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XLI. Memoir OJi the Wax-Tree of Lourfiana and Pennjjl- 

 vanja. By Charles Louis Cadet, of the College of 

 Pharmacy *. 



jfjL Number of plants, fuch as the Croton febiferum, the 

 Tomex fehifera of Loureiro, the poplar, the alder, the pine, 

 and feme labiati, give by deco6lion a concrete inflammable 

 matter, fimilar, in a greater or lefs degree, to tallow or wax ; 

 that is to fay, a fixed oil fataraled with oxygen. The light 

 down, called the bloom of fruits, and \\ hich gives a fil- 

 very appearance to the furface of plums and r-'her Uone fruits, 

 is wax, as has been proved by M. Pr^ u. But the tree 

 ■which furnifties this matter in the greateil abimdance, and 

 which in many refpefts deferves the attention of agricuU 

 turilb, ghemifts, phyficians, and conmiercial men, is the 

 Myrica cerfera, or wax-tree. 



We read in the Hiftory of the Academy of Sciences f(ir 

 the years 1722 and 1725, that M. Alexandre, a furgeon and 

 correfpondent of M. Mairan, obferved in Louifiana, a tree 

 of the fize of the cherry-tree, having the appearance of the 

 myrtle and nearly the fame odour, and bearing a feed of 

 the fize of coriander Thefe feeds, of an afli-giay colour, 

 contain a fmali ollsous ftone, pretty round, covered with 

 ihining wax, which is obtained by boiling the feeds in water. 

 This wax is drier and more friable than ours. The inhabi^r 

 tants of the country make tapers of it. M. Alexandre adds ; 

 *' This feed has comrnonly a beautiful lake colour, and on 

 being brnii'ed with the fingers they acquire the fame tint ; 

 but this takes place onlv at a certain fealon." 



The liquor in which the feeds have been boiled, and from 

 which the wax has been taken, when evajiorated to the con- 

 fiftence of an extraft, was found bv M. Alexandre to be an 

 effeftual remedy for checking the moft obRinate dyfenteries. 



The advantageous properties exhibited by this tree could 

 not but induce fcientific men to make refearches for the pur- 

 pofe of afcertaining the varieties of this vegetable production, 

 and what care was required in its culture, It was long con- 

 iidered as a mere objecl of curiofity. 



Linnaeus, ir his Vegetable Svllem, fpe;iks onlv of the 

 wax-tree of Virginia [Myrica cerifera), with leaves lanceo- 

 latcd as if indented, ftcm arborefcent. 



Having requefltd C. Ventenat to inform me how many 

 fpecies there are of it, he replied that Ayton has dillinguiflied 

 two, viz. 



* From the Annales dc Cbimie, No. iji, 



ift, Myrica 



