440 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
much better would it therefore be to adopt the method of tapping the tree, — 
practiced nd the a in = taining the caou a uc , the Ficus. 
so much from a single tree, but the ultimate gain would be incelniis 
paniculacy as the tree appears to be one of slow growth, by no means 
rapid as the Ficus elastica. 1 should not be aspetetil if the de- 
penn “atin and the present method of extermination be persisted 
in, to udden cessation of the supply. 
Piaanrtcs sr the Gutta.—This substance when fresh and pure is, 
as already mentioned, of a dirty white color and a greasy feel, with 
a peculiar leathery smell. It is not affected by boiling alcohol, but 
coal tar. A good cement for luting bottles and other pur 
formed by heiling togoshine equal parts of gutta, coal tar and resi 
am indebted for this hint to Mr. Little, Surgeon, and the above 
his proportion » however, found it necessary to put two parts 
y 
and that which makes it so eminently useful for man 
effect of boiling water upon it. When immersed for 
water above 150° Fah., it becomes soft and plastic, so as 
of a moulded to any required shape . oo which jit retains upon 
cooling. If a strip of it be cut off and ed into Bae water, it 
contracts in size both in length and nes i This is a very anomalous 
and remarkable phenomenon, apparently opposed to all the laws 
of heat. 
It is this — when plunged into boiling water re ha 
its being applie 
7 
use of it to the Bengal Medical Board. But, like many other 
hints, for want of sufficient enquiry, I fear it was disregarded. 
