The best illustration of the uses of this re markable substance is perhaps furnished by a list of the articles now made by the Gutta Percha Company in the City Road ;—Domestic, tc.—Soles for boots and shoes ; lining for cisterns; picture frames; looking-glass frames; ornamental mouldings; bowls; drinking cups; jars ; soap dishes ; ornamental inkstands ; vases; noiseless curtain rings; card, fruit, pin, and pen trays ; tooth brush trays ; shaving brush trays; window blind cord; clothes line; nursing aprons ; coloured material for amateur modelling; ornamental flower stands and pots ; sheet for damp walls and floors ; drain and soil pipes ; gutta percha domestic telegraphs ; watering tubes for gardens ; lining for bonnets ; jar covers ; sponge bags; watch stands ; shells ; foot baths ; balsam for cuts, chilblains, &c. ; lighter stands ; water and gas pipes. Sur gical—Splints; thin sheet for bandages; steth escopes ; ear trumpets ; liquid gutta percha for wounds; bed straps. Chemical—Carboys ; vessels for acids, &c. ; syphons ; tubing for conveying oils, acids, alkalies, &c. ; flasks ; bottles ; lining for tanks ; funnels. Manufac turing—Buckets; mill bands ; pump buckets, valves, clacks, &c. ; felt edging for paper makers; bosses for woollen manufacturers ; flax holders; shuttle beds for looms ; washers; bowls for goldsmiths ; bobbins ; covers for rollers; round bands and cord; breasts for water wheels ; oil cans. For offices, dc.— Wafer holders ; inkstands ; ink cups ; pen trays ; cash bowls ; washing basins ; tubes for conveying messages ; canvas for covering hooks, &c. ; architects' and surveyors' plan cases. Agricultural—Tubing for conveying liquid manure ; lining for manure tanks ; driving hands for thrashing machines, &c. ; traces; whips ; buckets, bowls, &c. Electrical, &c.—Covering for electric telegraph wire ; in sulating stools ; battery cells; handles for discharging rods, &c. ; electrotype moulds.
Ornamental—Medallions; brackets ; cornices ; console tables ; mouldings in imitation of carved wood. Uses on Shipboard—Sou'-wester
hats ; pilots' hats ; life buoys ; buckets ; pump buckets; speaking trumpets and tubes ; drink ing cups ; powder flasks ; fishing net floats ; sheathing for ships ; waterproof canvas ; air tight life boat cells ; tubes for pumping water from the hold to the deck ; round and twisted cords ; lining for boxes ; tiller ropes. Mis• cellaneous—Suction pipes for fire engines; fire buckets; stable buckets ; lining for coffins ; sounding boards for pulpits ; tap ferules ; communion trays; tubing for ventilation ; hearing apparatus in churches and chapels for deaf persons; cricket balls ; bouncing balls ; golf balls ; fencing sticks ; portmanteaus ; police staves; life preservers ; embossed book backs ; embossed globes and maps for the blind ; railway conversation tubes ; miners' caps ; beds for paper cutting machine knives ; fringe for mourning coaches ; fine and coarse thread; alarum tubes for mines, &c. ; official seals, &c. ; envelope boxes ; bible backs ; prayer book backs; powder flasks ; box lids.
The great seal of Ireland, attached to pa tents and similar documents, has hitherto been made of a soft, easily-melted wax ; but it is now stamped in gutta percha.
An ingenious method has been devised by Dr. Branson of Sheffield, of producing en graved plates of ferns, sea-weeds, &c., by means of gutta percha- The ferns are pressed upon a carefully prepared sheet of this ma terial, while warm ; and the delicate markings are left in intaglio or cavity on the gutta percha surface. A cast in brass may be taken from this intaglio ; and impressions may be printed from the brass.
The advance in the trade in gutta percha has been astonishingly rapid, as will be shown by the amount exported from Singapore to Great Britain: 1844 .. 230 lbs.
1845 .. .. 22,000 lbs.
1816 .. 710,000 lbs.
1817 .. 1,200,000 lbs.
1848 .. 1,700,000 lbs.
It was computed that 300,000 trees were destroyed to obtain the above quantities.