386 CAOUTCHOUC, OR INDIA RUBBER. 



Indirectly this is unquestionably true ; but, most unfortunately for its 

 reputation, that gum has failed at the greatest moment of its need, at a 

 period when the requirements of the age render it imperative that Deep- 

 sea Telegraphs should be permanently and successfully established. 



It is not, however, the object of this paper to discuss this question, or 

 enter into the relative merits of caoutchouc over gutta-percha. The supe- 

 riority of the former gum in " telegraphic insulation" is clearly and irre- 

 futably established in the scientific evidence recently given before the 

 Government Committee appointed to " investigate matters connected with 

 the construction of Electric Submarine Cables." Our intention was to 

 allay the ajjprehensions of imperfectly-informed persons, that if caoutchouc 

 be applied to deep-sea lines, we should speedily exhaust and dry up the 

 supply. How such impressions can have been formed it is difficult to 

 conjecture, especially with the experience and statistics on record. 

 Yearly has the consumption been increasing, and yearly has the supply 

 maintained itself in excess of that consumption. We are warranted, 

 by facts which are incontestable, in assuming that caoutchouc exists in 

 sufficient abundance, and that, with the most extensive application, many 

 years must elapse before its present yield, adequate to meet all require- 

 ments, can in any measure exhaust or diminish its supply. 



Assuming, however, that the supply should fall short, the pressure 

 would be but temporary : fresh explorations, pushing further back into the 

 untrod and pathless forests abounding with gum, would bring forth supplies 

 equal to any emergency the times might demand. While influencing such 

 marked changes in the manufactures of this country, a corresponding 

 impression is made on those countries where the trees abound, as the 

 demand increases for this material. Whilst in telegraphy it plays an 

 important part, the stimulant to its increased production will excite 

 even the cupidity of a savage. But little skill and attention are reqrured 

 for its collection, and it is not, perhaps, unreasonable to hope that 

 the demand for Caoutchouc may be one of the means for opening up 

 Central Africa to the civilising and humanising influences of Christian 

 Europe. While called for by the necessities of an advanced civilisation, 

 the easy task of collecting and preparing this gum may, by amply reward- 

 ing, stimulate the latent industry of the negro, and initiate him into those 

 Avholesome habits of work which, according to the proverb, are next in 

 value to prayer. 



The plants illustrated in the woodcut on the opposite page are- 

 Figure 1. — Urceola elastica, Sumatra, &c. 

 „ 2. — Ficus elastica, East Indies. 

 „ 3. — Siphonia elastica, South America. 

 „ 4.— -Ficus Brassii, Sierra Leone. 

 „ 5. — Ficus pandurafolia, East Indies. 

 „ 6. — Ficus macrophylla, Australia. 

 ,> 7. — Ficus indka (Banyan-tree). 



