August 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



553 



THE OBITUARY RECORD. 



ALFRED K. MAYO. 



ALFRED N. MAYO, treasurer of the Fisk Rubber Co., Chico- 

 pee Falls, Massachusetts, died, June 26, at his home in 

 Springfield, Massachusetts. 



IMr. Mayo was born in Springfield and had made that his home 

 practically during his whole life of 68 years. He was one of the 

 prominent business men of that city. In addition to his position 

 in the Fisk Rubber Co., he was identified for a number of years 

 with the firm of A. N. Mayo & Co., and at the time of his death 

 he was president and treasurer of the Merrimack Paper Co., of 

 Lawrence; treasurer of the Kno.x Automobile Co., of Springfield; 

 president of Dexter P. Lillie & Co., of Indian Orchard; and was 

 connected with the Standard Brick Co., of Springfield. 



years ago, but had lived on the Pacific coast for a good many 

 years. He was prominent in social circles of San Francisco, as 

 well as in business circles. He is survived by five children, three 

 daughters and two sons. 



Alfred N. Mayo. 



He served in the Civil War as a member of the 46 Massachu- 

 setts Regiment, and in 1885 and 1886 he was a member of the 

 common council of his city. He was highly esteemed in the busi- 

 ness circles of western Massachusetts, where, owing to his many 

 business connections, he was widely known. He was married, 

 in 1870, to Miss Julia Billings, of Springfield, who survives him, 

 together with three daughters, Mrs. H. G. Fisk and Mrs. E. O. 

 Sutton, of Springfield, and Mrs. W. P. Schnell, of Seneca Falls, 

 New York. 



The funeral was held on the afternoon of June 28, at his home, 

 the officiating clergyman being the Rev. Dr. Neil McPherson, of 

 the First Church, to which ^Ir. Alayo belonged. 



ABRAHAM STRAUSS. 



Abraham Strauss, the senior partner and founder of the firm 

 of Feist Strauss, Frankfort-on-Main, Germany, died in June at 

 the age of 76 years. Mr. Strauss founded this firm, one of the 

 largest scrap rubber houses in Europe, in 1867, and had been 

 actively identified with it up to the time of his death. 



JOSEPH V. SELBY. 



Intelligence has been received of the death on July 19, of 

 Joseph V. Selby, the Pacific coast manager of the Boston Woven 

 Hose and Rubber Co. Mr. Selby had been connected with this 

 company for quite a number of years, and was located at San 

 Francisco. While he was not widely known in the East, he had 

 an extended acquaintance throughout the Pacific coast, and was 

 one of the prominent rubber men of that section. 



He was a native of Massachusetts, where he was born 61 



THE EDITOR'S BOOK TABLE. 



EL HULE, SU HISTORI.^, N.ATURALEZ.-\, CULTIVO; QUIMICA Y 

 Tecnica: (Rubber — Its History, Composition, Cultivation, Chemistry 

 and Technique.) By William F. Dern, Technical Director of the 

 Mexico Latex Co., Mexico, 1912. [Cloth, 8 vo, 130 pp.] 



WHILE much has been written on the general history of rub- 

 ber, the salient points of the subject are summarized in the 

 treatise by Mr. Dern, in such a manner as to efifectively recall 

 the facts to the mind of the busy rubber man. Attention is 

 then called to tlie various plants yielding rubber, which by de- 

 grees have enriched the field of industrial botany, through the 

 successful efforts of energetic pioneers to overcome natural 

 difticulties. The superiority of Hevea in quality and abundance 

 of product is urged, its cultivation being recommended in warm 

 and humid locations, and that of Manicoba in more temperate 

 situations. 



Caucho is dealt with in detail from a botanical, as well as 

 a cultural, point of view, and with reference to both Amazonas 

 and Peru. 



As to Castilloa, INIr. Dern comments upon the fact that the 

 Republic of Mexico occupies the first place in the production 

 of that variety. The development which has taken place in the 

 States of Tabasco and Chiapas, is attributed to the liberality 

 with which the United States has invested capital in rubber 

 plantations. 



In his capacity of technical director of the Mexican Latex Co., 

 its operations are fully described by Mr. Dern, by whom it was 

 established in 1910 at San Juan Banutista, State of Tabasco. He 

 had invented a method of coagulating latex on a large scale, with 

 a view of producing a mass as free as possible from resin and 

 other hurtful substances. 



The company buys the latex in the crude or liquid state, from 

 a number of estates in the district named, which, by the addi- 

 tion of a special powder, invented by Mr. Dern, is preserved for 

 several months in a liquid state, with only an unimportant change 

 in ils natural condition. It therefore is not affected by the con- 

 cussions received in the course of transport by means of mules. 

 On reaching the factory, the latex is immediately deposited in 

 specially constructed machines. By the addition of boiling 

 chemical liquid, and after 800 revolutions of the machine, the 

 product is in fifteen minutes ready for pressing, and after the 

 water has been extracted, can be shipped in blocks. Mr. Dern 

 expresses the hope that this process will be adopted in other 

 countries. 



The later chapters deal witli various points afifecting rubber 

 cultivation, but the real interest of the treatise centers in the 

 description of the Dern process, which thereby renders the book 

 of value to planters in general. 



CONSUMERS' RECEIVERSHIP ENDED. 



Presiding Justice Tanner of the Superior Court of Rhode 



. Island entered a final decree, July 2, in the case of Terrence 



McCarty against the Consumers' Rubber Company of Bristol, 



allowing the report to the receiver, Robert S. Emerson, and 



granting his discharge. 



Mr. Emerson's report shows a total of $117,365.98 received 

 and $117,151.44 paid out during the period of his receivership. 

 He had disposed of merchandise valued at $113,859.71, and had 

 transferred to the newly organized Consumers' Rubber Company 

 merchandise and personal property worth $49,864.61, cash 

 amounting to $1,364.16 and bills receivable footing up $2,359.01. 



