86 RUBBER 



auction on a certain date at a certain market. The 

 rubber itself, in its packing-cases or sackcloth covering, 

 is taken down to vaults, where it is stored until it is 

 claimed by whoever buys it at the auction. Vaults 

 are used as storage quarters for raw rubber in order 

 that the material may be kept in an even temperature ; 

 for not until that material is within a rubber goods 

 factory is it made climate-proof by vulcanization. 



We can stand outside any rubber goods factory and 

 watch the material being taken within its doors ; 

 that is to say, we can see big boxes and bulky canvas 

 packages being taken in, and we know now that their 

 contents consist of rubber pelles, crepe, sheets, biscuits, 

 or blocks, which were once white milk, and are now 

 a solid material that is yellow, brown, grey or black in 

 colour. 



To see what comes out of such factories we need only 

 look around us at the common objects of everyday life. 

 In the streets there are motor-cars, taxicabs, omni- 

 buses, and bicycles running on wheels that have rubber 

 tyres. On a wet day most of the people outdoors are 

 wearing macintoshes, whilst some of them are further 

 protected against the rain by galoshes; even on a fine 

 day, rubber is worn a very great deal outdoors in the 

 form of boot-and-shoe-heel protectors. In the house 

 there are rubber washers on the taps, rubber rings on 

 the stoppers of the ginger-beer bottles within the 

 pantry, a teapot on the kitchen dresser has been mended 

 with a rubber spout, and the children are playing with 

 rubber balls, dolls, and toy balloons. In the hospital 

 the doctors use surgical instruments that have impor- 

 tant parts made of rubber, and many of the patients 

 are provided with rubber necessaries, such as elastic 



