KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



355 



vertically. Their distance from each other varies 

 according to the breadth of the bands required. 

 As the sheet passes under them, it is divided into 

 strips of an indefinite length, which, in their turn, 

 are wound off upon drums. What outcry has 

 arisen against their use, has been owing to their 

 misuse. Truman, Hanbury, Buxton, the eminent 

 brewers, testify to a saving of £30 a-year in driv- 

 ing bands, by their employment. Skill is re- 

 quired in nicely joining them, but the skill is 

 readily gained by those who follow the simple 

 directions of the company. If these are too 

 troublesome, why, the old leather strap, with 

 its paraphernalia of buckles and hooks and eyes, 

 had better be resumed. Where it is necessary 

 that bands cross, friction should be avoided, as 

 causing heat — an enemy to gutta percha which 

 cannot be resisted, and just as great a friend. 



From the sheet and bands, innumerable use- 

 ful things are formed. Industrial and domestic 

 economy tax them both. In a room removed 

 a little from the din and hissing of the steam- 

 engine, is to be seen a machine for cutting the 

 bands into squares, and another for fashioning 

 these squares into ' soles.' Both are done by 

 pressure. In the first case, a sharp-edged in- 

 strument, and, in the second, a sharp-edged 

 mould, similar to what is used for cutting out 

 envelopes, only of the shape required for a shoe, 

 descends with irresistible pressure, and cuts through 

 half a dozen pieces at once. A die imprints the 

 sign-manual (if such it may be yclept) upon each 

 sole, and they are ready for sale. Space will 

 not permit a dissertation upon the merits of this 

 novel improvement of our 'understanding.' 

 Thirty words will suffice to refer to one or two 

 of its advantages. It is absolutely repellant of 

 water, and a bad conductor of heat. If gutta 

 percha soles were worn, colds from wet feet would 

 be scarcer, and chilblains unknown. We may 

 put in a word for the shoemaker also, who would 

 be saved all the ills from contracted chest, if folks 

 could be persuaded that ' nothing like leather ' is 

 invalid. Accumulated attestations — from the 

 clergy, the army, and the police force — relative 

 to the durability and other excellences of these 

 soles, are possessed by the company and published 

 in their prospectuses. 



At a corner of an adjacent bench, a young man 

 may be seen moulding, to all appearance, a brown 

 earthenware pitcher. His only tools are, fingers, 

 boiling water, and the mould. His hands glide 

 over the plastic material, detecting a ' wale ' in a 

 moment, and filling up every interstice. Even 

 while we look, he turns out of hand a neatly 

 finished kitchen utensil. Close to his elbow is a 

 shopmate manufacturing a bucket, which has no 

 staves, and wants no hoops. Observing him, we 

 learn the method of fastening the various parts of 

 an article. He puts on a rim, by first rubbing 

 over the surface a solution of coal naphtha ; then 

 evaporating the naphtha, and warming the surface 

 by means of a gas jet. The naphtha cleanses 

 the surface, as well as disposes it to ' take ' the 

 piece to be joined on. His fingers dexterously 

 manage the rest. A softened piece is rolled out 

 to an appropriate length, and gently pressed 

 round into its position. If disposed to obstinacy, 

 an application of the jet makes it instantly tract- 

 able. The gas-pipe is of gutta percha ; and each 



man in this department requires a jet at his side. 

 The flexibility and length of the tube make it as 

 serviceable as portable gas. A little farther on, 

 we may observe some youths trimming noiseless 

 curtain rings. Their sharp knives remove all the 

 little imperfections of moulding, and finish off one 

 after another as fast as possible. 



All the uses to which gntta percha is put, it 

 would be impracticable to enumerate. An 

 auctioneer's catalogue would be filled with the 

 bare mention of the things made by the Gutta 

 Percha Company. Besides the multifold appli- 

 ances to what is utilitarian, the decorative is 

 equally cared for. One room is adorned with 

 mouldings, panels, festoons, and flowers, as ex- 

 quisite, though not so fragile, as the highest 

 artistic carving, or the most delicate art-casting. 

 Peculiarly beautiful is a geranium in gutta percha. 

 Only by the assurance that it is imitated, can we 

 be convinced of the fact. The flexibility of the 

 plant and its lightness are perfect. In no other 

 substance could an effort of art like it be made. 

 Prognostications are naturally enough risked of 

 the day when our winter garden shall blossom with 

 the rose, and blandish every floral charm. Easily 

 softened without becoming adhesive, gutta percha 

 receives the impression of the most attenuated 

 tracery, which it retains when cold ; the extreme of 

 delicacy in a substance, the extreme of indestruc- 

 tibility. Specimens of the loveliest mouldings 

 abound, a chef d 'ceuvre being the ' Hunted Stag.' 

 Chessmen, elaborately-finished workboxes, picture- 

 frames, inkstands made to imitate woods, mar- 

 bles, or papier-mache; in some instances so pro- 

 fusely and exquisitely decorated, that a Chinese 

 carver would be baffled to imitate it ; in other 

 cases, with colored delineations upon them of sur- 

 passing beauty. 



Imitations of metal have been produced in a 

 felicitous manner. It takes bronze and gilding to 

 perfection. There is no doubt that its plastic 

 property will make it the substitute for expensive 

 embellishments, and furnish the poor man with 

 tasteful objects to adorn his humble home. Costly 

 papier-mache will find an irresistible rival in a 

 material that has the same excellences, is greatly 

 cheaper, and is free from the defects of fragility, 

 however slender and thin it may be made. With 

 one or two glances more at household utilities, we 

 will enter another department. Every vessel not 

 intended for hot liquids, may be made of gutta 

 percha ; all the appurtenances of the bedchamber, 

 as well as kitchen utensils. On the one hand we 

 may observe a bread trencher, with emblematical 

 ears of corn round the rim ; on the other, ewers, 

 and basons, and bowls, and articles of that kind. 

 Public institutions, prisons, workhouses, schools, 

 will all derive a benefit from wares that are almost 

 indestructible, and whose peculiar elastic nature 

 precludes them ever being used as weapons of 

 offence. 



Most of these articles are made by simple pres* 

 sure. The moulding of a bowl will give the idea. 

 The mould is a massive bowl of lead, in the in- 

 terior of which is cut, in the manner of die-sink- 

 ing, the design intended for the outside of the 

 vessel. Fitting into this is another mass of lead, 

 whose convex surface is to form the interior of the 

 article required. While one man is preparing the 

 mould, his mate is engaged in rolling out on a 



