Abstract
MR. ALEXANDER L. HOWARD'S well-known and much-used book entitled “A Manual of the Timbers of the World”, of which the last edition was published in 1934, contains no illustrations of the structure of wood. In order to remedy this defect, and to facilitate the identification of timbers, he has now published a new companion volume, of which the principal contents consist of 504 photographs of transverse sections of different kinds of wood magnified by ten. Each illustration is about 3 cm. X 5.5 cm. and therefore represents an actual cross-sectional area of just over 1½ sq. cm. of wood. All these illustrations were prepared by Mr. G. R. Keen from microtome sections which he himself cut from Mr. Howard's own collection of authentic specimens. The work entailed must have been very considerable, and to have produced a book of this kind after three years of war shows no small enterprise on the part of all concerned.
Studies of the Identification of Timbers
With a Note on the Seasoning of Wood. By Alexander L. Howard. Pp. v + 110. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1942.) 36s. net.
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METCALFE, C. Studies of the Identification of Timbers. Nature 150, 533–534 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150533a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150533a0
