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CLASS XXVIII.
REPORT OX MANUFACTURES FROM ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUB-STANCES, NOT BEING 'WOVEN, FELTED, OR INCLUDEDIN OTHER SECTIONS.
[The figures after the Names (between parentheses) refer to the Exhibitors’ Numbers, and to the Pages in theOfficial Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue.]
J ary.
Don Joaquin Alfonso, Chairman , Spain ; Director of the Conservatory of Arts. Madrid .
J. E. Gkav, F.R.S., P.B.S., Deputy Chairman , British Museum ; Keeper of the Zoological Department,British Museum .
Rev. Gorham D. Abbott, United States ; Spingler Institute , New York City .
A. J. Balard, France ; Member of Institute .
Dr. E. Lankester . F.R.S., Reporter , 22 Old Burlington Street; Secretary to the Ray Society.
T. J. Miller, 7 Millbank Street; Merchant.
G. Peterson, Russia ; Member of the Scientific Committee for the Administration of the Domains of theEmpire.
T. A. Wise, M.D., 9 Prince’s Gate, Ilyde Park; Hon. East India Company .
Associate.
Natalis Rondot , 1 Rue Fontaine, St. George’s, Paris ; Rate of the Embassy to China , &c., &c. (Juror, ClassXXVI.)
In commencing their labours, the Jury thought it advi- Isable to divide themselves into Sub-Committees for the Ipurpose of examining the various objects submitted to !their attention. The subdivisions of the Class enabled Ithem to do this with facility, and the following Sub-Juries were formed:—
The Chairman, Don Joaquin Alfonso, M. Balard,and Dr. Lankester for Sections A and B, including guttapercha and caoutchouc manufactures.
Messrs. Guay, Abbott, and Wise for Sections B and C,including manufactures from various animal substances,as ivory, tortoiseshell, horn, &c.; and from vegetable sub-stances, as wood, vegetable ivory, cork, &c.
Messrs. Miller and Peterson for Sections E and F,embracing manufactures of straw, and of a miscellaneouskind from various animal and vegetable substances.
Dr. Lankesteii and Dr. Wise were appointed to drawup the present Report. The avocations of the latter gen-tleman having called him from town, the drawing up ofthe Report devolved on Dr. Lankester . Each of the Sub-Juries was requested to furnish the Reporter with remarksupon the various objects in their Sections; and the Re-porter is indebted for a large proportion of the generalremarks on the manufacturer in caoutchouc aud guttapercha to M. Balard.
The constitution of this Class is somewhat peculiar andexceptional. The necessity for its existence was felt inthe fact that a large number of articles manufacturedfrom vegetable and animal substances could not properlybe included in the Classes which embraced either wovenor felted materials. This was especially the case withthe very numerous applications of caoutchouc and guttapercha to the production of articles of constant and in-creasing use. What is true generally of these substanceswas felt in relation to many things manufactured fromsuch animal substances as horn, ivory, whalebone, &c.,and the vegetable substances—cork, vegetable ivory, andcocoa-nut fibres. At the same time the Jury experiencedsome difficulty in defining what articles rightly belongedto their Class without trenching upon the domain of iothers. This difficulty had evidently been felt in the dis- |posal in the Building of many of the objects exhibited, jand one of their first tasks was to send to other Classes .objects which had been placed in Class XXVIII.. andwhich had appeared under this head in the Official Cata- jlogue. They had also to examine other Classes for the I
purpose of bringing objects into their own Class, whichotherwise might have been overlooked. With all theother precautions taken by the Jury, it is to be fearedthat some objects properly belonging to their Class, frombeing placed in other Classes, or from not being in theCatalogue, have not received the attention they deserved.Especially have they felt that many articles exhibited inthe Foreign Department, from being sent to the Exhibitionafter the awards were made, may have escaped the noticewhich their merits would otherwise have demanded.
In presenting this Report, the Reporter lias adoptedthe plan laid down in the scheme of “ Heads for Juries,”published by the Royal Commission, each Section of theClass, where necessary, being treated of under the follow-ing heads:—1. General Remarks. 2. Council Medals.3. Prize Medals. 4. Honourable Mentions. 5. Remain-ing Exhibitors.
Section A.— Manufactures from Caoutchouc.
§ 1 . General Remarks.
The existence of a milk}* juice in many plants, whichflows from them when their tissues are wounded, is afact that has been familiarly known from time imme-morial. It is, however, only a matter of recent discoverythat this milky juice characterizes certain families ofplants. Although the great majority of plauts whichyield this juice in abundance are tropical, yet they arenot without their European representatives. The spurges,dandelion, and celaudine of our road-sides are instances.The families of plauts which furnish this milky juice iuthe greatest abundance are Moracece, EuphorbiaceaArto-carpea , Apocynacea , Cichoracece , Rapaveraccce, Campa -nulacecc, and Eubeliacece.
This juice, which is called by botanists “ the milkyjuice,” because it has an appearance similar to milk, hasalso the physical constitution of that fluid. It is anaqueous liquid, charged with soluble matter, in whichfloat globules of a substance insoluble in water, and whichare by their tenuity held in suspension in the liquid, butfor which they have no affinity, in the same manner asbutter is held in suspension by milk. From the differenceof the refractive powers of these two substances, each ofwhich, taken separately, would be colourless or trans-parent, arise the opacity and white colour of the two:hence the compound is properly called a “ milky juice.”