A Contribution to the Early History of India-Rubber. François Fresneau (1703–1770)

Abstract

Abstract In the fall of 1936 the Revue Générale du Caoutchouc published a special issue dedicated to the memory of the French scientist La Condamine on the occasion of the bicentenary of the discovery of rubber. Quite recently the same periodical issued another special number on the occasion of the International Exposition in Paris, 1937. The title page reproduces Cochin's well-known portrait of Charles Marie de la Condamine. The first paper by Ch. Jung, entitled “History and Development of the Rubber Industry,” gives all the credit of the discovery of rubber to Condamine, and for the details refers to the publication mentioned above. In the bicentennial number, Henri de la Condamine gives a detailed biography of his ancestor, wherein the name of Fresneau as a correspondent of Condamine is mentioned in a few places. A second paper, by Auguste Chevalier, deals chronologically with the various publications presented by Condamine, and here Fresneau receives as much credit as can be justified from the contents of these papers. Finally, we owe a revival of the correspondence between Fresneau-Condamine and the French Minister of Colonies Bertin to J. Ch. Bongrand. However, when one considers the exceedingly courteous phrases and carefully couched terms characteristic of letters of that period, and bears in mind that this correspondence only refers to the last years of Fresneau's life, such documents alone cannot be taken by the historian at their full value.