Mr Thomas Oxley on Guila Percha. 291 



anomalous and remarkable phenomenon, apparently opposed 

 to all the laws of heat. 



It is this plasticity when plunged into boiling water that 

 has allowed of its being applied to so many useful purposes, 

 and which first induced some Malays to fabricate it into 

 whips, which were brought into to^vn, and led to its further 

 notice. The natives have subsequently extended their manu- 

 factures to buckets, basins, and jugs ; shoes, traces, vessels 

 for cooling wine, and several other domestic uses ; but the 

 number of patents lately taken out for the manufacture of 

 the article in England, proves how much attention it has al- 

 ready attracted, and how extensively useful it is likely to be- 

 come. Of all the purposes, however, to which it may be 

 adapted, none is so valuable as its applicability to the prac- 

 tice of surgery. Here it becomes one of tlie most useful 

 auxiliaries to that branch of the healing art, which of all is 

 the least conjectural. Its easy plasticity and power of re- 

 taining any shape given to it when cool, at once pointed it 

 out as suitable for the manufacture of bougies, and accord- 

 ingly, my predecessor, Dr W. Montgomerie, availed himself 

 of this, made several of the above instruments, and recom- 

 mended the use of it to the Bengal Medical Boai'd. But, like 

 many other good hints, for want of sufficient inquiry, I fear 

 it was disregarded. The practice, however, has been con- 

 tinued by me, and I find many advantages in the use of thv 

 substance. It also answers very well for the tubes of syring^i 

 which are always getting out of order in this country, wheii 

 made of caoutchouc. But my late experiments have given it 

 a much higher value, and proved it the best and easiest ap- 

 plication ever yet discovered in the management of fractui'es, 

 combining ease and comfort to the patient, and very much 

 lessening the trouble of the surgeon. When I think of the 

 farago of bandages and splints got rid of, the lightness and 

 simplicity of the application, the gntta would be no trifling 

 boon to mankind were it to be used solely for this and no 

 other purpose. The injuries coming under my observation, 

 wherein I have tested its utility have, as yet, only been two 

 compound fractures of tlic leg, and one of the jaw. But so 

 admirably has it not only answered, but exceeded my expec- 



