Purifying Gutta Percha

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H. H. Day, of New York, has obtained a patent in England for extracting from gutta percha a peculiar etheric oil which it contains preparatory to its being subjected to the process of vulcanization, by submitting it to the action of a liquor which dissolves out the etheric oil, and also, at the same time, by acting upon the woody matter, disengages the sand or other foreign substances held therewith. This liquor is composed of caustic potash (hydrate of potassa) dissolved in water, with an ether formed from a solution of chloride of lime and alcohol added, and after the crude gutta percha is placed therein the whole mass is heated to a boiling point, and so kept for about nine hours, and then treated between rollers under water, in the ordinary manner. When taken out, the gum will consist of a pure and solid mass, resembling india rubber, and fully equal to it in fineness, and in the readiness with which it may be worked to prepare it for the additional process of vulcanization.

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