218 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April i , 1903. 



LITERATURE OF INDIA-RUBBER. 



INDIARIBBER AND GUTTA PERCHA. A COMPLETE PR M T1CAL 

 Liise 'in [ndiarubber and Gutta Percha in their Historical. Botanical, Ar- 



boricultural, Meclianic.il, Chemical, anil Electn. Translated trom 



K.ench of T. Seelig matin, G. Lamy Torrilhon, and II. Palconnet. By John 

 Geddes Mcintosh, l.te lecturer on the chemical technology of gums, re 



C I :. echoic, Regent street. With 86 illustrations. London: Scott, 

 h 8 Co. 1903. [Cloth. 8vo. Pp. 1 .. Price, !.■ shillings - pence.] 



THE merit of this work in the original (" Le Caoutchouc 

 et la Gutta-percha." Paris: 1S96) was too little recog- 

 nized, owing to the fact that French, although the medium 

 through which so many scientific discoveries have been given 

 to the world, is certainly not the language of the rubber in- 

 dustry. Its practical character is indicated by the fact that the 

 authors were, respectively, a well known technical chemist, an 

 equally well known India-rubber manufacturer, and an expert 

 mechanical engineer, with special experience in rubber ma- 

 chinery. The translator, by the manner in which he has com- 

 pleted his task, likewise displays a knowledge of his field, ena- 

 bling the English reader now to benefit from whatever of value 

 is possessed by the original work. Besides, the translator has, 

 by means of footnotes and otherwise, added matters of value, 

 and, by converting French measurements into British units, 

 rendered the work more serviceable to its new circle of readers. 



This work deals with the botany of rubber, the sources 

 and properties of the various commercial grades, with the bear- 

 ing upon the quality of the product of the methods of extrac- 

 tion and coagulation. There are very full data of the physical 

 and chemical analyses of the different rubbers. Next are con- 

 sidered in detail the mechanical treatment of rubber in the 

 factory and the processes of vulcanization ; the compounding 

 of rubber ; the testing of rubber goods ; and the reclaiming of 

 rubber and the manufacture and use of substitutes. The illus- 

 trations given relate both to the botanical section and to nu- 

 merous machines and appliances for the factory. Several of 

 the machines illustrated are described as being of American 

 manufacture. Part II of the work, containing nearly 100 pages, 

 and on the same general plan, is devoted to Gutta-percha. 



One purpose distinctly disavowed by the authors of this work 

 has been a description of the method of manufacture of the 

 various lines of rubber goods. Regarding certain manuals of 

 technology, the authors say that they could never understand 

 the utility of such books. In spite of evident good faith they 

 often result in giving false ideas to the beginner, while "caus- 

 ing the experienced, practical man to shrug his shoulders." 

 Nevertheless, our authors announced that they might attempt, 

 in a later volume, to give as complete a monograph as possible 

 of the various industries into which rubber enters, but after 

 seven years no indication has appeared that any such book has 

 been begun. 



Tables of production and prices, a bibliography, and a revised 

 and enlarged index, complete the book. It could be wished 

 that the bibliography, which is the original compilation, trans- 

 lated into English, had been brought up to date. The statisti- 

 cal tables, likewise, are brought up only to the end of 1894. It 

 is rather singular that the translator should have repeated the 

 error in the original work of attributing the discovery of vul- 

 canization to " Nelson," instead of Charles, Goodyear. 



A TRAVERS L'AMERIQUEEQUATORIALE. LE PI-ROT. PAR AUGUSTE 

 Plane, Cnarge de missions commerciales. Pans: Pi 

 [Paper. i2tno. Pp. Ill + 347 -f 23 plates.] 



The author of this book, the engineer of the well known 

 rubber factory of Michelin et Cie (Clermont-Ferrand), was en- 

 gaged for three years on a geographical and commercial mis- 

 sion in South America, part of the results of which are here 

 recorded, the remainder being promised in another volume, 

 ' L'Amazone." The object of the mission was to determine 



the nature of the resources of and the opportunities for devel- 

 opment in, eastern Peru, the basis of which development is 

 largely India-rubber. The present volume relates chiefly to M. 

 Plane's exploration of the river Marcapata, an affluent of the 

 Inambari, which in turn discharges into the Madre de Dios, 

 and that into the Beni. The starting point of this particular 

 exploration was just east of the city of Cuzco, in Peru, and 

 reference to a map will indicate the trend of the valley, from 

 the village of Marcapata to the mouth of the Beni. The Mar- 

 capata valley, according to our author, contains both Hevea and 

 Castilloa, not to mention gold, and the land is suitable for 

 growing coffee, cacao, and food products for laborers. But 

 from all the facts stated it is evident that successful develop- 

 ment would be possible only with enterprises on a sufficiently 

 large scale to justify the creation of means of transportation. 

 While " Le Perou " does not point the way to immediate op- 

 portunities for wealth, the book is a valuable contribution to 

 knowledge of the region explored, on account of the author's 

 painstaking devotion to detail in recording his observations of 

 the topography, climate, soil, productions, the people and their 

 customs, and the means of access to and egress from the points 

 he visited. His descriptions of the denseness of the virgin 

 forests of Peru are discouraging, but not more so than those 

 which the explorer Stanley gave of forests on the Upper Congo 

 which now are being made to yield rubber in large quanti- 

 ties. One hopeful feature is the mention of the rubber ex- 

 ports from Iquitos (Peru), much of it from similar forests, 

 which amounted to 1,993637 pounds in 1900 and 2722658 

 pounds in 1901. Later reports show this traffic in 1902 to have 

 amounted to 3.637,178 pounds. The care with which M. 

 Plane's party studied their field is indicated by their stopping 

 at one place and establishing a seringa/ (rubber camp) — for 

 which a full rubber collecting equipment had been provided— 

 where three estradas (paths) were opened and worked for eight 

 days, and notes taken of the results of various methods and of 

 the yield of rubber. Twenty-three full page illustrations, from 

 photographs, afford a helpful addition to the text of the book. 



IN CURRENT PERIODICALS. 

 Le Caoutchouc au Rio Beni. By P. Cibot. [Relates 10 details of 

 extraction and coagulation of latex.]— Journal a" Agriculture Ttopicale, 

 Paris. Ill 20 (February 2S, 1903.) Pp. 35 38 



La Culture des Arbres a Gutta et la Selection Chenvqne. [Based on 

 the work of van Romburgh and de Haas in ]sva."\=Jou?>ttil d' Agricul- 

 ture Tropicale, Paris. 1 1 1- iq (January 31, 1903.) Pp. 11 13. 

 OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 



RULES FOR IN TALLING FLECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER APPA- 

 ratus. consisting of the " National Electric Code," with Explanatory Notes. 

 Eighth edition, August, 1902. [Paper, i6mo. Pp.107] 



Issued by the inspection department of the Associated Fac- 

 tory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, No. 31 Milk street, 

 Boston, Massachusetts. These rules are in force in insurance 

 written by the Rubber Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance Co., as 

 well as by the other factory mutual companies. They are also 

 of interest in connection with rubber on account of the de- 

 tailed specifications given with respect to the insulation of elec- 

 tric wires for every purpose in factory equipment. 



"THE ELECTRICIAN" ELECTRICAL TRADES DIRECTORY AND 

 Handbook for 1903 London: Tht Electrician Printing and Publishing Co., 

 Limited 1903. [Cloth. 2 vols. Svo. Pp xxiv. Price, 12 shillings 



6 pence.] 



This standard publication has now reached its twenty-third 

 year of issue, forming for the period since its establishment an 

 invaluable record of electrical progress, not only in Great Brit- 

 ain but for all countries, with a directory corrected annually to 

 the latest possible date of electrical engineers and manufactur- 

 ing companies. These volumes form likewise a useful com- 

 pendium of electrical data fitted for convenient reference. 



