The change produced in the native gum has been aptly compared to the change which is wrought in the perishable hide by the process of tanning. We can hardly estimate the uses to which this “vulcanite” may be applied, or rather we may say we shall find it quite as difficult to say what uses it _cannot_ be made to subserve. It can hardly be denominated an improvement, but a creation. Daniel Webster in his great plea, Goodyear _vs._ Day, eloquently remarks that, “it introduces quite a new material into the manufacture of the arts, that material being nothing less than _elastic metal_. It is hard like a metal, and as elastic as pure original gum elastic. It is as great and momentous a phenomenon occurring to men in the progress of their knowledge, as it would be for a man to show that iron and gold could remain iron and gold, and yet become elastic as India-rubber.” Mr. Goodyear denominates this improvement “metallic gum elastic.” This article is extensively used, and may be wrought into thousand shapes, from massive blocks to the thinnest sheets. It is susceptible of a beautiful polish, and possesses great firmness and durability. It already constitutes an important staple of commerce. Millions of dollars are invested in its manufacture, both in Europe and America. It is largely wrought into imitations of marble, wood, leather, whalebone, shell, horn, &c. The imitation is so perfect as to deceive even a practised eye, and while it so closely resembles the various articles alluded to, it is more durable and permanent than many of them, inasmuch as it remains unaffected by heats or colds, dampness or extreme dryness; no corrosion, oxidation, nor decay. It excels in beauty, nicety of finish, and in durability, those trinkets of glass and jet, which, in the common form, are so liable to instant destruction by children. Few persons have any adequate conception of the wonderful transformations to which vulcanite may be changed, or its important position in the industrial arts.