Method can be applied to wood chips, sawdust, groundwood, pulp, paper, paperboard, and non-wood fibers. It is especially useful for determination of moisture content in materials containing volatile substances such as turpentine and resins in wood and groundwood or easily melting waxes and varnishes in paper and paperboard. These substances, by volatilization or melting, interfere with moisture determination by oven-dry methods. In addition, water cannot be expelled completely on oven drying of cellulosic materials. Therefore, the moisture content, as determined by this method of distillation, is a better measure of the true water content than by oven-drying procedures for some materials.