The silver star., 1899-10-13
BAR TO ENTERPRISE.
0vTrA PERcHA SUPPLY Is
SHORT.
Doubtful II New Ocean Gables can Ne
Laid-Nscessary Material for CovsrisE
IL Not Rubber. - Usually Is Supposed
"A Close Resemblance.

1t is easy enough to plan the laying
OF an immense cable In the Pacific"
said an engineer who has knocked
around the world for years. "but where
are we to get the gutta percha? Every
httie rumor Of the construction of
transpacific line sends the gutta mar
Ket at Singapore, head OF the trade,
up by leaps and bounds. The ruling
price Of the gum is about as high as
ever. and, relative to cable building,
Is simply prohibitive. have seen 1t
stated somewhere that the visible sup
ply Of gutta percha is insufficient for
use in a line Of any length such as
that contemplated between the United
states and Hawaii, and that IL that
caLle Is completed 1t will be the last
with a gutta percha insulation. This
pessimism on the part of the gutta
percha producers smacks somewhat of
an effort to stiffen the market. yet
there is sufficiently reasonable foun-
dation for 1t in the wanton destruction
of the gutta forests.
SO close is the resemblance be-
tween gutta percha and india rubber
That many persons confound one with
the other. Both are obtained in the
form of milky juice from tropical
trees. but they come from wholly diff
ferent kinds of trees. Those which
yield the gutta percha are known to
botanists as the sapota mulleri and
the fsonandra gutta, whereas rubber
Is obtained from certain species of the
apocyanaceae,, urticaceae and euphor-
biaceae. Caoutchouc. or crude rubber,
Is SO elastic at ordinary temperatures
that piece of 1t will stretch to sew
eral times its original length, while
gutta percha is more like ivory when
cool. 1t has elasticity, certainly. but
1t Is the elasticity OF billiard ball,
you might say, not that of the lively
'return-ball' string.
Rubber is applied to an infinite va
riety Of uses in the arts. but gutta
percha seldom is used for anything ex-
cept as an insulating cover for subma-
rine telegraph cables. although 1t once
was worked up into buttons and many
other small nodded articles of COM
mon use. being extremely plastic when
warm. There is a decided difference
In the chemical constitution of pure
rubber and gutta percha. for a mole
cule OF the former contains atoms of
carbon and IA of hydrogen, while a
molecule Of the latter contains 10
atoms of carbon and 16 of hydrogen.
1T is only recently that the worlds
supply Of gutta percha has shown de-
terioration in quality as we'll as dimi-
mutton in quantity. First-class gum is
now almost impossible to obtain, a
state Of affairs resulting from the reck-
lessness Of the producers in the East
Indies. The juice OF the caoutchouc
tree Is obtained by merely tapping the
tree. but 1t was customary for many
years to cut the gutta percha tree en-
tirely down to get at Its milky product,
although the destruction was unneces-
sary. perhaps. Such a practice. OF
course, could be carried on only for a
short time without threatening the
supply. and in time 1t killed the goose
which laid the golden eggs.
Two other hydrocarbons besides
the one which gives its name to the
tree are contained in the Juice Of the
gutta percha. but the proportion of
these elements in the fluid varies
greatly. Besides. In the work OF col
lecting the gum more or less extrane-
GUS matter is sure to get in. Such in
ferior stun will not answer for in
sulating cables. and. as l said. the
uses Of gutta percha are restricted so
now that there is little sale for poor
gum. Thus the price OF crude gutta
percha. when there is no proba ability
Of new cable being constructed, has
fallen from about $40 picul (l33
pounds) to less than $50 in the last
few years. Rubber. however. has re-
mainpd otandy"