ON GUTTA PERCHA. 
131 
the action of potash upon albumen ; nor do I believe that 
he or any other chemist has ever again obtained them of the 
same composition as he ascribes to them; for they are 
nothing more than a mixture of intermediate products, which 
vary according to the temperature, the duration of the action, 
and the concentration of the alkali. — Chem. Gaz., from 
Liebig's Jlnnalen, Jan. 1846. 
ART. XXVII. — ON GUTTA PERCHA, A PECULIAR VARIETY 
OF CAOUTCHOUC. 
By Douglass Maclagan, m. d., f. r. s. e. 
Gutta Percha is the Malayan name for a substance which 
is the concrete juice of a large forest tree native of the 
shores of the straits of Malacca, Borneo and the adjacent 
countries. The tree yielding it is unknown botanically, all 
the information we possess regarding it being that it is a 
large forest tree, and yields this product abundantly. We 
are indebted for our knowledge of it to Dr. W. Montgo- 
merie,H. E. I. C. S., whose spirited exertions to improve the 
cultivation of colonial produce at Singapore have obtained 
for him several distinguished marks of approbation from the 
Royal Society of Arts of London. For his communication 
regarding gutta percha, Dr. Montgomerie received a silver 
medal from the Society. 
This substance in its crude state differs in many particu- 
lars from common caoutchouc ; it is of a pale yellowish, or 
rather dirty white colour ; it is nearly as hard as wood, 
though it readily receives the impression of the nail. It is 
very tenacious, and not at all elastic. 
