664 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



I3IPORTS AND EXPORTS OF UNITED STATES BY COUNTRIES 



(CONTINUED) 



India-rubber. A peculiar elastic sub- 

 stance composed of carbon and hydrogen, found 

 in suspension in the milky juice of many differ- 

 ent families of plants. (See Caoutchouc.) The 

 crude rubber is usually prepared where the juice 

 is collected, by drying the juice over a fire or in 

 the sun on molds of clay, paddles, or lasts; 

 by evaporating the juice in the sun and removing 

 the successive pellicles formed on the surface; 

 or by coagulating the juice, as in Nicaragua, by 

 an application of the juice of the bejuca vine, 

 and kneading and rolling the coagulated mass. 

 Most of the rubber of commerce is derived from 

 South America, from Para, Central America, 

 Mexico, Carthagena, etc.; smaller quantities 

 from Java, Penang, Singapore, Assam, and 

 South Africa. The purest comes from Pard in 

 large bottles and thick plates. Prior to the in- 

 troduction of rubber into Europe in the early 

 part of the Eighteenth Century it had already 

 been turned to various domestic and industrial 

 uses, such as the making of bottles, syringes, 

 boots, and waterproofing, by the natives and 

 residents along the banks of the Amazon. In 

 Europe the first important practical applica- 

 tions of it are associated with the names of 

 Mackintosh, the patentee in 1823 of a water- 

 proofing process by the solution of the gum in 

 oil of turpentine and acohol, and in coal-tar, 

 naphtha; Hancock, the inventor of the "mas- 

 ticator," a machine for the condensation of 

 crude lumps or shreds of caoutchouc, as im- 

 ported, into compact homogeneous blocks for 

 subsequent division into cakes, sheets, rollers, 

 etc. ; and Goodyear, the inventor of the vulcan- 

 izing process, patented in 1844. Since then its 

 uses have multiplied so rapidly that it is em- 



ployed in every department of industry. Thus 

 apart from its use in blocks and sheets, etc., in 

 tapes or threads for weaving into elastic tissues, 

 and as varnish for waterproofing, it is employed, 

 in combination with other resinous materials in 

 a solvent such as naphtha, as a cement or marine 

 glue. When combined with a small quantity of 

 sulphur, etc., it is used for the manufacture of 

 overshoes, boots, gloves, life-preservers, gas-bags, 

 steam and water packing, belting, fire-hose, tub- 

 ing, springs, tires, artificial sponges, etc. With 

 a larger proportion of sulphur, and cured or 

 vulcanized by exposure to a high temperature, 

 it is used for the manufacture of combs, pen and 

 pencil holders, rulers, inkstands, buttons, canes, 

 syringes, jewelry, and, when colored with ver- 

 milion, for mountings for artificial teeth, etc. 

 In combination with asphalts, oils, and sulphur, 

 etc., and vulcanized (kerite) it is used for cover- 

 ing telegraph wires. 



Insurance. The act of providing against 

 a possible loss, by entering into a contract with 

 one who is willing to give assurance ; that is, to 

 bind himself to make good such possible loss, 

 should it occur. The instrument by which the 

 contract is made is denominated a policy, and 

 the stipulated consideration is called the pre- 

 mium. In this country, Fire and Marine insur- 

 ance are almost invariably effected by joint- 

 stock companies, whose modes of operations are 

 too well known to call for expatiation here. 

 Life Insurance (to which the word "assurance" 

 is now more generally applied) is a contract by 

 which a party, for a certain premium, agrees to 

 pay a certain sum, should a person, to whose 

 life it relates, die within a time specified; or to 

 pay the executors of the insured a certain sum 



