GUTTA-PERCHA 



Trade 



Different 



Appearance in 

 Europe. 



Uses. 



Oxidises. 



Imports into 

 United Kingdom. 



order SAPOTACE^E. The word " gutta-percha " is of Malayan origin : it 

 signifies the gum or gutta or getah of the tree known as percha : according 

 to some writers vercha is also the ancient name of Sumatra, so that getah- 

 percha would denote the gutta of Sumatra. And the true gum is to-day 

 almost exclusively a Malayan product. As it reaches the market gutta- 

 percha is, however, largely adulterated. There are high- and low-priced 

 qualities as well .as substances that more or less resemble gutta-percha, 

 but which are adulterants rather than grades of guttah. The present 

 article deals with both the pure gutta-percha and its substitutes. 



Gutta-percha first definitely appeared in Europe in 1845, and the 

 discovery soon thereafter of its varied utilisations caused an immense de- 

 mand. Dr. W. Montgomerie read a paper on it before the Society of Arts, 

 London, from which date it became a regular article of trade. It is ex- 

 tensively employed in coating telegraphic cables, owing to its being a perfect 

 insulator, while it is able to withstand in a remarkable degree exposure to 

 varying atmospheric conditions. It keeps good for ten years, if exposed 

 to the open air : 20 years, if protected in tubes ; but 20 years, when sub- 

 merged, have no appreciable effect upon it. Under the action of light, 

 heat and air it slowly oxidises, becomes converted into a brittle resin 

 soluble in hot alcohol. Chemically gutta-percha is almost identical with 

 india-rubber (which see, pp. 647-60). It differs physically, being tough 

 and inelastic. Since the date gutta-percha was made known to Europe 

 perhaps no substance has developed more rapidly, and with india-rubber 

 its uses may be said to be so many and so important as to make these two 

 substances perfectly indispensable to commerce. 



Trade. The immense demand has caused an extended inquiry all over 

 the globe with the view of expanding the area of supply or of discovering 

 useful substitutes. During the past seven years the imports of the United 

 Kingdom alone have been : 1900, 126,059 cwt., 1,685,568; 1901, 

 88,438 cwt., 1,382,646 ; 1902, 83,889 cwt., 1,150,902 ; 1903, 46,411 cwt., 

 587,712 ; 1904, 27,288 cwt., 288,535 ; 1905, 45,434 cwt., 361,475 ; 

 1906, 53,271 cwt., 489,280. Of these quantities the Straits Settlements 

 supplied from one-half to three-fourths of the total, but it would seem as 

 if the supply from the Straits was decreasing while that from Venezuela, 

 from British Guiana and from the Netherlands was expanding. It must 

 not, however, be forgotten that a fairly large proportion of these imports 

 are in gutta-percha substitutes, chiefly Batata. Burn-Murdoch (Ind. 

 For., 1905, xxxi., 309-20) has contributed useful particulars regarding 

 the extraction, purification, properties, prices and traffic in gutta-percha, 

 also a statement of the exports from Singapore from 1886 to 1903. 



[Cf. Solly, Observ. on the Prep. Caoutchouc, in Journ. Roy. As. Soc., 1840, ii., 

 art. 2, 9-13 ; James Collins, Journ. Soc. Arts, 1885, xxxiii., 784 ; Burck, Orig. 

 Bot. de la Gutta-percha, Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitz., 1885, 1-80 ; Ferguson, India- 

 rubber and Gutta-percha, 1887 ; Planchon, Produits des Sapotees, 1888 ; Jackson, 

 Comm. Bot. 19th Cent., 1890, 27 ; Kew Bull, 1891, 231-9 ; Chapel, Le Caout- 

 chouc et la Gutta-Percha, 1892 ; Heuze, Lea. PI. Indust., 1895, iv., 285-7 ; Ind. 

 For., 1894, xx., 225-6 ; 1898, xxiv., 384-5 ; ,Oback, Gutta Percha, Cantor Lect. 

 (delivered before Soc. Arts), 1897 ; Collett, Etudes sur la Gutta-Percha Commer- 

 ciale, 1902 ; Jumelle, Lea PI. a Caoutchouc et a Gutta, 1898 ; 1903, 445-523 ; 

 Lecomte, Lea Arbres a Gutta-Percha, 1899 ; Sadebeck, Die Kulturgew. der Deut. 

 Kolon., 1899, 281, etc., etc ; Grelot, Orig. Bot. des Caoutchoucs et Gutta-Percha, 

 1899 ; Ridley, Gutta Percha, Ann. Bot. Gdns. Singapore, 1899 ; Semler, 

 Trop. Agrik., 1900, ii., 724-6 ; Hill, Rept. For. Admin. Fed. Malay States, 

 1900 ; Cat. des PI. Econ. pour lea Colon., VHort. Colon., 1900, 28-30 ; Manson, 

 Burmese Rubber-yielding PL, in Ind. For., 1901, xxvii., 75-96 ; Warburg, Les 



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