October i, 1906.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLU 



RUBBER DISCUSSED AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



MUCH interest has been excited by the presidential 

 address of Professor Wyndhani Dunstan, before tlic 

 Chemistry section of the British Association — the 

 most notable scientific institution in the United 

 Kingdom — at the recent annual meeting at York. 'I'lu- 

 newspapers emphasized the sentence: "Chemists ma^', 

 however, confidently predict that before the British Asso- 

 ciation again meets at York the synthetic production of 

 rubber will be a fully accomplished fact." It should be 

 recognized that this statement was by no means the key- 

 note of Professor Dunstan 's address, as president of the 

 Chemistry section of the association. His topic was : '• .Some 

 Imperial Aspects of .\pplied Chemistry." 



The speaker dwelt on "the importance of our science 

 [chemistry] in one or other of its many relations to national 

 and Imperial aflairs, and to invite your attention to the inti 

 mate connection of our science with the problems that await 

 .solution in connection with the utilization of the raw mate- 

 rials and economic products of our colonies, and especially 

 those of our tropical possessions. There is a pressing need 

 that the Imperial government should recognize much more 

 fully than it has hitherto done, and at least as fully as for- 

 eign gcivcrnnients are already doing, the claims of scientific 

 investigation to be regarded as the pioneer instrument of 

 this work, and as the e.s.sential first step in the material and 

 commercial development of our possessions. Althougli my 

 remarks will be chiefly directed to the importance of chem- 

 istry in this connection, my ])lea will be more general ; inas- 

 much as in determining the value of the mineral resources 

 of a country, other specialists are also concerned, and the 

 assistance of the geologist, the mineralogist, and eventuallj- 

 of the metallurgist may be reipiired. Similarly with vege- 

 table ami agricultural products, the services of the economic 

 botanist and of the entomologist will be needed. " 



The imijortance of agriculture in the vast colonial re- 

 sources of the empire was dwelt upon, in the course of 

 Professor Dunstan 's address, during which he said : 



TR01"ICAI, AGRICULTURE. 



A LiiiCMi.sT working in the spirit of an investigator will be 

 able to render special services to the cause of tropical agri- 

 culture, and it is. therefore, of importance that in future the 

 men appointed to these posts should be chosen as far as 

 possible on account of the promise they have shown as inves- 

 tigators. The determination of the constituents of little- 

 known indigenous plants as the first step towards ascertain- 

 ing their economic value is another department of work 

 which cannot be carried <nit without a chemist, and the 

 same applies to the examination of poisonous plants, and 

 also of minerals, in addition to the determination of the 

 composition of foods and feeding stuffs ; as well as the inves- 

 tigation of the nature and capabilities of the soil by actual 

 experiment, for which well-organized experimental stations 

 are a necessarj^ part of every agricultural department. 

 Another duty is to convej- to the natives, chiefly by means 

 of demonstration, the results of this experimental work, 

 so that they may be persuaded to make it a part of their 

 agricultural practice. This applies especially to tropical 

 agriculture. 



PLANTING OF PARA. 

 Untii, recently the supply of rubber came chiefly from two 

 .sources — tlie forests of Brazil, which contain the tree known 

 as Hevea brasiliensis, furnishing the Para rubber of com- 

 merce which commands the highest price, and the forests of 

 .'Vfrica, where climbing plants, generally of the Landolphia 

 class, also furnish rubber. The increased demand for Caout- 

 chouc has led to the extensive planting of the Para rubber 

 tree, especially in Ceylon and in the Federated Malay States. 

 .Systematic cultivation and improved methods of preparation 

 are responsible for the fact that the product of the cultivated 

 tree, which begins to furnish satisfactory rubber when six or 

 seven i,ears old, is now commanding a higher price than the 

 product of the wild tree in Brazil. It is estimated that within 

 the next seven years the exports of cultivated India-rubber 

 from Ceylon and the Federated Malay States will reach be- 

 tween 10 and 15 million pounds annually, and that after 15 

 years they may exceed the exports of the so called wild rub- 

 ber from Biazil. The .services which chemistry can render 

 to the elucidation of the problems of rubber production and 

 utilization are very numerous. As is well known, the latex 

 is a watery fluid resembling milk in appearance, which con- 

 tains the rul)ber, or, as I think more probable, the immedi- 

 ate precursor of ruliber, together with proteids, and other 

 minor constituents The constituent furnishing rubber is in 

 suspension, and rises like cream when the late.x is at rest. 

 On the addition of an acid, or sometimes of alkali, or even on 

 mere exposure, coagulation takes place and the rubber sepa- 

 rates as a solid, the other constituents for the most part re- 

 maining dissolved in the aqueous liquid or "serum." There 

 are peculiarities connected with the coagulation of the latex 

 which are ojjposed to the view that it is wholly explained by 

 the coagulation of the associated proteids. 



INVESTIG.ITION OF THE LATE.X. 



The experimental investigation of the question on the 

 chemical side is beset with many difficulties, which are in- 

 creased if access cannot be had to fresh latex. .\ number 

 of experiments were made at the Imperial Institute with 

 latex forwarded from India, which led to the conclusion that 

 " coagulation " can take place after removal of the proteids, 

 and that in all iirobability it is the result of the polymeriza- 

 tion of a liquid which is held in suspension in the latex and 

 on polymerization changes into the solid colloid which we 

 know as Caoutchouc. For the chemist the important ques 

 tion remains as to the nature of this liquid from which 

 Caoutchouc is formed. Chemistry in this case holds the 

 ])remier position in reference to this subject, and to a large 

 extent may be said to hold the key to the future of the rub- 

 ber industry in all its phases. The discovery of better 

 methods of coagulation, preparation, and purification will 

 be effected through chemical investigation, as will also the 

 determination of the manner of utilizing the various other 

 plants which furnish rubber like latices. That the physical 

 properties of raw rubber, on which its technical value de- 

 pends, are to be correlated with the chemical composition of 

 the material there can be no doubt. Then the present meth- 

 ods of chemical analysis of raw rubber require ameliora- 

 tion. 



