The almost numberless uses to which this remarkable gum has been, and is applied, has awakened an interest in the public mind concerning its discovery, and its uses, and especially the different applications, and their methods. The discovery of Gutta-Percha is comparatively recent. The first that was known of this wonderful production by Europeans, was in the year 1845. Dr. Montgomerie, an English gentleman, residing at Singapore, observed in the hands of a Malay woodchopper, a strange material used for a handle to his axe. Curious to learn its nature, he questioned the native, and ascertained that he procured it from a tree in the form of sap; that upon exposure to the air it became solid; also, that in immersing it in hot water it became soft and plastic, and could be moulded into any desired form. Dr. Montgomerie at once obtained samples of the material, which he forwarded to the London Society of Arts and Sciences, with a description regarding it. After subjecting it to various tests, the Society were unanimous in their opinion concerning its great value. They awarded to Dr. M. a gold medal for the valuable knowledge thus communicated to the manufactories of the world. It is observable, however, that this substance may be said to have had two European discoverers, independent of each other; for the tree, and the gum which exudes from it, were discovered or observed by Mr. Thomas Lobb. This gentleman visited the islands of the Indian seas in 1842–3, on a botanical mission, as agent to Messrs. Veitch, the scientific and energetic florists of Exeter; and it was during his rambles that he became acquainted with the gutta-percha tree. In proportion as the value of this substance has become known, so has a desire extended to ascertain the range of its growth in the East. It is now known that the gutta-percha tree abounds in that extreme south-eastern point of Asia, which obtains the name of the Malay Peninsula; in the neighboring island of Singapore; in the important Bornean island, which Rajah Brooke has been the means of making so familiarly known to us; and in various islands which constitute the Eastern Archipelago. There seems very little cause to apprehend any failure in quantity; for even if the present supply from the neighborhood of Singapore should be exhausted, the capabilities of more distant islands are quite beyond present calculation.