THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



lOlTOBKK 1, 191; 



referring to the i\\k genus, now 

 have no relation whatever to 

 includes our common maple. 

 The fact that the woods ot a 

 iew species contain sai)niiin 

 gives mucli less warrant lor 

 calling the Siiti'toccai' "Soap- 

 worts" than would the same 

 fact atiout the Pink l-'amily. 

 Another error which has heen 

 made hy careless writers is to 

 speak of the gutta percha tree 

 as "guttiferous." This adjective 

 is properly used only with ref- 

 erence to the Citttifcrac. tlu- 

 (lamboge Family, which ni- 

 vhides no gutta percha or nil 

 lier-producing plants. Tlie re- 

 semblance in name is quiu- 

 accidental, being derived from 

 I he Latin "gutta,'' meaning tear, 

 and refers to the drops of resin 

 wliich exude from trees of tliis 

 ■rder. The Sapotads — trees aiul 

 shrubs — include forty genera 

 and about four liundred species. 

 Ml contain a milky juice, mI 

 which gutta percha, while the 

 most important, is not the only 

 one with commercial value. 



Achras. which, as Sal'ola. 

 .i^ave its name to the order, fur- 

 nishes the gum chicle which, as 

 chewing gum. gives employ- 

 ment to unnumbered millions if 

 .\merican jaws. This tree, once 

 Sal'ota achras, but now .Ichias 

 siifola, bears the fruit known 

 as the sapodilla or sapodilla 

 plum, one of the most agreeal)le 

 of tropic fruits, and it was cult 

 years before its gum had Iiecome 

 cide banquets of the present-day 



vated in the West Indies for doubt about such gum: 

 the chief cour.se at the barnie- "gutta jelutoug." which 

 .\merican. .-Xnotber verv nn- tic tree of the Dogbaui 



iriug the tree's specilic name, 

 ,■ the natives. 



Not all the Sapotads yield a 

 gum which by any possible 

 license can be called gutta 

 percha, and only Palaqmuin 

 gitlta and its two varieties or 

 sub-species furnish the first 

 class gum ; but there are a 

 number of trees, all belonging 

 to the same order, which fur- 

 nish gutta percha of a more or 

 less inferior quality. They in- 

 clude Palaqitium, Paycna, Iso- 

 nandra and possibly some other 

 genera. It is a matter of defi- 

 nition whether halata and the 

 karite gum of West .\frica be 

 classed as gutta percha, but it 

 is just such a question as to 

 whether cauliflower is cabbage. 

 The botanist says that it is, but 

 the cook says it is not. The 

 botanist, the chemist and the 

 customs officials may be a unit 

 in declaring these gums gutta 

 percha. but the manufacturer 

 has another opinion. And it is 

 the opinion of the man who 

 deals with the material that 

 fixes the custom which lexicog- 

 raphers must confirm and all 

 ( thers admit. The botanist tells 

 f.s that the bean-pod is a fruit 

 while the strawberry is not : but 

 ulien we order fruit with our 

 1 reakfast we are likely to mean 

 strawberries rather than bean- 

 pods. But whatever the case 

 aliout these gums, there is no 

 as the so-called pontianac gum, the 

 comes from Dycra cnstulata, a gigan- 

 Faniily. They arc not gutta percha. 



PAL.\QruM Gn 



portant Sapotad is the lienus Miiiiiisops, fomid in the tropics 

 of both hemispheres, and one .American species, Miviusol's balala. 



luw-gr.-ule 

 is that ui 



rul)lier. It may be said with all possible em- 

 tree i of the Xatural Order Saf'otaccac produces 



