约翰·帕金
John Parkin
人物简介
最早系统检验杜仲胶性能的英国人，并在英格兰试建杜仲人工林。
事迹
20世纪初橡胶价格暴涨，温带国家渴望本土胶源。帕金是其中最认真的探索者：他购入杜仲树皮、组织提取试验，发现杜仲胶'坚韧而近乎角质'、缺乏生胶弹性，机械提取率仅约2%，且随时间变脆，据此判断在英国种植杜仲取胶不具经济可行性。
他的造林试验同样翔实：1911年购入的24株苗到1917年死亡十株，余者长势不佳，遂得出在英格兰西北部营建杜仲林需选避风熟地的结论。这些记录载于国际树木学会年鉴，邱园经济植物学收藏至今保存其采集的杜仲样本。
重要活动 / 事件
- 1910年（橡胶热潮之年）购入杜仲皮并开始性质检验
- 1911年 工程公司尝试分离杜仲胶未果，后由希德罗维茨完成分离
- 1911年秋 购入24株杜仲苗冷室越冬，次年春定植试验林
- 1941年 将杜仲树干样本赠邱园木材博物馆（经济植物学收藏16472号）
代表贡献
- 1910年前后自中国购入两包杜仲皮，组织化学分析，判定其含类似古塔波胶的物质
- 委托化学家希德罗维茨（Philip Schidrowitz）成功分离杜仲胶，测得机械提取率约2%
- 1911年购入24株四年生杜仲实生苗，在英格兰西北部进行造林试验
- 1921年在邱园《Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information》发表杜仲研究专论，得出商业化采胶不可行的结论
Profile
The first Englishman to systematically test the properties of Eucommia rubber, and a pioneer of trial Eucommia plantations in England.
Story
In the early 20th century, soaring rubber prices made temperate nations eager for home-grown sources of rubber. Parkin was among the most earnest explorers: he purchased Eucommia bark and organized extraction trials, finding the rubber 'tough and almost horny', lacking the elasticity of crude rubber, with a mechanical extraction yield of only about 2%, and turning brittle with time. He accordingly judged Eucommia rubber production in England economically unviable.
His plantation trial was equally well documented: of the 24 seedlings purchased in 1911, ten had died by 1917 and the remainder grew poorly, leading him to conclude that Eucommia stands in northwest England require sheltered, well-prepared sites. These records appear in the International Dendrology Society's yearbook, and Kew's Economic Botany Collection still preserves the Eucommia samples he gathered.
Milestones
- 1910 (the year of the rubber boom) Purchased Eucommia bark and began testing its properties
- 1911 An engineering firm's attempt to isolate Eucommia rubber failed; the separation was later accomplished by Schidrowitz
- Autumn 1911 Purchased 24 Eucommia seedlings, overwintered them in a cold house, and planted the trial plot the following spring
- 1941 Donated a Eucommia trunk sample to the Kew wood museum (Economic Botany Collection No. 16472)
Key Contributions
- Around 1910 purchased two bales of Eucommia bark from China and organized chemical analysis, determining that it contained a gutta-percha-like substance
- Commissioned the chemist Philip Schidrowitz, who successfully isolated Eucommia rubber, with a measured mechanical extraction yield of about 2%
- In 1911 purchased 24 four-year-old Eucommia seedlings for a plantation trial in northwest England
- In 1921 published a monographic study of Eucommia in Kew's Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, concluding that commercial rubber extraction was not viable
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