Gutta percha, its discovery, history, and manifold uses.

Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gutta percha, its discovery, history, and manifold uses. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    her ear, and the mistress gives her orders. An important saving of time and footsteps is thus effected. Another appli¬ cation is in what has been called the “ Medical Man’s Midnight Friend,” as shewn in our engraving. Eespecting this, H. Aston, Esq., M.E.c.s., of Walton, near Preston, w’rites, “I have had the Gutta Percha tubing carried from my front door to my bed¬ room, for the transmission of communications from patients in the night. I have it brought to my pillow, and am able with the greatest facility to hold any communication with the mes¬ senger in the street, without rising to open the window, and incurring exposure to the night air!” On shipboard, again, if a Grutta Percha tube be carried from the deck to the mast¬ head of a ship, a conversation may be distinctly carried on even during a storm, between the man on the look-out and the cap¬ tain. It might also be used for conversation between the captain and the helmsman when in the cabin. Eor instant communication also from the bottom to the surface of mines in the case of danger, who can estimate its probable value, or the saving of life which it might effect! A series of very interesting experiments have just been made on board H. M. ship Excellent, at Portsmouth, proving that even amid the roaring of the cannon, messages can be trans¬ mitted, or the word of command given through a Gutta Percha tube, from the quarter-deck to any part of the ship. The Admiralty have given instructions that two of the ships of the line shall be forthwith fitted up with these speaking tubes. The hearing apparatus for churches, chapels, and other large buildings, is perhaps more widely known than any other acoustic application of Gutta Percha. From a funnel open in front of the preacher, a tube is conveyed under the wood work or floor to the pew in which the deaf person sits. An ivory terminal is fitted to the end of the tube, and on applying it to the ear every word spoken is distinctly heard. There are a host of testimonials from ministers and their deaf hearers, to the entire success of this plan. A lady at Preston had never heard a sermon for 20 years ; Gutta Percha now places her on a level with the rest of the audience. The Duke of Devonshire,*in
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