220 
even for that purpose only when Rhizophora and Bruguiera can- 
not be got. Many mangroves near towns consist almost exclu- 
sively of this tree, the other kinds having been exterminated. 
The teak, Ted ona grand is , L. Jati. 
Has been largely experimented with here and proves a com- 
plete failure. It grows to the height of some 12 or 15 feet and 
then dies down, throwing up another shoot which behaves in like 
manner. One or two trees in the Botanic Gardens have attained 
a height of about 40 feet and produce flowers and fruits but these 
are exceptions. Possibly it might do better at a greater altitude, 
but it is certainly useless in the low country. 
NOTES ON GUTTA PERCHA TREES 
Bv C. CURTIS. 
Owing mainly to the fact that the two substances, Gutta Percha 
and india-rubber, are both quoted in the Straits market reports 
and known locally as guttas, which is literally following the Malay 
names, much confusion exists in the minds of the general public, 
and of some planters, as to the difference in the properties and 
uses of the two substances, as well as to the trees that produce 
them. The most, conspicuous property of gutta percha, and the 
one that distinguishes it from rubber, is its capability of becoming 
soft and plastic on immersion in hot water, and retaining any 
shape then given it upon cooling ; when it again becomes hard 
but not brittle. Rubbers, on the other hand do not soften in hot 
and retain their original elasticity. According to Dr. OSBACH, 
whose Cantor lectures on the subject is a classical work, the ear- 
liest intimation of the existance of gutta percha was about the 
middle of the 17th Century at which time there appears to have 
been a specimen in Tradascants Museum known as the plyable 
mazer wood, which being warmed in water will work to any 
shape”. This is considered to apply to gutta percha since no 
other substance suitable for Mazers or goblets is known to possess 
this remarkable property. From this time until the year 1843 
nothing more appears to have been known regarding this wonder- 
ful substance when it attracted the attention of two residents in 
Singapore both of whom sent specimens to Europe. At a meeting 
of the Society of Arts held in January 1845 these specimens, which 
consisted of a riding whip and a lump of gutta, came under the 
notice of Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Siemens the ultimate 
result of which was its adoption for insulating telegraph wires and 
other electrical work, which created a demand that has practically 
exhausted the forests of this region of large gutta producing trees. 
All genuine gutta percha is obtained in the Malayan Archipelago, 
and the area within which it is found growing extends about six 
degrees on either side of the equator. They do not occur so far north 
as the Langkawi, Islands, and the so called guttas from there and 
the Mergui Archipelago are I believe mainly obtained from species 
