468 
VARIETIES. 
the  United  Service  Journal  for  January,  1839,  by  Dr.  Thomas  Anderson  ; 
in  Martin's  "West  Indies,"  vol.  i.  p.  191 ;  by  Mr.  Ales.  Anderson,  quoted 
in  M'Callum's  "  Travels  in  Trinidad,"  originally  given,  I  believepin 
"  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society,"  vol.  Ixxix.  p.  65,  and  in  Fisher's 
Colonial  Magazine,  vol.  iii.  p.  43  and  426.  The  most  recent  and  best 
account  will  be  met  with  in  a  paper  by  Mr.  N.  S.  Manross,  in  Silliman's 
American  Journal  of  Science  and  Art,  vol.  xx.  p.  153  (No.  for  September, 
1855). 
The  Elastic  Gums  are  among  the  most  important  and  generally  useful 
that  come  into  commerce,  and  although  at  present  confined  to  two  varieties, 
there  is  no  reason  why  additions  should  not  be  made  to  the  list,  and  in- 
vestigation promoted  to  elicit  the  comparative  value  of  others.  The  rapid 
progress  of  the  submarine  telegraph,  setting  aside  other  important  com- 
mercial uses  of  gutta  percha,  loudly  calls  for  fresh  supplies.  If  no  other 
purpose  had  been  subserved  by  this  Indian  gum  than  that  of  encasing  the 
telegraph  wires,  mankind  would  have  reason  to  be  eminently  grateful  to 
the  discoverers,  and  to  the  Society  of  Arts  for  the  reward  and  publicity 
given  to  its  merits. 
We  can  all  recollect  when  the  only  uses  to  which  india-rubber  was  ap- 
plied, was  to  rub  out  pencil  marks,  and  make  trap-balls  for  boys,  but 
now  it  is  made  into  shoes  and  hats,  caps  and  cloaks,  foot-balls  and  purses, 
ribbons  and  cushions,  boats,  beds,  tents,  and  bags  ;  into  pontoons  for  push- 
ing armies  across  rivers,  and  into  camels  for  lifting  ships  over  shoals.  It  is 
also  applied  to  a  variety  of  other  uses  and  purposes,  the  mere  enumeration 
of  which  would  be  tedious.  New  applications  of  it  are  indeed  continually 
being  made. 
Boundless  forests  of  the  Serang  tree  are  found  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Amazon,  and  the  exportation  of  this  elastic  gum  from  the  mouth  of  that 
river  is  daily  becoming  a  business  of  more  and  more  value,  extent  and  im- 
portance. 
Already  within  the  past  five  years  we  have  doubled  our  imports  from 
Brazil  (besides  the  large  quantities  which  the  United  States  draw  from 
thence),  and  we  have  also  increased  our  supplies  of  this  elastic  gum  from 
the  East,  the  imports  from  Singapore  having  risen  from  559  cwt.  in  1849. 
to  3030  cwt.  in  1853. 
Of  substances  which  may  be  used  as  substitutes  to  some  extent  for 
caoutchouc  or  gutta  percha,  the  inspissated  juices  of  the  jack  fruits  and 
trees,  those  from  the  wild  and  cultivated  bread  fruit  trees,  and  the  lolatree 
may  be  mentioned. 
Various  species  of  Indian  fig-trees,  as  Ficus  radula,  elliptica,  &c,  also 
furnish  portions  of  the  elastic  gum  of  commerce.  Vahea  gummifera  like- 
wise supplies  caoutchouc.  The  Urceola  elasiica  (which  produces  the  Ginta- 
wan  of  the  Malays,)  abounds  on  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Archipelago  ;  in 
Java  it  is  called  "  bendud." 
