192 
Editorial. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1       April,  1899. 
Bahia,  as'it  seems  to  give  better  results  with  less  labor  than  almost  any  other 
agricultural  product.  The  way  the  greater  part  of  the  Manicoba  rubber  is  pro- 
duced is  to  simply  cut  the  bark  of  the  tree,  letting  the  sap  run  in  drops  to  the 
base,  where  by  the  action  of  the  sun's  rays  it  coagulates  and  forms  an  irregular 
solid  mass,  which  is  gathered  by  the  natives  and  sold  to  middlemen,  by  whom 
it  is  shipped  to  America  and  Europe. 
Mangabeira  rubber  is  produced  in  the  States  yielding  Manitoba  rubber  and 
Sao  Paulo.  The  rubber  appears  to  be  an  inferior  grade,  and  is  used  for  cover- 
ing cables,  etc.  During  the  past  six  months  (ending  December,  1898)  several 
consignments  of  Mangabeira  rubber  arrived  in  Santos  from  the  interior,  and 
were  quietly  shipped  to  Europe.  Formerly  Mangabeira  rubber  brought  only 
about  half  as  much  as  that  of  Para,  but  the  price  has  risen.  It  is  said  to  be 
much  harder  and  therefore  preferable  for  certain  purposes. 
Florida  rubber  is  a  product  that  cannot  be  thought  of  for  some  time.  It  is 
true  that  the  climate  is  admirably  adapted  for  the  cultivation  of  this  tree,  as 
suggested  in  Consular  Reports,  May,  1898.  The  writer  also  mentions  that  the 
camphor  tree  may  also  be  grown  here.  While  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  the 
trees  may  be  grown  in  Florida,  the  greatest  item  for  consideration  in  this  con- 
nection is  the  price  of  labor.  So  long  as  laborers,  who  might  collect  these  pro- 
ducts are  paid  the  relatively  high  wages  they  receive,  the  cultivation  of  these 
plants  for  their  products  cannot  be  looked  upon  in  this  country  as  being  a  finan- 
cial success  that  is  within  immediate  reach.  In  this  country  as  well  as  else- 
where various  attempts  have  been  made  to  manufacture  rubber  artificially.  A 
patent  was  taken  out  some  time  ago  in  Germany  for  making  an  imitation  hard 
rubber  outjof  sawdust.  Another  process  for  making  substances  resembling  rub- 
ber was  to  treat  fixed  oils  mixed  with  tar  or  similar  distillate  products  with  nitric 
acid.  By  interacting  between  various  proportions  of  nitro-cellulose  and  bromo- 
nitro-toluol  or  nitro-cumol  and  its  homologues  a  material  resembling  rubber,  it 
is  said,  may  be  obtained.  Upon  mixing  a  glue  paste  with  tungstate  of  soda  the 
precipitate  is  said  to  form  an  elastic  mass  under  certain  conditions.  The  latest 
artificial  product  is  a  corn  rubber  which  is  obtained,  according  to  Chicago 
Times  through  Journal  Franklin  Institute,  1899,  p.  251,  from  the  refuse  materi- 
als of  the  glucose  factories.    The  following  details  will  be  of  interest : 
1 '  Corn  rubber  has  almost  exactly  the  appearance  of  the  ordinary  reddish 
brown  india-rubber.  The  process  of  manufacturing  is  not  perfect  enough, 
however,  to  make  it  resist  heat  as  well  as  india-rubber.  This  has  offered  the 
greatest  difficulties  to  the  chemists,  who  are  now  working  to  remedy  this 
defect.  The  oil  of  corn,  from  which  principally  the  rubber  is  made  by  some 
secret  process,  does  not  oxidize  readily,  and  those  who  are  working  on  the  corn 
rubber  declare  this  will  be  an  enormous  advantage  for  the  new  product. 
Articles  manufactured  from  it  will  always  remain  pliable  and  not  crack. 
Contrary  to  reports,  this  new  product  has  not  yet  been  put  on  the  market.  It 
is  intended  to  go  on  with  its  experiments  till  the  success  of  the  new  substance 
is  assured,  and  then  to  go  into  its  manufacture  on  an  immense  scale. 
"The  corn-oil  from  which  the  rubber  is  made,  comes  from  the  germ  of  the 
corn  and  not  from  the  hull.  The  starchy  and  glutinous  portions  of  the  kernel 
are  used  in  making  glucose  and  starch,  while  the  corn-oil,  heretofore,  accord- 
ing to  the  refiners,  has  been  practically  useless.  The  five  refineries  of  the 
trust  have  used  21,000,000  bushels  of  corn  in  the  last  ten  months,  of  which 
