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DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



The original use of this substance by the Indians was to 

 make water vessels for domestic use, and for that purpose it 

 Avas dried on moulds in the form of bottles, in which form it 

 was first brought and still comes to this country. 



Our earliest knowledge of this important article dates from 

 the discovery of America. We learn from history that 

 the natives of St. Domingo were seen by Columbus playing 

 games with elastic balls, and that the Mexicans had shoes and 

 clothes made of an elastic substance. The first accurate in- 

 formation of this substance was from M. Condamine, a French 

 naturalist and traveller, in 1735. About 1750 specimens of 

 it appear to have been received in Paris, and in 1772 it is 

 recorded as having been sold in London. It is described by 

 Dr. Priestley as an excellent article for rubbing out pencil 

 lines from paper, and coming from the " Indies " it became 

 familiarly known as " indiarubber ;" for fifty years from 

 the above date it was scarcely used for any other pur- 

 pose. Experimentalists were, however, not idle, and before 

 the end of the century it was employed in rendering woven 

 fabrics Avaterproof ; but on account of its stiffness in cold, and 

 its stickiness in hot weather, it did not meet with patronage. 

 In 1820 it was, however, more successful, being used in 

 making articles of elastic dress, such as stockings, braces, 

 garters, bands, and the like ; three years later it was again 

 used to make waterproof clothing, which attained more suc- 

 cess than the first, being less influenced by changes of tem- 

 perature. 



In 1842, being 350 years from the time it was first seen by 

 Columbus, the grand discoveries were made that "indiarubber" 

 possessed the power of absorbing sulphur, which rendered it 

 unaffected by extremes of ordinary temperature even to 

 that of boiling water, and that it could be made to assume 

 any degree of texture, from a thin elastic membrane to the 

 rigidity, and even to the hardness and solidity of iron. In 

 its sulphuretted state it received the name of vulcanized 

 indiarubber ; this discovery has led to many patents being 

 obtained for its use in the manufacture of all kinds of useful 



