552 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[February i, 1884. 



theBnfsia eUiptiea* oiDnlzeW, and the Jfonandra acuminata 

 of C'legliornt, and is found distributed tliroughthe Wynaad, 

 Ooorg, Travancore, Ananially, and Neilghcrry Hills, Sholah 

 Forest, Cochin, and the Sichars. According to General 

 Oidlen, it "appears to be common in all the forest tracts 

 at all within the influences of the south-west rains.'' 



This tree, wliich is now ))!aced in the same genus as the 

 true Malayan gutta-percha, is a large one, attaining a height 

 of from SO to 100 feet. The gimi is obtained by tapping, 

 a pound and a-half being obtained from one tree, by five 

 or six incisions, a large tree yielding: from 20 to 40 lb. of 

 sap. Many experiments have been tried with the raw milk, 

 and General Cullen and Dr. Cleghorn used every exertion 

 to bring the substance prominently forward. The siroply 

 dried milk was found wanting in several essential quaUties 

 for telegra])hic purposes, but lias been recommended as a 

 sub-aqueous cement or glue. AVhen dissolved in ordinary 

 gutta-percha solvents, it, after theevaporatiouof the solvent, 

 remains some time soft and viscid, and partaking some- 

 what of the characteristics of bird lime. When cold it is 

 hard and brittle. 



Natiural Order, Eiq}ltorhiace(P. 

 Oattimandoo (Eiipliorhia Cattimundoo, W. Elliot), is found 

 in A^zagapatam, and was first brought ±0 notice by the 

 Hon. W. JilUot. who was awarded a prize medal by the 

 jurors of the 1851 Exhibition. This spiny euphorb grows 

 to the .size of a shrub or small tree, and the milk flows 

 out freely when a branch is cut. Tlie natives use the milk 

 as a cement to fasten knives in handles. &c. Under the 

 influence of heat it becomes soft and viscid, becoming very 

 brittle on drying. 



The Milk Hedge, Indian Tree Spurge, or Tirucalli 

 (Euphorbia Ui-ucalli, Linn), common in the Ooromandel, 

 Malabar, Bengal, &c., is a suoouleut unarmed plant attain- 

 ing a height of about 20 feet. Its inspi.ssated .iuice is used 

 for various, chiefly medicinal, purposes in India, but has 

 a very acrid character, rendering its collection a very 

 dangerous operation to the eyes. 



Natural Order, Apoa/naceo'. 

 Alstonia, or fala (irnm (Ahtonia schol(iris,F<.'Br.). — This 

 tree is found distributed through Travancore, Ooromandel, 

 Assam, and in Ceylon. It attains a height of fifty feet, 

 and its wood and bai-k are much valued in Imlia for their 

 medicuial qualities. To Mr. Oiidaatje is due the credit 

 of recommending Pala gum as a substitute for gutta-percha.t 

 It readily softens in water, and retains, when cold, good 

 impressions of any objects. Good specimens, properly pre- 

 pared are, however, much wanted. 



Natural Order, Asc'e^iadncecv. 

 Mudar Gm-a(Cahti-opU t/if/aMea, U. Bf.). — This shrnb is 

 found distributed throughout the Peninsula and Southern 

 Provinces of India, in waste places, and grows to a height 

 of 6 to 10 feet. Ten average trees are said to yield about 

 one pound of gutta-like substance, which is plastic in hot 

 water, andinot.herwnysbehaveslikegutta-percha. CitUtropii 

 procera is said to furnish a Hko product. 



III. — Ceylon >Soukces of Supply. 

 Natm-al Order, Sapotacco: 

 Ceylon has many species of Uichoji.tis, Isonaiidra, and other 

 closely allied genera, which are likely to jneld a gutta-like 

 substance. The late Dr. Thwaites, the talented director of 

 the Government gardens at Peradenia, informed me that 

 the natives did not coUcct any gutta, and one sample sent 

 to the late Sir AV. J. Hooker was unfavoural)ly reported 

 on. In some parts of Ceylon, the climate is similar, if not 

 identical, with the JIalayan Archipelago, the home of the 

 true gutta-percha. g 



IV. — ArniCAN Soltkces of Supply., 

 'At tho Cape of Good Hope there are many species of 

 euphorbias which yield a .substance very similar to cattimando, 

 but like tho Eiijiiioiiiui ojieiiuilh. Berg, the juieo is so acrid 

 as to give intense paiii and irritation to any part of the 

 boily vnth which it may come into contact, especially tho 

 nostrils. The Kev. J. 0. Brown, whilst botanist to the Capo 

 Government, paid much attention to the subject, and the 



^ *^Kew 3ljcs;,lii., p. 36 (1^53 )• 



t Keport on Paucliontee, Madras, 1?58. 



; Jmirniil of the Society of Arts, London, vol. xii., p. 30, 

 Feb., 1861. 



^ VUe Thwaites' "Flora Zeylauica" (preface). 



juice h.as been recommended as an anti-fouling dressing 

 for ships' bottoms. 



Mr. Barter, whilst on the Niger expedition, collected a 

 specimen from a species of Chrt/.'iophyUnm, which was said 

 to resemble gutta-percha. Tropical Africa should undoubtedly 

 yield some such substance. 



AVith regard to these various substances, it may be said 

 that Balata gum has an assured value of its own, and 

 efforts should be made by cultivation or acc".ima1isation to 

 utilise this valuable substance. AVith regard to the others, 

 the consideration of some of the aspects of the gulta-pcrcha 

 question may throw some liglit on the subject. 



The utilisable products existing in plants is a most im- 

 portant question in phyto-chemistry. As to their use and 

 characteristics whilst in the plant we know little, and that 

 little is almost entirely inferred from the chariicteristics 

 of the products after they are extracted from tl>e plant. 

 Thus, iudigo does not exist as indigo (as we Imow it) in 

 the plant itself, but is the result of fermentation after the 

 juice is extracted from tho plant. Sugar-cane juice too, 

 furnishes ns with an illustration as to how quickly pro- 

 ducts change after taken from the plant. The juice whilst 

 in the cut cane even does not change, but as soon as it 

 is expressed it speedily ferments, and uncrystaUisable sugar 

 is the result — a result which is retarded at least by the 

 addition of lime. Thus with these and many other sub- 

 stances, exposure to atmospheric influences, induces change 

 .and a new set of chemical combinations .are inaugurated. 

 Some products, such as alkaloids, acids, resinous matters, 

 &c., are not used, so far as is known, in the economy of 

 the plant, and are accordingly removed from young and 

 active portions of the plant to store cells or reservoirs; 

 whilst others, such as gums, starches, &e., undergo many 

 changes, are changed from starch to gum and to sugar, 

 and are freely used up in the sustentation and growth of 

 the plant. In cinchonas it has been proved by analysis 

 that tjiose growing in hot valleys have a greater develop- 

 ment of bark and a lesser elaboration of alkaloidal contents, 

 whilst in the mountains the reverse is the case. This may 

 arise from the alkaloid, or its primal constituents, being 

 used up in tho el.abor.ation of tissue, or its larger formation 

 being at the expense of tissue, or it may be from simple 

 translocation, that is, a process of removing products from 

 the active part of a plant to store cells or resi-rvoirs. 



AVith regard to gutta-percha, these facts have a very 

 important significance, and are worthy of all attention, bear- 

 ing as they do also on pseudo-guttas. Gutta-perchn . as 

 it "flows from the tree, is a viscid fluid, acquiring millri- 

 ness .and concrcteness on exposure to- the atmosphere, and 

 uidess arrested, the change results in two resins. n///iii<- and 

 Jhun-ih. Thus, according to M. Payen, the analysis of com- 

 mercial gutta-percha gives — 



I'er cent, 

 (n) Pure gutta (an hydrocarbon, milk-white in 



colom" and fusible)... ... ... •••^ _ ...75 to 82 



(h) Resins soluble in boiling alcohol, and consisting 

 of two parts: — 



(1) Crystalbine or albine.'a white crystaUisablc 



resin, crystallising out of the alcohol as it 



cools lO to 14 



(2) Fluavile, a yellow amorphous resin, falling 



in a jjowiier on the cooling of the hot 



alcohol in which it is soluble 6 to 14 



It is thus apparent that the ch.ango of pure gutta into 

 a resinous-like mass takes place naturally, if means are not 

 taken to stop it. This resinification I have often witnessed. 

 If two bottles of equally pure and identical gutta be taken, 

 and the oiie bottle hermetically scaled, and the other left 

 exposed to the atmosphere, the first will retain its good- 

 ness, and the other will become resmifiecl, and as brittle 

 as shellac. Again, from experiments extending over years, 

 both athome and in tho East, I have found "getah munlah," 

 or raw or "uncooked" gutta, soon become a rcsnious mass, 

 being, in fact, in character like so much kowrie gum or 

 cutch. . , - t 1 1 



This change, I have proved experunentaUy, can be lessened, 

 retarded, or .altogether obviated, by thoroughly well bod- 

 ins the product immediately after collection. 



There is also another fact to bear in mind, with regard 

 to this proneuess to chemical activity in gutta-percha. In 

 cutting through the b.ark to arrive at the laticiicrous. or 

 milk-bearing vessels, many other vessels and cells become 



