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GuTTA PERCHA 
Gutta percha is the concrete milky juice of Palaquium 
Guita (Hook. f.) Burck. (Sapotaceae—Sapota Family), and 
probably of other species of Palaquium, large forest trees 
of the East Indies. The original method of obtaining the 
gutta percha was by felling the trees, peeling off the bark 
and scraping the milk from the exposed wood surfaces. 
The milk was then left to harden spontaneously in the 
receptacle in which it was placed. Methods have since 
been devised for extracting it from the leaves and twigs, 
but the most of the product is still obtained in the old way. 
Gutta percha is much harder and less prehensile and 
elastic than rubber, and is used for other purposes. It 
resists perfectly the action of sea water and is therefore 
used as a coating on all submarine cables, for which purpose 
most of it is consumed. 
963. Gutta percha rod. Presented by the India Rubber World. 
964. Commercial gutta percha in block form, Made in Borneo, and reboiled and 
purified in Singapore. 
965. The same in chip form. Presented by the New York College of Pharmacy. 
966. Same in the form of an ox. Made in Borneo. Presented by the India 
Rubber World. 
967. The same in the form of a cone. Made in northern Borneo. Same donor. 
968. The same in the form of sheets. Same donor. 
969. Manila gum. Said to be made from the gutta percha tree. 
970. Gutta percha extracted from the green leaves of the tree by a patented process. 
Presented by the India Rubber World. 
971. Gutta percha pitch——A waste product resulting from the manufacture of 
gutta percha. From the New York market. Presented by H. H. Rusby. 
972-977. Balata, or balata gum. This is the coagulated milk-juice of two or more 
species of Mimusops (Sapotaceae—Sapota Family), native of northeastern 
South America. These are large forest trees. The milk is collected by 
felling the trees and girdling them at intervals of about 18 inches with deep 
grooves cut through the bark and into the wood. Cups are placed under- 
neath each groove to catch the flow and that which adheres to the trunk is 
scraped off. Balata is more like gutta percha than rubber. It is said that 
the milk can be taken into the stomach without injury, while in the case of 
rubber milk, this would result fatally. 
972. Balata made from the thick-barked balata-tree (Mimusops Schomburghkii 
Pierce). Collected from the tree near Santa Catalina, Lower Orinoca, 
Venezuela, in May, 1896, by H. H. Rusby. (See herbarium.) 
973. The same, from the thin-barked balata-tree (M. globosa Gaertn.) Same 
source and donor. (See herbarium). 
