22 TlMEHRl. 
is, however, easily saponified,* and the smell becomes 
similar to that of fresh cider. It has, on analysis, been 
found to contain a bitter principle named Carapin, to 
which no doubt its insecticide properties are due. The 
association of its being used for this purpose might 
militate against its coming into general use, otherwise 
an acceptable pomade could be made from it by means 
of dexterous perfuming. 
A considerable portion of Mr. Bolas'S report on 
GUMS, RESINS, &c, is devoted to the balata, or, as 
the writer prefers to call it, the gutta-percha of 
the Bullet-tree, and gum animi, — both produ6ts of this 
colony. His remarks have been already published in 
the Argosy, and it would be most interesting if his 
Cantor Lefiture, delivered in 1880, on Indian rubbers, 
were also communicated to the public of this colony, 
which possesses one or more of the most valuable gums 
known. Mr. BOLAS evidently appreciates our Balata. 
He believes it is of greater use and value than the 
average crude guttta-percha from other sources. I 
do not know how far he is justified in paying the 
people of the balata districts of this colony, the 
compliment of attributing this superiority to their 
higher moral character. Mr. BOLAS believes that high 
moral chara6ter in the workman ensures correspond- 
ing care to deal intelligently and honestly with the material, 
as well as abstention from adulteration ; and so far 
he is no doubt theoretically right. Whether fa6ts bear 
out his hypothesis in the case of the balata collectors of 
* A specimen of Crab-oil Soap, prepared by Messrs. Field and pre- 
sented by Mr. Hawtayne, is exhibited in the British Guiana Museum. 
-Ed. 
