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  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  1943 
  

  

  small 
  means 
  whose 
  chief 
  pleasure 
  is 
  in 
  studying 
  the 
  herbarium 
  material 
  which 
  he 
  

   had 
  collected 
  years 
  ago 
  in 
  that 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  world 
  which 
  he 
  chose 
  as 
  a 
  young 
  man 
  

   for 
  his 
  special 
  field 
  of 
  study 
  — 
  the 
  Malayan 
  Region 
  ; 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  preparation 
  of 
  a 
  

   Flora 
  of 
  that 
  remarkable 
  area 
  of 
  the 
  tropics. 
  

  

  The 
  introduction 
  of 
  a 
  new 
  plant 
  into 
  a 
  new 
  region 
  is 
  an 
  "event." 
  The 
  first 
  

   exploitation 
  and 
  adaptation 
  of 
  that 
  plant 
  to 
  the 
  conditions 
  of 
  life 
  which 
  surround 
  

   the 
  new 
  plant 
  immigrant 
  is 
  another 
  "event." 
  And 
  we 
  must 
  indeed 
  be 
  lacking 
  

   in 
  imagination 
  if 
  we 
  fail 
  to 
  raise 
  on 
  a 
  pinnacle 
  the 
  pioneers 
  whose 
  vision 
  and 
  

   ingenuity 
  and 
  scientific 
  curiosity 
  guided 
  the 
  developments 
  of 
  these 
  vast 
  and 
  indis- 
  

   pensable 
  industries 
  during 
  their 
  formative 
  days. 
  

  

  scope 
  of 
  ridley's 
  discovery 
  

  

  A 
  more 
  fateful 
  discovery 
  than 
  Ridley's 
  method 
  of 
  harvesting 
  the 
  

   rubber 
  of 
  the 
  Siphonia 
  tree 
  would 
  be 
  difficult 
  to 
  adduce 
  from 
  the 
  

   pages 
  of 
  history. 
  Many 
  "epoch-making 
  inventions" 
  are 
  recounted, 
  

   but 
  none 
  that 
  so 
  promptly 
  affected 
  so 
  many 
  millions 
  of 
  people. 
  In 
  

   all 
  civilized 
  countries 
  living 
  conditions 
  and 
  social 
  relations 
  were 
  

   profoundly 
  changed 
  in 
  a 
  few 
  years. 
  Even 
  among 
  primitive 
  tribes 
  

   in 
  remote 
  and 
  backward 
  regions 
  of 
  the 
  Tropics, 
  rubber 
  cultivation 
  had 
  

   almost 
  immediate 
  effects. 
  Thousands 
  of 
  Malays, 
  Hindus, 
  and 
  Chinese 
  

   soon 
  were 
  engaged 
  as 
  contract 
  laborers 
  on 
  the 
  rubber 
  plantations, 
  

   while 
  other 
  thousands 
  of 
  even 
  more 
  primitive 
  people 
  were 
  released 
  

   from 
  the 
  gathering 
  of 
  wild 
  rubber 
  in 
  forest 
  regions 
  of 
  both 
  hemi- 
  

   spheres, 
  and 
  in 
  effect 
  were 
  reprieved 
  from 
  extinction 
  through 
  Ridley's 
  

   discovery. 
  

  

  A 
  parallel 
  may 
  be 
  seen 
  in 
  Eli 
  Whitney's 
  invention 
  of 
  the 
  saw 
  gin 
  

   for 
  short-staple 
  cotton, 
  which 
  had 
  social 
  and 
  political 
  significance 
  

   in 
  the 
  rapid 
  expansion 
  of 
  Negro 
  slavery 
  in 
  the 
  southern 
  States, 
  

   eventuating 
  in 
  the 
  Civil 
  War, 
  but 
  these 
  effects 
  were 
  relatively 
  local, 
  

   while 
  the 
  rubber 
  reactions 
  were 
  world-wide. 
  The 
  ascendancy 
  of 
  the 
  

   northern 
  nations 
  of 
  Europe 
  may 
  be 
  ascribed 
  to 
  the 
  introduction 
  of 
  the 
  

   potato, 
  but 
  centuries 
  were 
  required 
  for 
  the 
  potato 
  sequence 
  to 
  work 
  

   out, 
  while 
  less 
  than 
  half 
  a 
  century 
  has 
  elapsed 
  since 
  the 
  first 
  com- 
  

   mercial 
  planting 
  of 
  the 
  Siphonia 
  tree 
  in 
  1896. 
  

  

  Rubber 
  production 
  offered 
  at 
  once 
  such 
  definite 
  advantages 
  that 
  

   only 
  a 
  few 
  years 
  were 
  required 
  for 
  a 
  new 
  agricultural 
  industry 
  to 
  be 
  

   created 
  in 
  the 
  East 
  Indies, 
  and 
  new 
  manufacturing 
  industries 
  in 
  

   Europe 
  and 
  America, 
  providing 
  new 
  systems 
  of 
  communication 
  and 
  

   transportation 
  in 
  all 
  civilized 
  countries. 
  Rubber 
  and 
  gutta-percha 
  

   as 
  insulating 
  materials 
  made 
  it 
  possible 
  for 
  electricity 
  to 
  be 
  utilized. 
  

   Riding 
  on 
  rubber 
  has 
  become 
  our 
  "standard 
  of 
  living." 
  A 
  vast 
  exten- 
  

   sion 
  of 
  the 
  human 
  environment 
  has 
  taken 
  place. 
  

  

  Hundreds 
  of 
  chemical 
  and 
  physical 
  discoveries 
  have 
  contributed 
  

   to 
  "modern 
  scientific 
  progress," 
  but 
  rubber 
  in 
  thousands 
  of 
  tons 
  was 
  

   necessary 
  for 
  the 
  endless 
  new 
  applications 
  to 
  be 
  developed. 
  Ridley's 
  

   biological 
  observation 
  was 
  the 
  critical 
  point 
  in 
  quantity 
  production, 
  

  

  