Of course, no matter what the substance, a substitute is always sought
for, and this has been the case with cork, but with very unfruitful
results. “A primitive material used for bottle stoppers consisted of the
roots of liquorice; the spongy substance of another tree called
‘Spondies Lutea,’ which abounds throughout the marshy regions of South
America and there called ‘Monbia,’ was also used in the same way, as
also a product called ‘Myssa,’ which contains some of the elements of
cork.[34] Another substitute is mentioned in Henley’s “Twentieth Century
Receipts” as follows: Wood pulp three parts; cornstarch pith one part;
gelatin one part; glycerine one part; water four parts; 20 per cent
solution formic aldehyde; and still another in the “Handyman’s ‘Inquire
Within,’” by Haslock, called “Phellosene,” a French invention consisting
of powdered cork mixed with a solution of nitro-cellulose in acetone:
compressed and dried. The wood of Anona palustris growing in the West
Indies, and called the alligator’s apple, is used by the negroes to stop
their jugs and calabashes also, and a Mr. Brockedon invented a
substitute as noted in “Knight’s Cyclopedia,” the core of which was
cotton twisted into strands, wound with flax and the whole covered with
India rubber. Cork’s competitor in buoyancy, “balsa wood,” is in no wise
constituted to take its place, although 20 per cent lighter; as it is a
fibrous growth and hygroscopic, requiring a coat of water-proofing
solution before it can be used even for life-preservers; rubber, its
close second, in the manufacture of stoppers is not to be compared with
it, and although there have been many patent devices for sealing
bottles, such as the porcelain stopper, crimped metal stoppers, etc.,
the cork stopper still reigns as the best of them all.
[34] _Chambers Journal._