A Decexnial Record 23 



list of such men who ha^e left the technical staff of the laboratory for 

 other fields is given in the appendix to this volume. 



C HAPTER IV 

 TEX YExVRS OF RESEARCH IX FOREST PRODUCTS 



The decade following the founding of the Forest Products Lab- 

 oratory in 1910 is marked by a convulsive uj^heaval. — economic, so- 

 cial and political, — unsurpassed in modern history. In the Ignited 

 States, at least, the ten-year period is now commonly divided into the 

 eras "the pre-war years", "during the war", and "the post-war 

 period". The latter is, of course, only begun, but a definite readjust- 

 ment and new alignment of economic forces is already in the making. 



So in discussing the laboratory develoj)ment, and particularly the 

 field of its accomplishments, the descriptive effort naturally falls into 

 the cycles : pre-war six years, war period of two years, and the read- 

 justment or post-war period of two years. The first two are here 

 treated in some detail; the latter period and its outstanding features 

 has already been discussed. 



PkE-WAK RKSEAECir 



Tlie early work of the laboratory- was largely fundamental in 

 character, and was, in many instances, a continuation of investigations 

 which had heen under way at one or more of the various smaller lab- 

 oratories whicli were discontinued when the Forest Products Labora- 

 tory was organized. In fact, full credit for some of the accomplish- 

 ments described in this chapter belongs to the pioneers of those early 

 days, Avho struggled along in the dark with practicallv no funda- 

 mental knowledge of the properties of wood to guide them. 



