4 TIMBER 



red hot, buckle and twist, and fall. It is a very difficult 

 matter to thoroughly burn a 12-inch beam of timber. 



As to the aesthetic side of timber work, it will be readily 

 admitted that nothing from an artistic point of view can 

 excel the old timber-framed houses in our old towns, and 

 they are not only artistic but substantial, as their long life 

 shows ; and when we look at some of these which were built 

 several centuries ago, the thought comes to our mind, what 

 will be the condition of the steel structures now being 

 erected several centuries hence ? 



A well-known writer on architectural matters, Mr. T. G. 

 Jackson, in a recent work, " Eeason in Architecture," says : 

 " All experience hitherto tends to show, that an architect 

 who wishes his building to go down to posterity, will do 

 wisely to let iron play as small a part in his construction 

 as possible." 



One of the reasons why so much less timber is now used 

 in the large buildings erected for commercial purposes is 

 that greater strength can be obtained in steel with much 

 less depth of girder, and thus a gain in height is obtained 

 which is of great advantage. 



There are few more extensive and wide-reaching subjects 

 on which to treat than timber, which in this book refers to 

 dead timber, the timber of commerce, as distinct from the 

 living tree ; such a great number of different kinds of wood 

 are now being brought from various parts of the world, new 

 kinds are continually being added, and what renders the 

 subject more difficult to explain is that timber of practi- 

 cally the same character which comes from different coun- 

 tries goes under different names. If one were always to 

 adhere to the botanical name there would be less confusion, 

 although botanists differ as to names, and except in the 

 case of the older and better known timbers one rarely 

 takes up two books dealing with timber and finds the 



