Caoutchouc mineral

Latex.—This is an emulsion of xfirying composition and color found in special passages, as latex cells and laticiferous vessels of many plants. It may contain starch, sugar, proteid, oil, enzymes, tannins, alkaloids, gum, resins, caoutchouc and mineral salts. The color may be absent as in Oleander-, whitish as in Asclepias, Papaver, Hevea, and Apocynum yellowish to orange as in Celandine, or red as in Sanguinaria. 

Elaterite i- la-t3r- rit [Gr Elaterit, fr. Gk elater] (1826) n. Infusible asphaltic pyrobitumen of petroleum origin, sometime described as mineral rubber or mineral Caoutchouc. 

The objections to be raised against the first and third methods, viz, heating and smoking, and evaporation, are that many of the undesirable constituents such as dirt, bark, resin, protective colloids, etc., are left in the coagulant, caoutchouc. Some of these substances can be removed, of course, by subsequent treatment such as grinding and washing, drying in air or vacuo, but mineral matter, resins, and proteins still remain and cannot be eliminated except by expensive processes. It must be confessed, however, that Para rubber obtained by the natives of Brazil is superior to that made by the most scientific methods yet devised on plantations. It is a matter not yet decided whether the superiority of Para rubber is due to the method, or to the inherent qualities of the latex. 

---