In the year 2001, Prof. Dr. Ursula Kües was appointed at the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology of the Georg-August-University Göttingen to the chair Molecular Wood Biotechnology endowed by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU). Her group studies higher fungi in basic and applied research. Research foci are on mushroom development and on fungal enzymes degrading wood and their applications in wood biotechnology. This book has been edited to thank the DBU for all support given to the chair Molecular Wood Biotechnology. Contributions to the book are from scientists from Göttingen recognised in different fields of forestry and wood science. Chapters presented by members of the group Molecular Wood Biotechnology introduces into their areas of research. The book is designed for interested students of wood biology and wood technology but will also address scientists in the field.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Mechanical Properties of Wood" (Including a Discussion of the Factors Affecting the Mechanical Properties, and Methods of Timber Testing) by Samuel J. Record. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Wood as found in trees and bushes was of primary importance to ancient humans in their struggle to control their environment. Subsequent evolution through the Bronze and Iron Ages up to our present technologically advanced society has hardly diminished the importance of wood. Today, its role as a source of paper products, furniture, building materials, and fuel is still of major significance. Wood consists of a mixture of polymers, often referred to as lignocellulose. The cellulose micro fibrils consist of an immensely strong, linear polymer of glucose. They are associated with smaller, more complex polymers composed of various sugars called hemicelluloses. These polysaccharides are embedded in an amorphous phenylpropane polymer, lignin, creating a remarkably strong com posite structure, the lignocellulosic cell wall. Wood also contains materials that are largely extraneous to this lignocellulosic cell wall. These extracellular substances can range from less than 1070 to about 35% of the dry weight of the wood, but the usual range is 2% -10%. Among these components are the mineral constituents, salts of calcium, potassium, sodium, and other metals, particularly those present in the soil where the tree is growing. Some of the extraneous components of wood are too insoluble to be ex tracted by inert solvents and remain to give extractive-free wood its color; very often these are high-molecular-weight polyphenolics.