Plastic Before Plastic: How gutta-percha shaped the 19th century
10 days ago
- #Environmental Impact
- #American History
- #Gutta-Percha
- The 1856 caning of Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks highlights the violent political tensions over slavery in the U.S.
- Sumner's abolitionist speech attacking Senator Andrew Butler provoked Brooks, who saw it as an affront to his family's honor.
- Brooks brutally beat Sumner with a cane in the Senate chamber, leaving him unable to return for three years.
- The incident exemplifies the breakdown of political decorum and the South's obsession with honor.
- Brooks' cane was made of gutta-percha, an early plastic-like material derived from Southeast Asian trees.
- Gutta-percha was revolutionary for its versatility, used in telegraph cables, household items, and medical devices.
- The demand for gutta-percha led to massive deforestation in Southeast Asia, nearly driving the trees to extinction.
- Dutch manufacturers later developed sustainable harvesting methods, but gutta-percha was eventually replaced by modern plastics.
- The story of gutta-percha reflects both technological progress and environmental destruction.