ON  ARTIFICIAL  GUTTA  PERCH  A  AND  INDIA-RUBBER.  171 
ON  THE  HANCORNIA  SPECIOSA,  ARTIFICIAL  GUTTA  PERCHA, 
AND  INDIA-RUBBER. 
By  Chevalier  De  Claussen. 
In  the  course  of  my  travels  as  botanist  in  South  America,  I 
had  occasion  to  examine  the  different  trees  which  produce  the 
india-rubber,  and  of  which  the  Hancornia  speciosa  is  one.  It 
grows  on  the  high  plateaux  of  South  America,  between  the  tenth 
and  twentieth  degrees  of  latitude  south,  at  a  height  from  three 
to  five  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  is  of  the  family 
of  the  Sapotacese,  the  same  to  which  belongs  the  tree  which  pro- 
duces gutta  percha.  It  bears  a  fruit,  in  form  not  unlike  a  bergamot 
pear,  and  full  of  milky  juice,  which  is  liquid  india-rubber.  To 
be  eatable,  this  fruit  must  be  kept  two  or  three  weeks  after  being 
gathered,  in  which  time,  all  the  india-rubber  disappears,  or  is 
converted  into  sugar,  and  is  then  in  taste  one  of  the  most  delicious 
fruits  known,  and  regarded  by  the  Brazilians  (who  call  it  Man- 
gava)  as  superior  to  all  other  fruits  of  their  country.  The  change 
of  india-rubber  into  sugar,  led  me  to  suppose  that  gutta  percha, 
india-rubber,  and  similar  compounds  contained  starch.  I  have 
therefore  tried  to  mix  it  with  resinous  or  oily  substances,  in  com- 
bination with  tannin,  and  have  succeeded  in  making  compounds 
which  can  be  mixed  in  all  proportions  with  gutta  percha  or  in- 
dia-rubber without  altering  their  characters.  By  the  foregoing 
it  will  be  understood,  that  a  great  number  of  compounds  of  the 
gutta  percha  and  india-rubber  class  may  be  formed  by  mixing 
starch,  gluten,  or  flour  with  tanning  and  resinous  or  oily  sub- 
stances. By  mixing  some  of  these  compounds  with  gutta  percha 
or  india-rubber,  I  can  so  increase  its  hardness  that  it  will  be  like 
horn,  and  may  be  used  as  shields  to  protect  the  soldiers  from 
the  effect  of  the  Minie  balls,  and  I  have  also  no  doubt  that  some 
of  these  compounds,  in  combination  with  iron,  may  be  useful  in 
floating  batteries  and  many  other  purposes,  such  as  the  covering 
the  electric  telegraph  wires,  imitation  of  wood,  ship-building,  &c. 
—Ibid. 
