13S INTRODUCTION OF GUTTA PERCHA INTO ENGLAND. 
at that time, and I lost sight of it, having returned to the 
Bengal presidency. But being again sent on duty to the 
Straits settlements, and while at Singapore, in 1842, I on 
one occasion observed in the hands of a Malayan woodsman 
the handle of a parang, made of a substance which ap- 
peared quite new to me. My curiosity was excited, and on 
inquiry I found it was made of the gutta percha, and that 
it could be moulded into any form by simply dipping it in 
boiling water until it became heated throughout, when it 
became'plastic as clay, and when cold, regained, unchanged, 
its original hardness and rigidity. 
I immediately possessed myself of the article, and desired 
the man to fetch me as much more of it as he could get. 
On making some experiments with it, I at once disco-- 
vered that, if procurable in large quantities, it would become 
extensively useful; and even if only in small quantities, it 
would still be invaluable in the formation of many surgical 
instruments, particularly as a substitute for caoutchouc in 
many of the articles made of that substance, as I had found 
that those instruments which were made of caoutchouc, 
which had been dissolved in naptha, or other solvent, be- 
came speedily damaged, and totally useless in the damp and 
hot climate within the tropics. I therefore wrote to the 
Medical Board in Calcutta, strongly recommending its adop- 
tion, and sent specimens of the substance. After having 
examined it, the Board highly approved of my suggestion, 
and directed me to procure and send some of it to Calcutta, 
which was done. 
I also addressed a communication to the Secretary of the 
Society of Arts, London, and sent some of the substance for 
investigation and analysis, for which, after my return to 
England, I had the honour to receive the Society's gold 
medal. 
Being in bad health at the time the substance was brought 
under my observation, I was unable to prosecute the in- 
quiry in the way I could have wished, not being able to go 
