GUTTA PERCHA. 
By Thomas Oxley, Esq., A. B. 
Senior Surgeon of the Settlement of Prince of Wales' Island , Singapore 
and Malacca. 
Although the Trees yielding this substance abound in our in¬ 
digenous forests, it is only four years since it was discovered by 
Europeans. The first notice taken of it appears to have been by 
Dr. W. Montgomerie in a letter to the Bengal Medical Board 
in the beginning of 1813, wherein he commends the substance 
as likely to prove useful for some surgical purposes, and sup¬ 
poses it to belong to the Fig tribe. In April 1813 the substance 
was taken to Europe by Dr. Almeida who presented it to the 
Royal Society of Arts of London, but it did not at first attract 
much attention, as the Society simply acknowledged the receipt of 
the gift; whereas shortly after they thought proper to award a 
gold medal to Dr. W. Montgomoiiie tor a similar service. Now, 
as the discovery of both these Gentlemen rested pretty much upon 
the same foundation: —the accidental falling in which it in the hands to 
some Malays who had found out its greatest peculiarity,—and, avail¬ 
ing themselves thereof, manufactured it into whips which were brought 
into Town for sale: there does not appear any plausible reason for 
the passing over the first and rewarding the second. Both gentle¬ 
men are highly to be commended for endeavouring to introduce of 
public notice, a substance which has proved so useful and interest¬ 
ing. The Gutta Percha having of late attracted much attention, 
and as yet but little being known or published about it, 1 would now 
propose to supply, to the best of my ability, this desideratum, and give 
a desciiption of the Tree, its product and uses, so far as it has been 
made available for domestic and other purposes, in the place of its 
origin. > 
The Gutta Percha Tree, or Gutta Tuban as it ought more pro¬ 
perly to be called,—the Percha producing a spurious article,—belongs 
to the Natural family Sapoteae, but differs so much from all describ¬ 
ed Genera, having alliance with both Achras and Bassia, but dif¬ 
fering in some essentials from both, that I am disposed to think it 
is entitled to rank as a new genus. I shall therefore endeavour to 
