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.

Gutta percha was first introduced to the west by William Mongomerie in 1843. He demonstrated to the Royal Society of Arts in London, the materials’ ability to be heated and moulded. Properties of ...

Gutta-percha is a symbol of an age experiencing rapid acceleration. The 1850s saw a boom in which world trade expanded five-fold and millions of migrants ventured forth to settle what they called ...

The blocks were not strictly rubber - they are most likely gutta-percha, the gum of a tree found in the Malay Peninsula and Malaysia. It was used in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries ...

This new wonder material was called Gutta Percha, after the tree that it came from, and it would blow Victorian minds. Video by Archie Crofton. Narration by Emily West.

Mr Cragg said: "It looks like there was a shipwreck 80 miles (130km) or so off the coast of Brittany in the Western Approaches." He added that the gutta percha, which would have been stored as ...