Bacterial Decomposition of the Rubber in Hevea Latex

A RECENT communication (6) has shown by several different means that rubber present in the living plant actually disappears under seasonal and other conditions in the life of the plant, and that it can, therefore, no longer be regarded as an excretory product of metabolism of no physiological value to the plant. The results recorded were obtained in a study of the rubber content of Parthenium argentatum, but they will undoubtedly be found to hold for Hevea brasiliensis when suitable methods of investigation are developed for the latter. The importance of these findings in relation to the economic development of rubber is obvious and far-reaching. They have already been applied in the cultural development and exploitation of Parthenium argentatum. On the scientific side they suggest a more intimate study of the behavior of the rubber hydrocarbon towards oxidation-reduction processes occurring within the living plant and to the effect of such agencies on the rubber itself in vitro. That rubber is readily attacked by oxidizing agents in general is now well known. But even the classical researches of Harries on the products of decomposition of the rubber hydrocarbon by means of ozone (1) have thrown little light on the ways and means by which the rubber in the plant is first produced and thereafter broken down and utilized in its cycle of yearly development. This is not surprising when we consider the reagents heretofore employed and the drastic character of the decompositions effected by them.