

CHAPTER VIII. 



NATURE OF THE DISCOVERY. 



The sole object sought after by numerous experimenters. The success of the author. The 

 method of vulcanizing. Remarkable and very useful properties developed by the process. 

 Availabihty and supply of the raw material. 



As early as the year 1800, wherever the properties of India 

 rubber became known and appreciated, it became a subject of 

 much inquiry and experiment, to ascertain if there was any way 

 by which it could be dissolved, and afterwards restored to its 

 original state. This was the ultimatum sought after, by great 

 numbers who occupied themselves in experiments with it, espe- 

 cially those of the medical profession, as well as by the writer in 

 all his early experiments. It was not thought of or expected, 

 (certainly not by the writer,) materially to improve upon the 

 original good qualities of the gum. The object of the experi- 

 ments was limited to the restoring of it to its original state, but 

 even this was almost despaired of; hardly an approach to that 

 effect could be made except with ether as a solvent, which was 

 too expensive for any practical purpose. The success of the 

 inventor, in imparting to gum-elastic new and valuable properties, 

 and at the same time retaining all the useful qualities it pos- 

 sessed before, has not ceased to be matter of surprise to mankind, 

 wherever it has become known. 



This substance, aside from the difficulty of managing it chem- 

 ically, was in its native state as wonderful and mysterious as 

 any in nature, and it is rendered yet more wonderful, by the 

 change wrought in it by this discovery. 



A more particular description of the new properties thereby 

 imparted to it is given in the following chapter, but a few gen- 





