1 
u 
hidia  Rubber.  This  rubber  was  extracted  from  the  Ficus  Elastica 
Roxb. 
The  few  first  men  to  recoo^nise  the  utility  of  the  American  elastic 
gum  were  La  Condamine,  and  the  Carmelite  friar  Manoel  da  Es- 
peran^a,  who,  in  1783,  was  evangelizing  in  the  Amazons. 
Inasmuch  as  among  the  utensils  prepared  from  this  gum,  ap- 
peared always  the  syringe,  the  Portuguese  gave  to  the  tree  pro- 
ducing this  milk  the  name  of  syringe  wood  {pdo  Seringa)  or  Serin- 
gzieira,  and  continuing  to  call  the  product  from  this  tree  the 
Seringa^  it,  to  this  day  is  known  by  that  name. 
Taken  to  Peru  by  the  Spanish  Jesuit  missionaries,  the  Omauas, 
meeting  there  the  Castilloa  elastica  ^x\d  the  Galactodendron  utilis, 
gave  them  also  the  name  of  Ule  and  of  Caaocho.  It  is  this  latter 
name  which,  corrupted,  became  known  throughout  the  world. 
From  caaocho  pronounced  by  some  caaochu,  appeared  through  the 
Spanish  pronunciation,  the  caotchu  turned  again  by  the  French  into 
caoutchouc.  The  Peruvians  called  it  caocho.  It  is  known  by  that 
name  in  Peru  to-day.  (i). 
The  Portuguese  who  kept  their  liquids  in  leather  sacks  or  bottles 
with  distended  sides  or  bellies  to  which  the  name  borracha  was 
given,  seeing  among  the  native  aborigines,  similar  vessels  manufac- 
tured from  elestic  gum,  called  them  also  borrachas.  Eventually 
this  name  came  to  be  applied  to  the  substance  from  which  these 
vessels  were  made. 
Till  then  elastic  gum  was  used  for  no  other  purpose  but  the 
indigenous  one. 
In  the  work  of  evangelising  the  natives,  the  missionaries,  living 
always  in  swampy  surroundings,  started  to  cover  their  shoes  with 
this  milk,  and  later  on  making  them  entirely  of  elastic  gum,  by 
means  of  clay  woulds,  which  they  afterwards  broke.  Then  began 
a trade  with  the  Indians  in  balls,  syringes,  flagons,  shoes  &c.  which 
were  supplied  in  exchange  for  mummeries  and  other  useless  articles. 
These  products  being  brought  into  the  market,  their  consump- 
tion and  subsequent  exportation  assumed  large  proportions. 
In  1755  the  use  of  rubber  foot-gear  was  already  in  vouge  in 
Para  and  in  Lisbon.  King  Joseph,  being  presented  by  missionaries 
with  samples  of  these  useful  shoes,  profited  by  the  invention  and 
sent  to  Para  several  pairs  of  boots  to  be  covered  over  with  rubber, 
an  example  followed  by  great  many  others. 
In  consequence  if  its  qualities  and  its  impermeability,  it  was 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  haversacks  for  soldiers.  About  this  time, 
the  brigantine  Gavedo,  took  back  to  Lisbon,  more  than  2.000  such 
haversacks  rendered  impermeable. 
Already  in  1735,  the  Astronomer  La  Condamine  had  sent  to 
France  the  first  sample  of  rubber.  'Fhere  the  Surgeon  Macquer, 
experimented  with  it  in  the  manufacture  of  catheters,  and  finding 
it  superior  to  metal,  wrote  in  1768  a monograph  on  same  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  Paris,  in  which  he  justified  the  uses  and 
advantages  of  this  product. 
(i)  The  English  name  for  this  substance  is  Para  Rubber. 
