H 
India Rubber. This rubber was extracted from the t icus Elastica 
Roxb. 
The few first men to recognise the utility of the American elastic 
gum were La Condamine, and the Carmelite friar y ManoeI 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 Senn- 
gueira ) 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 and the Galactodendron utihs , 
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. (1). 
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. There 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. 
(x) The English name for this substance is Para Rubber. 
