Gutta-percha, a natural plastic extracted from trees in Southeast Asia, sparked a craze in Victorian England, leading to its use in everything from golf balls to ear trumpets.

Even so, gutta-percha belongs in the category of genuinely world changing materials. The sap of a fruit tree found in the Malayan archipelago, gutta-percha solidifies on contact with the air.

Along with these blocks, bales and rolls of rubber are also being washed up. There has been speculation that the gutta-percha could be coming from the wreck of the Titanic.

This new wonder material was called Gutta Percha, after the tree that it came from, and it would blow Victorian minds.

Gutta percha is a form of natural rubber introduced to the west in 1843. It was used for wire insulation for submarine telephone cales, golf balls and jewellery making. It has few uses today except in ...

The pieces of gutta percha have been found on beaches in Cornwall, Devon, northern France and the Netherlands in the last year. The Porthcurno Telegraph Museum in Cornwall said the blocks bore the ...