and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— July, 18TI. 91 



-'Tabloid' ««. Medical Outfits 



Measurements : Q\ X 4| X 5| in. 



1 TABLOID ' MEDICINE CASE 

 No. 258 (The Settler's) 



Fitted with the world-famed 'Tabloid' Brand 

 Medicines', Bandages, etc. The medicines are 

 perfectly reliable in hot or damp climates. They 

 are prepared in accurate doses ready for dispensing 

 and are quite palatable. In climate-proof metal 

 case (black japanned). 



Price in London 28 j 



' Tabloid ' Medical Equipments are obtainable 

 at the principal pharmacies in all countries 



Burroughs Wellcome & Co., London 



New York Montreal Sydney Cape Town 



x 293 



Milan 



Shanghai 



Buenos Aires 



all rights reserved 



IDEAL FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURISTS 



RUBBER COAGULATION. 



REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE IN 



TREATMENT. 

 Residue Fluid a Valuable Asset. 



A correspondent writes to the Straits Times 

 of July 5th :— 



What looks like a potential revolution in the 

 process of converting latex into rubber is begun. 

 The new era is not to be marked by any mere 

 alteration in the present style of machinery or 

 even in the chemical phase of the work ; it is to 

 be effected by[a wholly radical renewal of mechan- 

 ical means. The existing system of coagulation 

 and smoking is threatened with utter extinction 

 and in its place is promised an entirely new 

 mode that is said to be more economical, more 

 scientific and, as a consequence, more materially 

 effective. The advent of this latest system has 

 been screened with something amounting to as- 

 tonishing secrecy but some general details have 

 become known. The actual and particular 

 details may be expected shortly, for we under- 

 stand that the apparatus, illustrating the inno- 

 vation, is being exhibited for the first time at the 

 Rubber Exhibition opened last week in London. 

 The New Process. 

 At present there is only one installation of the 

 kind in use in Malaya and that is on the estate 

 of a Belgian company at Kajang. There, in the 

 factory, the new machinery is at work every day 

 under the strictest supervision. The principal 

 component of the installation is a big drum con. 



nected to a powerful gas plant. The latex is pou- 

 red into the drum, which is then started to re- 

 volve at a lively pace. The action is to all intents 

 and purposes an adaDtion of the simple milk- 

 churn that every rustic dairy-maid in England is 

 familiar with. The revolving ot the drum creates 

 a commotion among the latex and the thick of 

 it rises quickly to the surface and forms a cake. 



That essentially is the first part of the per- 

 formance. But while the latex is thus being 

 churned round, a heavy jet of smoke is forced 

 upward into its midst and permeates the whole 

 of the liquid, making it bubble like the water 

 in a kettle. The smoke, which is purified by 

 first passing through a mass of cotton-wool, is 

 made to penetrate the latex by sheer pressure 

 and in so doing antisepticises it more effectively 

 than is done by the prevalent system. The re- 

 sult is a pure sheet, no less marketable by reason 

 of the fact that it is not dirty with smoke. 



The advantage, if all this is accurate, is ob- 

 vious. The company which can turn out a clean 

 rubber, antisepticised and less liable to be 

 '"tacky " than the smoked sheet we know, will 

 com mand a readier market than the company 

 which retains the crude method of belching 

 unclean smoke into the open pores of the 

 newly made rubber sheet. In the latter 

 fashion it is the chokiDg of the pores with 

 carbonic duet that turns the sheet to its 

 dirty brown ; and the manufacturer at home 

 is put to the trouble of cleaning before 

 he can use it for his best manufactures. If, on 

 the other hand, the manufacturer can get a 



