﻿NATURAL 
  RUBBER 
  — 
  COOK 
  369 
  

  

  hunting 
  gear, 
  and 
  fishing 
  tackle, 
  discovering 
  fish 
  poisons, 
  building 
  

   houses 
  and 
  boats, 
  domesticating 
  food 
  plants 
  and 
  animals, 
  developing 
  

   textiles, 
  ceramics, 
  and 
  graphic 
  arts. 
  All 
  these 
  activities 
  and 
  attain- 
  

   ments, 
  superposed 
  and 
  interacting 
  with 
  each 
  other, 
  were 
  modified 
  in 
  

   many 
  ways 
  when 
  metal 
  tools 
  replaced 
  wood 
  and 
  stone, 
  and 
  again 
  when 
  

   iron 
  and 
  steel 
  could 
  be 
  substituted 
  for 
  copper 
  and 
  bronze. 
  Rubber 
  is 
  

   a 
  material 
  with 
  new 
  and 
  different 
  properties, 
  not 
  a 
  food 
  or 
  a 
  textile 
  

   or 
  a 
  metal, 
  but 
  not 
  inferior 
  to 
  any 
  of 
  these 
  in 
  its 
  powers 
  of 
  modifying 
  

   and 
  transforming 
  the 
  activities 
  and 
  conditions 
  of 
  living 
  in 
  our 
  civiliza- 
  

   tion. 
  Rubber 
  had 
  only 
  a 
  few 
  uses 
  among 
  primitive 
  peoples, 
  but 
  with 
  

   us 
  the 
  uses 
  are 
  so 
  many 
  that 
  no 
  limit 
  can 
  be 
  imagined, 
  if 
  our 
  civilization 
  

   is 
  to 
  continue. 
  

  

  Rubber 
  is 
  a 
  new 
  realm 
  not 
  only 
  in 
  the 
  sense 
  of 
  being 
  only 
  recently 
  

   entered, 
  but 
  also 
  as 
  causing 
  many 
  abrupt 
  changes 
  in 
  the 
  lives 
  of 
  millions 
  

   of 
  people. 
  Little 
  analogy 
  is 
  found 
  with 
  the 
  gradual 
  developments 
  of 
  

   other 
  natural 
  resources 
  that 
  have 
  altered 
  conditions 
  of 
  life 
  in 
  the 
  course 
  

   of 
  centuries. 
  Rubber 
  already 
  has 
  brought 
  many 
  profound 
  transforma- 
  

   tions 
  to 
  vast 
  numbers 
  of 
  people, 
  leaving 
  very 
  little 
  of 
  their 
  former 
  lives 
  

   unaffected. 
  In 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  extent 
  and 
  rapidity 
  of 
  this 
  transformation 
  

   it 
  doubtless 
  will 
  be 
  reckoned 
  in 
  the 
  future 
  as 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  major 
  events 
  of 
  

   history, 
  and 
  yet 
  the 
  botanical 
  basis 
  and 
  background 
  of 
  the 
  change 
  

   attained 
  no 
  public 
  recognition 
  during 
  the 
  first 
  quarter-century 
  of 
  

   intensive 
  utilization. 
  

  

  SERVICE 
  OF 
  RUBBER 
  TO 
  SCIENCE 
  

  

  Rubber 
  is 
  serving 
  civilization 
  in 
  so 
  many 
  ways 
  that 
  efforts 
  to 
  enu- 
  

   merate 
  them 
  become 
  tiresome, 
  but 
  services 
  to 
  science 
  often 
  are 
  omitted 
  

   from 
  such 
  reckonings. 
  Not 
  only 
  are 
  airplanes, 
  automobiles, 
  trucks, 
  

   speedboats, 
  and 
  countless 
  other 
  machines 
  dependent 
  on 
  rubber, 
  but 
  also 
  

   a 
  world 
  of 
  scientific 
  apparatus, 
  the 
  veritable 
  tools 
  of 
  investigation. 
  

   What 
  would 
  chemical 
  laboratories 
  be 
  without 
  the 
  equipment 
  made 
  

   possible 
  by 
  rubber 
  tubes 
  and 
  gaskets, 
  or 
  electric 
  research 
  without 
  

   insulation? 
  That 
  chemistry 
  should 
  have 
  achieved 
  at 
  this 
  juncture 
  the 
  

   knowledge 
  and 
  skill 
  to 
  make 
  synthetic 
  rubber 
  will 
  doubtless 
  feature 
  

   with 
  future 
  historians 
  as 
  a 
  "decisive 
  battle" 
  in 
  the 
  scientific 
  field, 
  an- 
  

   other 
  escape 
  of 
  civilization 
  from 
  a 
  major 
  disaster. 
  The 
  development 
  

   of 
  synthetic 
  rubber 
  lends 
  a 
  new 
  interest 
  and 
  significance 
  to 
  natural 
  

   rubber. 
  2 
  

  

  Another 
  service 
  to 
  science 
  is 
  seen 
  in 
  the 
  special 
  studies 
  of 
  the 
  rubber- 
  

   bearing 
  plants, 
  many 
  of 
  which 
  would 
  otherwise 
  have 
  remained 
  but 
  

   little 
  known, 
  as 
  most 
  of 
  the 
  forms 
  of 
  plant 
  life 
  still 
  are, 
  especially 
  in 
  

  

  * 
  A 
  discussion 
  of 
  synthetic 
  rubber 
  and 
  of 
  chemical 
  research 
  connected 
  with 
  rubber 
  will 
  

   be 
  found 
  in 
  a 
  paper 
  entitled 
  "The 
  Rubber 
  Industry, 
  1839-1939," 
  by 
  W. 
  A. 
  Gibbons, 
  Ann. 
  

   Rep. 
  Smithsonian 
  Inst, 
  for 
  1940, 
  p. 
  193, 
  1941. 
  

  

  