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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    by dipping it into boiling water till it was heated through, when it became plastic as clay, regaining when cold its original hard¬ ness and rigidity.” Dr. Montgomerie further ascertained that the substance, like caoutchouc, exuded from a forest-tree ; and having procured specimens in various stages of preparation, transmitted them to the Society of Arts in London. They were there subjected to close and testing examination; and at length the gold medal of the Society was awarded to the doctor, as for a very valuable discovery. Scientific men speedily perceived a few of the great capabilities of Gutta Percha, and a demand for it commenced, which has now created an important trade; the annual importations amounting to many hundreds of tons. It should be mentioned that Percha^ is the Malay name for the tree itself, Outta for the derived substance. Our young school-boy friends will, perhaps, suggest that “gutta” in Latin signifies “drop,” and conclude that the word was therefore adopted by our learned men to denote the droppings of the tree. This will be a mistake, however. The likeness to the Latin word is only a coincidence. “ Gutta,” like “percha,” is pure Malay. The material, so fast coming into English use, cannot boast an English name! The extent of territory occupied by the Percha tree, in its several varieties, it is impossible even to guess. It is knowm to abound not only on the Malay peninsula, but in the neighbouring island of Singapore, in Borneo also, and other islands of the vast Oriental Archipelago. The old Arabian explorers of the East, declared with somewhat of hyperbole, that those sunny seas were studded by “Twelve thousand islesand it is probable that the tree is scattered over half a million square miles of territory. Little fear, therefore, of the supply becoming exhausted! At present,'however, the trade is almost confined to the settlement and island of Singapore. “ It is singular enough,” writes the' Examiner, “ that although the Portuguese, Dutch, and English had, one or other of them, been nearly three centuries and a half on the spot where the tree grows, its va,luable produce be¬ came known to Eimopeans only in 1843.” The tree is ranked by ♦ The ch is soft.
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