Contribution to the History of Latex

Abstract

Abstract The first move towards the direct use of latex was by Arnold Juliaans in 1780 when he published his “Dissertatio chemica de resina elastica cajennensi.” In this he proposed to use latex for the manufacture of medical instruments such as sounds, catheters, bougies, syringes, milk pumps, etc., either in the form of the original juice from the Hevea tree in America, where it flowed as latex from the trees, or else after transportation of this latex in the liquid state in suitable containers to Europe, where it could be converted into the desired rubber products. It is true that ten years before this Sir Joseph Banks, an English explorer and partner of Cook in his first voyage around the world, had brought back a bottle of latex in good condition, as a narrative by Grossart shows. Unfortunately however, the latex decomposed soon afterward, and Sir Joseph Banks offered in vain 50 gold louis at Lisbon for another bottle of latex. Grossart himself had received, towards the end of the eighteenth century, a half-bottle of milky juice which was sent by d'Arcet from Mauritius. Grossart left it for several winters in an unheated room, and after the very severe winter of 1788–1789 he found it broken. He was thus obliged to give up the experiments which he had in view.