MACINTOSH 



seems decidedly a more satisfactory method of supplying us 

 with golf balls and bicycle tyres. 



The first account of india-rubber is found in Herrera 

 (Columbus's second voyage), who describes the way in which 

 the natives play "with great dexterity and nimbleness." 

 " They struck balls with any part of their bodies."" 



Juan de Torquemada in 1615 gives quite a good description 

 of the Castilloa rubber : — 



" The tree is held in great estimation, and grows in a hot 

 country. It is not a very high tree : the leaves are round 

 and of an ashy colour : it yields a white milky substance, 

 thick and gummy and in great abundance. It is wounded 

 with axe or cutlass, and from the wound the liquid drops 

 into calabashes : Indians who have got no calabashes smear 

 their bodies over with it (for nature is never without a re- 

 source), and when it becomes dry remove the whole incrus- 

 tation." ^ 



The first patent for waterproofing seems to have been 

 granted in 1791. A Charles Macintosh invented the gar- 

 ment named after him in 1823. 



Very little of the commercial rubber is obtained from the 

 common Indiarubber Fig {Ficus elasticus) which we com- 

 monly grow indoors. This is one of those species of the 

 Fig family which are generally found growing on the 

 branches or trunks of other trees, though their own roots 

 crawl down the trunk of the support to the ground. Once 

 these roots have reached the ground, they take firm hold and 

 grow so large and thick that they may be able to hold up the 

 Fig tree even if the original support decays and crumbles 

 away. 



The gutta-percha which we use comes chiefly from Singa- 



^ Collins, Guiia-pei'cJui and Irulia-rtibber, 

 3" 



