INTRODUCTION. 
The history of India Rubber or Caoutchouc is an exceedingly 
interesting one. Amongst the earliest accounts we have is that 
given by Herrera*, in his account of Columbus’ second voyage, in 
which he mentions a game played by the natives of Hayti, with 
balls made of this substance. Juan de Torquemadaf mentions also 
a similar use made of it, and notes the name of the tree which 
yielded it, as the TJleqiiahuitl or Ule*tree, the Aztec name for 
Castilloa elastica Cerv. M. Charles de la Condamine gave the 
first accurate information respecting the Caoutchouc yielded by the 
“ Cahout-chou ” or Siphonice {Severn) of botanists. M. Presnau, an 
engineer, residing at Carzenove in Guiana, next turned his attention 
to the subject, and his researches were published # by the Prench 
Academy in 1751. M. Puse Aublet first described one of the 
species yielding “ Para ” Caoutchouc, in his Plora of Guiana, under 
the name of Sevea Guyanensis. In the Old World the credit of 
the first discovery of a plant yielding Caoutchouc is due to 
Mr. James Howison, a surgeon in Prince of Wales Island, and 
who gave an account of it under the title of “An Elastic Gum 
Vine/’ Howison’s plant was named by Dr. Roxburgh TJrceola 
elastica. The next discovery was by Dr. Roxburgh himself, 
who, receiving a turong lined with Caoutchouc, which, on 
inquiry he found to be the produce of a fig tree, afterwards 
named by him Ficus elysiica . • 
India Rubber, or Caoutchouc, as we prefer to call it, is the 
inspissated milk or juice of various shrubs and trees,, natives 
of both hemispheres. This milk is found in certain anastomosing 
* Herrera, Historia, decada i., libro iii., cap. iv. 
f Torquemada, De la Monarquia Indiana, tom ii., cap. xliii., p. 663, Madrid 1615. 
For the references and passages of these and other accounts, see my paper on “ India 
Rubber, its History, Commerce, and Supply.” Jour. Soc. Arts, London, Dec. 17th, 
1869. The Council of the Society of Arts awarded their Lecturer’s Medal for this 
Paper. 
