Oct.  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
245 
abundance.  But  it  was  nevertheless  certain  that  pro- 
duction tended  to  rapidly  diminish  as  consumption 
increased.  In  1881  the  International  Congress  of 
Electricians  which  met  in  Paris  gave  utterance 
to  the  fears  which  this  state  of  things  gave  rise 
with  regard  to  the  future  of  the  electrical  industry. 
Recently,  and  on  all  sides,  the  big  European 
powers  had  been  moved  to  safeguard  such  an 
important  interest  by  acclimatising  the  Isonandra  in 
their  colonies,  and  by  pushing  its  cultivation.  The 
remote  results  to  be  expected  from  plantations  of 
this  kind  undertaken  20,000  kilometres  from  Europe, 
and  on  a scale  necessarily  gigaDtio  if  they  were  to  be 
of  any  good,  would  explain  the  feeble  efforts  hitherto 
made.  The  difficulties  encountered  by  those  who 
endeavoured  to  bring  the  European  powers  to  a proper 
appreciation  of  the  matter  made  the  author  doubt  the 
efficacy  of  the  schemes  proposed,  and  led  him  to  try 
and  see  if  the  question  could  not  be  attacked  in 
another  way. 
An  examination  of  the  samples  brought  home  by 
M.  Serullas  in  1888  showed  that  gutta  was  present 
in  all  parts  of  the  plant;  the  parts  of  other  than  the 
trunk  contained  gutta  in  amounts  apparently  very 
much  greater  than  the  trunk  itself  yielded  to  the 
Malays.  Was  it  not  possible  that  the  coagulable 
matter  of  the  latex  might  accumulate  in  some  part 
of  the  plant  whence  it  could  ha  obtained  by  means 
more  delicate  than  those  employed  by  th8  .Malays  ? 
If  by  any  ohanoe  these  parts  were  such  that  we 
might  separate  them  from  the  plaut.  without  injuring 
it,  the  problem  would  have  made  a long  step  towards 
solution.  Previous  unpublished  investigations,  indeed 
left  no  doubt  as  to  the  possibility  of  finding  solvents 
enabling  us  to  extract  gutta  from  these  parts,  and 
to  extract  it  alone.  M.  Serullas,  who  was  then  setting 
out  again  for  Indo-China,  was  goo  1 enough  to 
nndeitake  the  vertifioation  of  the  numerous  hypo- 
theses which  a series  of  trials  carried  out  with  this 
leading  idea  involved  ; he  also  arranged  to  send  borne 
samples  gathered  under  agreed-upon  conditions  so  as 
to  permit  of  the  necessary  experiments.  Leaving  aside 
mere  attempts  and  suppositions  shown  to  be  inaccu- 
rate, it  only  remained,  said  the  author,  to  point  cut 
the  facts  which  these  experiments  had  established. 
The  solvents  whioh  enabled  us  toexaract  gntta-peroha 
from  vegetable  cells  were  many,  but  toluene  seemed 
the  best  in  the  present  case  ; it  dissolved  the  three 
principal  constituents  of  gutta-percha,  and  it  did  not 
dissolve  in  appreciable  quantity  the  eubstanoes  which 
accompanied  it,  with  the  exception  of  a little  chloro- 
phyll. Comparative  tests  were  made  with — (i.)  Leaves 
dried  in  air,  and  sent  dry  ; that  was  to  say,  exposed  to 
the  oxidation  of  the  air.  (ii.)  Fresh  leaves  despatched 
in  water,  rendered  antiseptic,  and  dried  on  arrival,  (ii. 
Dried  shoots  deprived  of  their  leaves,  (iv.)  Two-je^r 
old  wood,  dried  and  deprived  of  leaves. 
Contrary  to  anticipation,  all  these  portions  supplied 
much  the  same  amounts  of  gutta,  amounts  which  were 
always  large.  This  first  result  enabled  one  to  prediot 
a favourable  issue.  It  immediately  fixed  the  attention 
on  the  part  of  theplant  the  most  advantageous  for  treat- 
ment. By  plucking  the  leaves,  whioh  the  plant  constantly 
renewed  of  itself,  the  effect  upon  the  development  of  the 
plant  was  reduced  to  a minimum.  The  method  of 
extraction  was,  moreover,  a very  simple  one.  The 
pulverised  material  wss  first  exhausted  by  digestion 
at  100°0.,  and  then  by  being  placed  in  a solvent, 
such  as  toluene.  A solution  of  gutta  having  a green 
tint,  owing  to  the  presence  of  a little  chlorophyll,  was 
obtained.  The  direct  evaporation  of  the  solvent  not 
being  possible  without  injury  to  the  product,  the 
toluene  was  carried  off  by  a gentle  stream  of  vapour 
of  water— that  was  to  say,  at  a maximum  tempera- 
ture of  100°C.  For  every  volume  of  water  evaporated 
four  volumes  of  toluene  were  carried  off,  the  gutta 
remaining.  The  toluene  was  completely  expelled  by 
prolonging  the  action  of  the  vapour  on  the  mixture, 
which  was  kept  at  a temperature  of  10l)°C.,  and  in 
a state  of  agitation.  The  yields  obtained  from  the 
various  parts  of  the  plant  mentioned  above  fluctuated 
between  9 and  10  5 per  cent.;  they  were,  therefore, 
pmch  better  than  could  have  been  expeot;  d- 
But  it  might  be  asked  whether  these  large  }ields 
were  not  due  to  the  mixture  with  the  gutta  of  some 
of  the  vegetafle  substances  dis  olvod  by  the  solvent? 
At  firtt  glance  tho  appearance  of  the  resultant  pro- 
duct seemed  to  support  this  hypothesis ; the  substance 
being  greenish,  whilst  the  Malay  gutta  was  red.  In 
reality,  gutt  .-percha,  naturally  almost  colourless,  was 
tiuted  in  the  former  instance  by  traces  of  chlorophyll, 
whioh  could  be  eliminated  by  appropriate  treatment, 
and  in  the  seoond  instance  by  fragments  of  bark  and 
special  vegetable  substances,  from  which  the  material 
obtained  by  the  use  of  solvents  was  entirely  free. 
The  point  of  capital  importance  was  that  all  competent 
persons,  whether  merchants  or  manufacturers,  who  had 
examined  the  gutta  produced  by  the  Dew  process,  had 
unanimously  considered  it  to  be  very  superior  and 
comparable  with  the  best  descriptions  which  were  no 
longer  procurable,  much  to  the  regret  of  the  electrical 
industry.  Larger  quantities  must  evidently  be  made 
to  enable  investigations  to  be  made  under  conditions 
likely  to  fix  attention  on  certain  details.  It  was,  how- 
ever, even  now  possible  to  assert  that  solvents  would 
lend  themselves  if  judiciously  used,  not  only  to  the 
extraction  of  gutta-percha  but  to  its  commercial  treat, 
ment  and  purification. 
The  author  then  exhibited  a number  of  samples  of 
gutta-percha  obtained  by  the  solvent  process. 
Contrary  to  what  might  have  been  anticipated 
from  the  great  oxidability  of  gutta  carbon  compounds, 
the  leaves  which  were  sent  home  much  exosped  to 
the  aotion  of  constantly  renewed  air  yielded  a pro- 
duct the  quality  of  which  was  excellent.  It  was  per- 
missible, therefore,  to  anticipate  an  exploitation  of  the 
surviving  Isonandra  of  Malay,  whioh  should  be  based 
on  the  plucking  of  the  leaves  and  their  exportation 
in  a dry  state  to  Europe,  where  they  would  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  solvent  process.  The  very  marked 
characteristics  of  these  leaves  would  protect  manufac- 
turers from  fraud,  and  would  give  them  with  some 
certaiuty  a guita  of  excellent  quality.  Moreover,  if 
it  were  a question  of  producing  leaves  or  small 
branches  the  immediate  return  would  encourage  plan- 
ters in  the  extreme  East  to  an  outlay  1 he  reward  for 
which  oould  not  be  delayed.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  was  permissible  to  expect  more  from  private 
enterprise  than  from  the  undoubtedly  great  persever- 
ance  and  prescience  demanded  of  European  Statee. 
Meanwhile  it  was  allowable  to  anticipate  the  stop- 
page,more  or  less  rapid,  of  the  present  mode  of  working. 
The  Malays  would  sell  leaves, which  were  easy  to  gather, 
quite  as  readily  as  the  gutta  itself,  which  was  difficult 
to  extract.  Thus,  a 30-year  old  tree,  according  to  M. 
Serullas,  bore  from  25  to  30  kilogrammes  of  green 
leaves  or  about  11  kilogrammes  of  dry  leaves,  which 
would  yield  by  the  new  process  from  1,000  to  1,100 
grammes  of  gutt  1,  while  if  the  treeiiself  were  cut  down 
it  would  yield  at  the  most  265  grammes.  Moreover, 
according  to  Malay  methods,  many  times  the  amount 
of  gutta  obtained  from  the  trunk  was  left  in  the 
leaves  and  small  branches.  The  natives  would,  doubt- 
less, soon  understand  that  leaf  picking  carried  on 
during  several  seasons  of  the  year  must  bring  them 
in  much  more  money  than  the  laborious  work  of 
felling  the  large  trees.  Carrying  on  the  same  train 
of  thought,  a 30-year  old  tree  need  only  give  7 kilo- 
grammes  of  fresh  leaves,  which  was  but  a small  yield, 
to  give  a continuous  return  equal  to  which  it  would 
give  but  once  if  cut  down.  Trees  of  every  age  and 
eize,  at  present  without  immediate  use,  would,  more- 
over, be  available  for  paying  working. 
The  oomplete  transformation  of  the  present  mode 
of  obtaining  gutta-pereba  seemed  capablp,  therefore, 
of  assuring  a proper  supply  of  this  interesting  sub- 
stance  to  the  European  market.  It  was  also  to  be 
hoped  that  private  enterprise,  by  undertaking  planta- 
tions, to  whioh  it  seemed  possible  to  promise  quick 
returns,  would  see  to  the  future. 
[A  oorrespendent  sends  the  above  artiole,  and  he 
remarks  : — “ As  there  is  a growing  demand  for  gutta 
peroha  it  seems  to  open  up  prospeots  of  a new  in- 
dustry for  Ceylon.”  Unless  the  success  of  the  French 
prooess  of  extracting  gutta  from  the  leaves  and  twigs 
of  tho  Isonandra  trees  is  certain,  the  difficulty  ag 
