This process made the rubber less plastic and increased its strength and durability.
He treated crude rubber with sulphur and subjected it to heat. The first rubber processing procedure, vulcanisation, was developed by Charles Goodyear in 1839. The Frenchman Charles Marie de La Condamine is credited with the introduction of rubber samples to Europe in 1736, and in 1770 the Englishman Joseph Priestly observed that it was particularly good at rubbing off pencil marks from paper, hence the name “rubber.” At this time it was apparently used for making balls for a game that is not entirely dissimilar to racquetball. The earliest evidence of the use of natural latex comes from the ancient Mesoamerican Olmec culture, the oldest known major civilisation in the Mexico region. Before we move on to the romantic aspect of this article, let’s go back in time to 1500 BCE. It is important to state that without the discovery of rubber, we would also not have surgical gloves today. Few people realise that the reason they were introduced has its roots in a love story. The introduction of the surgical glove in 1889 had a massive impact on the safety of surgery and would save countless lives.
This was, however, not always the case, and before the late 1800s, no surgeon wore gloves. It is common knowledge that their use helps to prevent the transmission of infection in operating theatres, as well as protecting the surgeon and other staff. In modern medicine, the thought of performing surgery without wearing gloves is utterly unthinkable.