Dispersoidological Investigations. XXIII. Contributions to the Dispersoidology of Rubber. Part I—The Structure of Jellies and of Other Coagula of Ammonia-Preserved Hevea Latex and Hevea Vultex

Abstract In the course of my dispersoidological investigations of natural silk, I succeeded in obtaining it in such a highly elastic state as may truly be called a rubber-like state. However, the highly elastic state of silk is not a lasting one; sometimes it persists only for several minutes, sometimes for several hours, seldom does it last for several days and rarely in the extreme for about a week. Thus the rubber-like state of silk is a temporary state; but the high elasticity of rubber itself is also not everlasting. Evidently in both these cases there exists only a great quantitative difference in the duration of the existence of the highly elastic state under consideration. The ultramicroscopic study of the structure of separate threads of silk in different stages of their swelling, i.e. , in different stages of elasticity, has led me to the conclusion that in principle it is possible to obtain in a rubber-like state such disperse systems, the component parts of which are substances quite different in their chemical composition from rubber-hydrocarbons. May the rubber-like state, under certain conditions, be a state universally possible for disperse systems composed of any substances, or not? I answer this question in the negative, because for the imparting to a system of the rubber-like state, the substances composing such a disperse system must possess special properties.