The U. S. Forest Products LaboratorySource: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 34, No. 6 (Jun., 1932), pp. 574-576Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/15219 .

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574 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

finally selected as the site for the sta- tion. The site-a low hill rising about 200 feet above the surrounding veld, which is itself 4,500 feet above sea-level -is situated ENE and at a distance of 15 miles from the town of Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State, and is to-day officially known as "Har- vard Kopje" (kopje being the South African word for hill). The grounds, about 14 acres, were generously pre- sented to the observatory by the munici- pality of Bloemfontein, which also con- structed the road leading to the top of the hill, installed water and power mains together with fire protection, and gave the services of the city's engineer and staff, all free of charge.

To-day, there are five photographic telescopes in continuous operation, their apertures ranging from 3 inches up to 24 inches. In addition there is a transit instrument, mainly for the determina- tion of time.

In July, 1931, work was started for the erection of the building (semni-pit

type) and of the turret to house a re- flecting telescope of 60-inch aperture, and it is hoped that this instrument will be in operation about the middle of the current year.

The work carried on at the Boyden Station, which, with the equipment at its command and the unlimited field of the southern sky for exploration, con- stitutes one of the main arteries of Har- vard Observatory, is purely photo- graphic. The program, outlined by Director Shapley, bears on the structure of our Galaxy, the extragalactic objects, the Super-Galaxies and the MIetagalaxy, and will necessitate many years of con- tinuous but pleasant work both at the telescope and in the office.

It is very gratifying to state that the results reached so far are very promis- ing indeed and highly encouraging.

J. S. PARASKEVOPOULOS HARVARD KOPJE,

SOUTH AFRICA, FEBRUARY 6, 1932

THE U. S. FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY

WORK is well advanced on a new build- ing for the U. S. Forest Products Lab- oratory, at Madison, Wisconsin, which has been under construction since Au- gust.

The Forest Products Laboratory is de- voted to the better understanding of the properties of forest materials and to broadening the fields of use for forest produets. In its six stories, with total floor space of 175,000 square feet, the new building will contain modern facili- ties for investigating and testing wood and other forest products with respect both to their fundamental properties and their many uses.

A large group of dry kilns equipped for close control of temperature, humid- ity and air circulation will help to solve the problenms of seasoning many species

and types of wood. A cold storage cham- ber will be provided in which green logs and timber can be kept in unchanged condition for experimental work at anly time.

Since every step of wood manufactiire and construction and the satisfactory performance of wood in service are in- fluenced by moisture conditions, a num- ber of humidity rooms will be provided in which wood can be brought to the exact moisture content desired for study under conditions simulating any season of the year or any climate of the tem- perate zone.

Machines for testing timbers and framework up to a breaking load of 1,000,000 pounds will be available in a testing gallery accommodating pieces and panels as large as 30 feet high and

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THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 575

THE U. S. FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY

100 feet long. Tests of boxes and ship- ping crates can be carried on at any degree of dryness or dampness that would be met in service by storing and testing the containers in a special mois- ture-control room served by movable machinery.

The pulp and paper research labora- tory, occupying six floors at one end of the building, will include grinder equip- ment, a digester tower 40 feet square, beating and refining apparatus and an experimental paper machine, with all moving parts under precision control. With this equipment the study of vari- ous American woods as pulp and paper raw material will be continued, along lines that have already broadened the pulpwood market and pointed the way to improved chemical pulping.

Among unusual features of the build- ing will be an ultra-violet ray chamber, where wood can be sterilized for myco- logical studies and where paints and other materials can be exposed for test, an x-ray room providing for the exami- nation of the minute structure and growth characteristics of wood, a micro- photographic studio and a stone table and shaft for ultracentrifuge apparatus

to determine molecular sizes of cellulose and other wood components.

Provision is made for a large timber preservation laboratory, a wood fermen- tation unit, fractionating stills, a general section of wood chemistry, wood gluing, painting, finishing and fireproofing labo- ratories, and facilities for the study of wood fungi and insect pests and the abatement of their damages.

The Forest Products Laboratory is part of the Forest Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, which ad- ministers the country's greatest reserve of timber, the national forests. "For- estry is concerned not only with timber growing, but also with the efficient use and profitable marketing of forest crops, " said Carlile P. Winslow, director of the laboratory, in explaining the pur- poses of the new building.

"Success in the economic restoration of idle forest and submarginal agricul- tural lands demands the development of new uses for wood to replace those cap- tured by other materials, the moderniz- ing of existing wood uses and the adap- tation of wood to complex and changing requirements. The laboratory will in- creasingly contribute to these ends through the improved facilities for phys-

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576 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

ical, mechanical, chemical and biological research on wood and other forest prod- ucts which the new building will afford. The work carried on for several years past by the staff of nearly 200 has taxed available facilities, and since Congress has already authorized the doublina of the annual operating appropriation, the need for new and larger quarters is im- perative. "

Since the Forest Products Laboratory was opened by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in 1910, it has occupied buildings owned by the University of Wisconsin. The assistance is based on the original cooperative arrangement whereby the laboratory is available to the university faculty and advanced stu-

dents for research, and its staff gives lectures in the university on wood chem- istry and technology and other subjects related to forest utilization.

The university board of regents has aided the new building project by donat- ing a choice site of 10 acres overlooking Lake Mendota and the university cam- pus.

In general plan the new building will be U-shaped, about 275 feet in length and over-all breadth. It is of modern design, emphasizing "stepped-back" construction, vertical lines and large areas of glass in the external walls. By terms of the Congressional authorization act, the building will be of fireproof con- struction throughout.

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DR. VANNEVAR BUSH (LEIFT) WHO HAS RECENTLY BEEN APPOINTED VICE-PRESIDENT OFi THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE, oF TECHNOLOGY AND DEAN OF ITS SCHOOL oFi ENGINEERING. DR. BUJSH HAS BEEN PROFESSOR OFp ELECTRICAL POWER TRANSMISSION AT THE INSTITUTE SINCE 1923. PRESIDENT KARL T. COMPTON

IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT

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