GUTTA-PERCHA. 



255 



models of animals^ balls^ etc. Sheet India-nihher is in flat 

 pieces about a foot broad^ two feet long^ and about half an 

 inch in thickness ; these pieces are folded lengthwise like 

 sheets of paper : it fetches a high price^ and is esteemed 

 the most valuable. And Pip^ India-mhher, in tubes a foot 

 longj and one inch and a half in diameter. 



The property possessed by caoutchouc of dissolving in 

 coal naphtha^ renders it extremely valuable in the arts^ and 

 its applications have become extremely numerous. The 

 quantity annually imported is less than would be supposed 

 from the extent to which it is used; only between 500 and 

 600 tons were imported in 1852. 



Gutta-Percha (Plate XYIII. fig. 96) in some of its 

 characters strongly resembles caoutchouc ; it is the produce 

 of Isonandra Gutta, Hooker^ (Plate XVIII. fig. 95.) 



The Gutta-percha tree is found growing in Singapore, 

 Borneo, and other Malay Islands, where it is one of the 

 largest timber-trees; its light spongy wood is however of 

 little value. The leaves are alternate on the branches, 

 somewhat leathery in texture, entire in their outline, and 

 obovate in form ; they are green above, and a shining orange 

 colour beneath, and are attached by long petioles. The 

 flowers are produced in little tuits from the axils of the 



