298 
TIMBEE 
amongst others, we are indebted for hundreds of iUus- 
trated sections showing the structure of wood. It may be 
mentioned that so far back as 1770, in a book on "Con- 
struction of Timber," by John Hill, M.D., there are some 
excellent microscopical sections given of a good many 
European timbers. 
This is an excellent and easy method of distinguishing 
different timbers ; by this means we can tell hickory from 
ash, and oak from either ; beech from birch and sycamore, 
though at a casual glance they appear very similar. 
A good log of timber has a clear ringing sound when 
struck on the end with a hammer, and this is particularly 
noticeable in the pines and firs ; a dull sound denotes decay 
or defect somewhere, although it may be only local and not 
of serious import. The least knock or even scratching 
with a pin at one end of a good log can be distinctly heard 
at the other end, even over a length of 60 ft., if the timber 
is sound and healthy. 
Eesonance is a quality in timber to which particular 
attention has to be paid by those requiring wood for musical 
instruments, spruce and silver fir being the favourites 
for this purpose, and it has to be wood free of defects and 
of uniform structure and growth. 
Where timber is referred to as subject to the depredations 
of the white ant and other boring insects, this only applies 
to its native districts or the tropics. In climates such as 
that of Great Britain timber is rarely attacked by boring 
insects to any extent until it attains a great age, and timber 
obtained from the regions infested by these pests is no 
more liable to attack in Europe than native timber or timber 
brought from the Baltic or North America ; but, on the 
other hand, European or North American timber imported 
into the tropics is quite as liable to attack as, probably more 
so than, native timber. 
