Mailbag.(The following is an excerpt ex·cerpt n. A passage or segment taken from a longer work, such as a literary or musical composition, a document, or a film. tr.v. ex·cerpt·ed, ex·cerpt·ing, ex·cerpts 1. from a letter from the recently retired Secretary-General of the International Rubber Study Group.) Dear editor: I have just read the editorial in your December issue, and would offer the following comments. First, there could be two reasons why Henry Pierson did not mention the end of the 19th century in his December editorial. Perhaps he preferred to report on events that had happened and made his comments in the January edition. However, it is more likely that, not having the advertising industry hype that we are subjected to, he correctly realized that the 19th century ended on 31 December 1900 and the 20th century began on January 1, 1901. It might be worth checking. The reason is that there was no year 1 AD being preceded by 1 BC, hence centuries run from 1-100 not 0-99. Second, I was interested to learn that Pierson was commenting adversely on the rubber slaves in the Belgian Congo Belgian Congo: see Congo, Democratic Republic of the. . The conditions under which rubber was gathered in the Amazon were scarcely better. Finally, two corrections. Wickham transported rubber seeds from Brazil to England in 1876 well before the mm of the century. The rubber industry in Malaysia did not, however, take off until coffee, the main plantation crop there at the time, failed in 1894-96. And, of course, despite Hollywood's trumpeting of the romantic but inaccurate reminiscences of a nonagenarian non·a·ge·nar·i·an n. A person 90 years old or between 90 and 100 years old. [From Latin n  n London club An informal group of private creditors on the international stage. Similar to the Paris Club of public lenders. London Club is not the only informal group of private creditors. Its first meeting took place in 1976 in response to Zaire's payment problems. bore, the seeds were not
smuggled smug·gle v. smug·gled, smug·gling, smug·gles v.tr. 1. To import or export without paying lawful customs charges or duties. 2. To bring in or take out illicitly or by stealth. out. The export and import of botanic materials was at that time perfectly proper - how do you think Brazil got its best strains of coffee? Restrictions on the export of rubber seeds were imposed, but not until around 1910, by which time plantation rubber was inevitably going to replace collection from wild trees. M.E. Cain Dear editor: What are the best accelerator/curing agents for latex latex, emulsion of a polymer (e.g., rubber) in water (see colloid). Natural latexes are produced by a number of plants, are usually white in color, and often contain, in addition to rubber, various gums, oils, and waxes. when pouring into molds? What are the best organic and fluorescent pigments that will stay suspended in liquid latex without settling? Is there a manufacturer of colored latex sheeting .02"-.05" thickness? Is there a producer or method available for creating perforated per·fo·ra·ted adj. Pierced with one or more holes. latex sheeting or latex mesh? Jerry Pena Envision Design P.O. Box 720967 San Jose, CA 95172 |
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