came available in March of the present year, it was decided to confine the work commenced during the exposition for the present to the investigation of sands, gravels and broken stone and other constituent materials of mortars and concretes and to the study of mortars and concretes, plain and reinforced with steel.

The equipment of the model testing laboratory has been added to, and in this will be carried on the physical tests of the constituent materials of mortars and concretes and the smaller test pieces made from this material.

The tests of large test pieces, concrete beams, columns, hollow blocks, etc., will be made in what is known as the metal pavilion, approximately 59 x 100 feet, having a granolithic pavement covering one half this area. The equipment of this department will consist of two one half cubic yard mixing machines, several pneumatic tampers, five hollow block machines, a 200,000 and a 600,000 pound screw beam testing machine, adopted for tension, compression and transverse tests, having a capacity for columns up to 24-ft. length, transverse specimens up to 20-ft. span, and tension specimens 20 feet long with 25 per cent. elongation, together with the requisite measuring devices.

The chemical and microscopical laboratory occupies commodious quarters in the building used for a model foundry during the exposition.

This work is under the direction of Mr. Richard L. Humphrey, and will include not only the work in the St. Louis laboratories, but that carried on under the direction of the Reclamation Service and the investigations at the various technological institutions; the latter

in conjunction with the work of the Joint Committee on Concrete and Reinforced Concrete.

The American Society of Civil Engineers about one and one half years ago appointed a Committee on Concrete and Reinforced Concrete with instructions to affiliate in its work with similar committees of the American Society for Testing Materials, the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association and the Association of American Portland Cement Manufacturers.

This joint committee appointed a subcommittee on tests, under whose direction was inaugurated a series of investigations in a number of technological institutions during the last school year. Owing to the insufficiency of funds for this purpose, and also by reason of incomplete inspection, and the untrained character of the students who made the tests, it was not deemed advisable to carry on this work very extensively under such conditions. At a meeting of the joint committee at Atlantic City, New Jersey, in June, it was decided to coöperate with the government in the investigation of structural materials, as far as they applied to concrete and reinforced concrete, and the government agreed to coöperate with the joint committee in carrying on such tests and in supervising the work at those technological institutions engaged in these investigations under the direction of the joint committee.

The systematic study of fuels from all parts of the United States, which was fairly started at the close of the exposition, has been continued on a more elaborate scale, especial attention being given to briquetting slack and refuse coal and also to the use of lignites in gas

producers. This work alone gives promise of results which will more than justify the money expended.

It has been found that the efficiency of the average bituminous coal is two and one half times greater when used in a gas producer and engine, than when used in the steam boiler and engine.

It has also been found that some lignites, when tested in the gas producer and gas engine, gave unexpectedly high efficiency such as promise large future developments, and further it has been found that some coals and the slack produced in mining these coals can be briquetted on a commercial basis.

These investigations during the exposition were carried on under the direction of a committee consisting of Dr. Edward W. Parker, Dr. Joseph A. Holmes, and Mr. M. R. Campbell, of the United States Geological Survey; the work is now under the direction of Dr. Joseph A. Holmes.

The investigation of timber (Professor W. K. Hatt, Asso. M. Soc. C. E., in charge) under the direction of Mr. Gifford Pinchot, is limited at present,

1. To those species which promise to be on the market for an indefinite period;

2. To actual market products; and

3. To such purely scientific work as forms the basis of correct methods of tests.

The present knowledge of the structural value of the timbers of the United States in the form of large sticks is astonishingly meagre. Such tests as have been made have been made incomplete and defective in many respects. After the present program is carried out there will exist authoritative and complete informa

tion concerning the mechanical properties of the commercial timbers of the United States.

This work is being carried on in the laboratories located at present at the University of California, Berkeley, Calif.; Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., and the Yale Forest School, New Haven, Conn.

One object of the tests is to aid in the forming of definite inspection rules for the various grades of structural timbers. The timber program also includes tests to determine the effect of artificial seasoning, such as is used in the operations preliminary to the preserving processes, and the effect of the presence of the preservatives themselves. This work is under the direction of Dr. H. Von Schrenk, being a continuance of experiments inaugurated during the exposition in timber treating and testing.

In order that the money available for the work outlined above should be expended in such a way as to secure the most efficient results, it was thought advisable to create an advisory board composed of the various national societies directly interested, to whom could be referred the scope to be covered by the investigations, the methods to be used, and from whom could be obtained a critical opinion of the results. Accordingly, an invitation was extended by the Secretary of the Interior, with the endorsement of the Secretary of Agriculture, to the various national societies, requesting their president, or some other representative, to serve as an advisory board for the investigation of fuels and structural materials.

In response to this invitation a meeting was held in Washington, D. C., on June 3, 1905, in the office of the

director of the United States Geological Survey, at which meeting were present:

Dr. Charles B. Dudley, president, American Society for Testing Materials, chief chemist, Pennsylvania Railroad.

Mr. C. C. Schneider, president, American Society of Civil Engineers; chairman, Joint Committee on Concrete and Reinforced Concrete; consulting engineer.

Mr. George S. Webster, chairman, Committee on Uniform Methods of Tests, American Society of Civil Engineers; chief engineer city of Philadelphia.

Mr. Richard L. Humphrey, president, National Association of Cement Users; consulting engineer.

Mr. Robert W. Lesley, representing the Association of American Portland Cement Manufacturers; president, American Cement Co.

Mr. F. H. Newell, chief engineer, Reclamation Service, United States Geological Survey.

Mr. Kort Berle, representing Mr. James K. Taylor, supervising architect.

Mr. Gifford Pinchot, chief forester, Forestry Service. Dr. Joseph A. Holmes, fuel expert, representing United State Geological Survey.

There were also present by invitation:

Mr. E. A. Foose, representing Mr. J. E. Muhlfeld, General Superintendent of Motive Power, B. & O. R. R. Mr. E. F. Kenney, representing Mr. Joseph T. Richards, chief engineer, M. of W., Pennsylvania R. R. Mr. A. F. Robinson, engineer of bridges, representing Mr. James Dun, chief engineer, Santa Fé Ry.

Mr. D. W. Lum, chief engineer, Southern Ry.

Mr. W. C. Cushing, engineer M. of W. Penna. Lines West of Pittsburg.