June i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER "WORLD 



297 



TO PRESIDENT PORFIRIO DIAZ. 



A LETTER, of which the following is a copy, has been ad- 

 dressed to President Porfirio Diaz, of Mexico, and his 

 cabinet, in view of their well known interest in the material de- 

 velopment of that progressive republic. The suggestion does 

 not in anv sense come from the planters of rubber in Mexico, 

 very many of whom are enthusiastic believers in the ultimate 

 success of their plans, but none the less it is believed that the 

 offer of a bounty as suggested would give a healthful stimu- 

 lus to the planting interest. The letter reads : 



Dear Sir : In the past five years there has been invested in 

 plantations in Mexico nearly $20,000,000 of American money, 

 chiefly to grow India-rubber. Investors are now beginning to wish 

 to see the fruits of their faith and labor, At this time, when busi- 

 ness is somewhat depressed, and many are taking counsel of their 

 fears, a very little help from your government would put the rubber 

 planting proposition many years ahead. Personally, I am confi- 

 dent that eventually one of the most valuable of the exports of your 

 country will be India-rubber from cultivated trees. I would, there- 

 fore, respectfully make the following suggestion : 



That your government grant a bounty of five cents a pound for 

 India-rubber from cultivated trees. The rubber should be pre- 

 pared so that it shows not more than 5 per cent, of moisture. It 

 should also be clean, showing not more than 1 per cent, of foreign 

 material of any sort. If the rubber were prepared in the form of 

 small tortillas it would be easy of examination, and the govern- 

 ment records showing the aggregate production would stimulate 

 the production and give a fresh impulse to an industry that is of 

 vital interest to the whole industrial world. 



Respectfully, 



HKNRY C. rEARSON, 

 Editor of The India RunuER World. 



It is respectfully suggested that those planters who regard 

 the proposal with favor assist with their influence, and repre- 

 sent to the Mexican government their reasons for considering 

 its adoption desirable. 



ANALYSIS OF GUTTA-PERCHA RESINS. 



AT the last regular meeting of the New York section of the 

 Society of Chemical Industry, at the Chemist's Club, on 

 the evening of April 22, the first paper on the program was 

 one on " Resins of Gutta-percha and Allied Gums as a Means 

 of Identification ", by Wilton G. Berry, ph. b., of the laboratory 

 connected with the office of the Appraiser of merchandise^ 

 United States custom service, New York. 



Mr. Berry described his work as an attempt to contribute to 

 the knowledge of Gutta-percha and allied pseudo gums for the 

 purpose of affording a means of identifying and of differentiat- 

 ing them one from the other. The present paper is prelimi- 

 nary to a series of uniform experimental examinations of the 

 resins and hydrocarbons present. He dealt with the compara- 

 tive quantitative analyses by treatment of the previously dried 

 material with acetone, alcoholic-potash, and petroleum ether, 

 and extraction of the resins in a uniform manner with boiling 

 absolute alcohol, and the separation of the thus extracted 

 resins into their component resins; soluble and insoluble in 

 cold absolute alcohol. 



The object was the determination of — 



Saponification value, 



Acid value, 



Ether value, 



Iodine value, 



Acetyl value, 



Methyl value, 



Melting point, solubility, etc., 



— of the individual resins, hoping thus to establish a table of 



values whereby the resins of any given specimen may be iden- 

 tified and the identity of the parent gum thus established. The 

 gums thus far experimented on are a few specimens each of 

 Gutta-percha, Chicle, Almeidina, Tuno, Jelutong (Pontianak), 

 Batata, and Payena sp. 



It has been found thus far that the resins from several speci- 

 mens of the same gum have practically the same constants and 

 characteristics, and that the resins from the different species of 

 gums have different constants and characteristics — in some 

 widely different, and in the cases of the gums above cited suffi- 

 ciently differing to make identification of their parent gum an 

 easy matter. From the gums so far examined it is hoped to 

 establish the fact that the combined evidence of the constants 

 and characteristics of the resins, together with the character of 

 the accompanying hydrocarbons, will show that each species of 

 gum varies from each other sufficiently to make differentiation 

 of unnamed specimens complete, and to establish the fact that 

 every specimen of the same species of gum is alike in the char- 

 acteristics quoted. 



IE OF ANALYTICAL WORK. 

 Gutta-percha. — Resins soft, pasty, yellow. 

 Chicle. — Resins hard, grayish yellow, brittle. 

 Tuno. — Resins hard, dark yellow, brittle. 

 Almeidina. — Resins hard, brittle, yellow.' 

 Jelutong. — Resins soft, brittle, yellow. 

 Balata. — Resins turbid liquid, yellow. 

 Payena. — Resins similar to Chicle resins. 



Saponification value. Acid value. 



* Gutta-percha resins 78.5 5 



* Gutta-percha (albane) 83.5 — 



•Gutta percha (ftuavil) "1-45 — 



•Chicle resins 103. 1 Trace 



Chicle (resin A) I2Q o Trace 



Chicle (resin B) 100.8 Trace 



\ Tuno resins 77.3 56 



} Jelutong 77.5 Trace 



Almeidina 504 11.0 



Balata 692 Trace 



f Payena sp .. 103.7 Trace 



* A verage of 4 specimens. + Average of 2 specimens. 



While the saponification values of Gutta-percha, Tuno, and 

 Jelutong resins respectively are almost identical, their separa- 

 tion into component resins corresponding to albane and fluavil 

 of Gutta-percha gives entirely different results from the latter 

 and from each other. The resins of Chicle and Payena differ 

 as widely and the accompanying hydrocarbons are funda- 

 mentally different. 



REPORT OF A GERMAN CABLE WORKS. 



THE report for the sixth business year, 1903, of the Land- 

 und Seekabelwerke Actiengesellschaft (Cologne) shows 

 results beyond anticipations. The sales were the largest on re- 

 cord. The fusion of certain electrical concerns, who had been 

 buyers of cable goods, with large manufacturing companies, 

 left the firms who had been supplying the former in a position 

 of having to look for new business in new fields, with the 

 result of very keen competition in prices. The German cable 

 companies are much hampered by the prohibitive tariff of other 

 countries having cable factories of their own. The net earn- 

 ings of the company for 1903 were 328,106 marks, enabling 

 them, after making liberal addition to the various funds, and 

 carrying over a balance of 41,803 marks, to declare a dividend 

 of 5 per cent, on the paid up capital of 5,250,000 marks. The 

 transactions of the company's factory at St. Petersburg increas- 

 ed, but it was deemed advisable to write off 70,000 marks to 

 cover the deficit, which is less than the preceding year. 



The works of this company formerly were the cable depart- 

 ment of Franz Clouth — Rheinische Gummiwaaren-Fabrik. 



