, waste paper products and other materials. 



Pathological work, largely a study of fungi and their effect on 

 wood in many fields of use and from many viewpoints, is carried on by 

 a cooperating office of the Bureau of Plant Industry. The e(iuipment 

 for the work is complete, consisting of all necessary apparatus and 

 mediums for studying fungi under various conditions. Included in 

 the working equipment are pure culture samples of various wood fungi 

 used for comparative studies. 



The enumeration of this simdry physical e(piipinent of the lab- 

 oratory is made mainly to outline briefly to the prospective user, the 

 man wqth a w^ood problem but unacquainted with the laboratory, what 

 can be expected in the way of a capacity to handle that problem. The 

 enumeration also indicates the growth in the science of wood technol- 

 ogy and research in ten years, for it must be remembered that at the 

 time of the establishment of the laboratory, an uncharted sea lay be- 

 fore the youthful explorer. ]Much of the complex testing machinery 

 in use at the lal)oratory stands as a marker or buoy in the i^ortion of the 

 unknown that has been charted. A vast and ludimited field yet re- 

 mains ahead. 



Personnel 



It has been said that an institution is but the lengthened shadow 

 of a great man. The laboratory, from its rather composite nature, 

 more properly, as it stands today, is the lengthened shadow of many 

 men. To its establishment and to its development many men have 

 contributed the best that they had to give. The strength of the lab- 

 oratory in its own particular field, after the ])rief lapse of ten years, 



