

290 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



meaning the gum, or concrete juice of the plant, and Percha (pro- 

 nounced Pertcha) the particular tree from which it is obtained. I could 

 not help thinking that the tree itself must exist in Sumatra, and per- 

 haps derive its name from thence, the Malayan name for Sumatra be- 

 ing Pulo Percha ; but though the Straits of Malacca are situated only 

 one degree to the north of Singapore, I could not find that the sub- 

 stance has ever been heard of there or in Sumatra. 



" But to return to the period when 1 first noticed the Parang handle 

 that was made of Gutta Percha ; — my curiosity being excited by the 

 novelty of the material, I questioned the workman, a Malay woodsman, 

 in whose possession I saw it, and heard that the material of which it 

 was framed could be moulded into any other form, by dipping it into 

 boiling water till it was heated through, when it became plastic as clay, 

 regaining when cold its original hardness and rigidity." 



Dr. Montgomerie goes on to say that he purchased the Parang han- 

 dle and sent for more of the substance, and that on instituting experi- 

 ments, he ascertained that Gutta Percha was likely to prove a most 

 valuable material for making those parts of surgical instruments which 

 had hitherto been formed of caoutchouc, the latter having the inconveni- 

 ence of being easily injured by damp and hot weather in the tropics. 

 The Medicaf Board of Calcutta highly approved of Dr. M.'s suggestion, 

 and the Society of Arts in London awarded him its gold medal for the 



discovery. 



Illness prevented Dr. M. at that period from visiting the forests where 

 the tree grows. He, however, ascertained from the natives that the 

 Percha is one of their largest trees, attaining a diameter of three or four 

 feet, that its wood is of no value as timber, but that a concrete and edible 

 oil, used by the natives with their food, is obtainable from the fruit. In 

 many parts of the island of Singapore and in the forests of Johore, at 

 the extremity of the Malayan peninsula, the tree is found : it was also 

 said to grow at Coti, on the south-eastern coast of Borneo, and Dr. 

 Montgomerie accordingly addressed his enquiries to the celebrated Mr- 

 Brooke, resident at Sarawak, and was assured by that gentleman that it 

 inhabits commonly the woods there also, and is called Niato by the peo- 

 ple, who are not, however, acquainted with the properties of the sap. 

 The tree is often six feet in diameter at Sarawak, and is believed by 

 Mr. Brooke to be plentiful all over Borneo, and probably on the thou- 

 sand islands that cluster to the south of the Straits of Singapore. M 

 frequency is proved by the circumstance that several hundred tons o 

 the Gutta Percha have been annually exported from Singapore since 

 1842, when the substance first came into notice. There is reason, 

 however, to fear that the supply must shortly decrease, and the pnc 

 be raised, from the wasteful mode in which the natives collect it, one 

 sacrificing a noble tree, of probably from 50 to 100 years growth, w 

 the sake of 20 or 30 lbs. of gum, which is the largest quantity any on 

 trunk ever affords. The juice might, in all likelihood, be obtained fro 

 the Percha, as from other trees, by tapping, and thus procuring a sma 

 portion for several successive years; but this process is too slow 

 the Malayans, and is also the less likely to be adopted because the £ 

 ests are common property. The people fell the tree, strip off its ba 

 and collect its milky juice in a trough formed of the hollow stem oi 

 plantain leaf, when being exposed to the air, it soon coagulates. 



