Gutta Percha 
I.— INTRODUCTION. 
1. Definition and Nature of Product. 
G UTTA PERCHA is a gum which has the 
remarkable property, of being the best 
non-conductor known for both heat and 
electricity. It looks like rubber when it comes as 
a whitish latex from the tree, but it differs from 
rubber in that it is much less elastic and becomes 
plastic when heated to about 150° F. (60° C.) and 
will retain, on cooling, any shape given it while hot. 
It retains its composition practically unchanged 
almost indefinitely when submerged in water, and 
its greatest single use is in the coating of submarine 
cables. It is also used in electrical equipment, for 
the making of moulds or casts, in surgical and dental 
work, and for funnels and bottles to be used with 
certain chemicals. 
2. Botanical Source. 
All of the more than one hundred species of the 
family Sapotaceae in British Malaya produce gutta 
percha, but, in most cases, it is so mixed with 
various resinous substances as to make it of too 
little value to be worth collecting. A few species, 
principally in the genera Palaquium and Payena , 
have gutta present in sufficient amount to make 
them of commercial importance. The best grade 
of gutta percha is produced by Palaquium Gutta 
Burck, which is known in the Malay Peninsula and 
in parts of Borneo as getah taban merah, and in 
Sumatra as njatoh balam merah or njatoh duryan. 
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