UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 169 



I asked my uncle, on our road home, if it 

 wasby means of that juice that the waterproof 

 cloth, which he had seen in London, was pre- 

 pared. 



He answered, that he had seen some of the 

 juice at the Royal Institution, where it had been 

 brought from Mexico to be analysed ; but that, 

 in general, caoutchouc was imported in a solid 

 state. i{ A cheap method," he continued, " of 

 dissolving it was discovered by Mr. Mackin- 

 tosh ; and his mode of applying it to cloth, 

 linen, silk, or any materials of that kind, was 

 equally ingenious and useful. When reduced to 

 a fluid state, a sufficient coat of it is laid upon 

 the cloth, and another piece being then spread 

 over it and pressed together, they become perma- 

 nently united as well as water-proof; but as the 

 outside and the inside need not be similar, 

 you may have the one of cloth, and the other 

 of velvet ; or a camlet cloak lined with silk, or 

 any other combination you please. 



ft There are many other purposes to which this 

 contrivance has been applied. Hoses for con- 

 veying the water from fire-engines, when made 

 of canvas and caoutchouc, and without seam, are 

 much stronger, more durable, and more flexible 

 than those made of leather. I have been told by 

 a naval officer that a hose of this sort affords an 

 excellent mode of filling the casks in a boat, 

 from a well or stream near the shore, when a 



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