680 CAOUTCHOUC. 
scarcely affected by acids, excepting by oil of 
vitriol. The long-continued action of the essen- 
tial oils renders it softer and brittle; but its ori- 
ginal qualities may be more or less restored. It 
resists wear and tear of surface still more power- 
fully than common caoutchouc, for after a mail- 
bag composed of it had been dragged over many 
miles of a macadamized road, the iron staples 
and nails were worn nearly through, while the 
elastic material was scarcely abraded. The ease 
and rapidity with which various articles, such as 
harness, shoes, &c., &c., can be joined together 
by the simple use of a cement and subsequently 
rendered firm by the heating process, prove con- 
clusively, when joined to the qualities above 
enumerated, that fibrous textures of cotton, &c., 
| covered with this composition, will be substituted 
_ for the various kinds of leather, in many branches 
| of the latter manufacture. 
Having employed 
various articles in ordinary dress and in chemi- 
cal operations made of the composition, or of 
cloth covered with it, and having seen nearly all 
the applications enumerated below, I can sub- 
scribe to the following enumeration of qualities 
and applications by the patentee: 
““ No degree of heat, without blaze, can melt 
it ; it remains unaltered in the torrid zone; heat, 
without blaze, more intense than 280° F., chars 
it like wood; it continues flexible in great de- 
_ grees of cold, and even by the contact of ice is 
not stiffened ; in durability it surpasses any other 
| material applicable to similar uses; its elastic 
power is superior to that of common India rub- 
ber, and is retained unaffected by heat, cold, or 
continued stretching ; of itself, or in combination 
| with fabrics of cotton, or other material, it can 
| be made of any desirable strength, with or with- 
out elasticity; it resists powerful chemical re- 
agents ; aqua fortis, sulphuric acid, essential and 
common oils, turpentine, and other solvents, 
which destroy the native gum, wood, leather, 
and metals, produce no effect upon this composi- 
tion, except that long continued immersion in 
strong aqua fortis, or sulphuric acid, chars it; it 
possesses valuable medical qualities, being a sub- 
| stitute for oiled silk, furnishing hydrostatic beds, 
and a great variety of articles used in surgery; 
it, as well as the fabrics with which it is used in 
combination, can be washed in boiling water, 
with lime or lye, without injury ; like other gum- 
elastic compositions, it is water-and-air-proof ; it 
is not liable to be injured by rats, moths, or other 
vermin ; it can be moulded or embossed like wax, 
and can be prepared in sheets of any thickness or 
thinness; it will take any colour; it will take japan 
varnish, and equals in beauty patent leather, as 
it surpasses it in many other qualities; it takes 
impressions more delicately than the finest paper; 
it can be woven or braided; it can be napped, 
like broadcloth or plush; it can be rendered per- 
fectly tasteless, and inoffensive in point of odour; 
its contraction, after having been stretched in 
threads between two adhering thicknesses of 
cotton, silk, or other flexible material, shirs or 
corrugates the fabric in a new and beautiful 
manner, and renders it applicable to a variety of 
uses. It is for many purposes a cheaper and bet- 
ter substitute for leather, cloth, and hair-cloth, 
oiled cloth, oiled silk, paper, and parchment, 
while the shirred or corrugated goods are pecu- 
liar, and for many purposes unrivalled. It can 
be economically and usefully employed in almost 
every article of external clothing, particularly 
where protection from cold and rain, or durability, 
is desired ; in trimming carriages ; for harness of 
all kinds; in building, particularly for roofs and 
cisterns ; in furniture (land and sea), particularly 
for carpets, printed floor-cloths, &c.; for fire- 
men’s dresses ; for water hose; for the binding of | 
books; as a substitute for paper and parchment, | 
and for maps and charts ; for the canvas and rig- | 
ging of ships, supplying them also with compact | 
boats, life preservers, rope and tarpaulins, and | 
perhaps with sheathing and caulking materials ; 
for belts and banding of machinery, and for 
smiths’ bellows; for bags, bagging, compact casks, | 
CAPER. 
used in securing and transporting merchandise, | 
dry or liquid; in many branches of the arts, as 
tubes for conveying various liquids, as vessels for 
containing them for evaporation and for crystal- 
999 
lization. 
CAPER,—hbotanically Capparis. A large genus 
of ornamental plants, forming the type of the na- 
tural order Capparidez. This order is closely 
allied to the cruciferz, and possesses identical or 
very similar properties. Most of its species 
abound chiefly within the tropics; but some are | 
The | 
number of genera is eleven ; and the number of | 
species in the gardens of Britain is nearly eighty. | 
The genus capparis alone comprises about thirty | 
diffused throughout the temperate zones. 
species in Britain, and a total of about one 
hundred and twenty species. 
some, evergreen, hothouse shrubs, carrying white 
flowers and attaining a height of from three to 
eight feet,—and three of them from ten to eigh- 
teen feet; but the species of prime interest, 
Most of these spe- _ 
cies have the reputation of being stimulating, | 
aperient, and antiscorbutic; and the greater | 
number of those in British gardens are hand- | 
throwing all the others completely into the shade, | 
is the common spiny species, Capparis spinosa, | 
which produces the well-known capers of com- 
merce. 
The common spiny caper grows naturally in | 
Italy, in the south of France, and in other parts | 
of the sea-board of the Mediterranean; and was | 
introduced thence to Britain toward the close of 
the 16th century. It has a similar habit to the 
common bramble, and grows among rubbish, in 
the fissures of rocks, in the joints of old walls, 
and in other similar situations. Its stem is 
covered with a white bark, has usually a height 
of about a yard, and sends out many slender, 
lateral branches ; the leaves are produced on foot- 
‘stalks from between two short crooked spines 
