114 WOiWDERS OF THE TROPICAL FORESTS. 
sent an account of it, witli Baraples, to the Royal Society, 
for which he was most justly rewarded with its gold m^dal. 
The fame of the new article spread rapidly throughout 
the world ; science and speculation seized upon ifc with 
equal eagerness ; a thousand newspapers proutulgated its 
praisea ; it was immediately analysed, studied, and tried 
in every possible way, so that it is now as well known and 
as extensively nsed as if it had been in our possession for 
centuries. 
The Icosaudra Gutta is a large high tree, with a dense 
crown of rather Kraal 1 dark green leavesj and a round 
smooth trunk. The white blossoms change into a sweet 
fruit, containing an oily substance lit for culinai'y use. 
The wood is soft, spongy, and contains longitudinal cavities 
filled with brown stripes of guttapercha. The original 
metho<I of the Malays tbr coUectiug the resin consisted 
in felling the tree, which was tben placed in a slanting 
position, so as to enable the ^exuding fluid to be collected 
in banana leaves. This barbarous proceeding, which from 
the enormous demand which suddenly arose for the gntta 
would soon have brought the rapidly rising trade to a 
suicidal end, fortunately became known before it was too 
late, and the resin is now gathered in the same manner 
