SECT. XIV. WAX. 431 



4thly, From the Croton sebiferum, a tree that 

 grows in China and America, a waxy substance is 

 extracted, of the consistency of tallow. It adheres 

 to the surface of the fruit, and is detached from it 

 by means of boiling the fruit in water. Its odour, 

 which is rather agreeable, had induced some of the 

 people employed in the laboratory of Fourcroy to 

 try it as a seasoning to Spinage. But its effects 

 were found to be violently purgative. The Chinese 

 manufacture it into candles. 



5thly, The Wax of Myrtle is obtained from the 

 Myrica cerifera, a plant which grows abundantly in 

 Louisiana and other parts of North America. The 

 plant produces a berry about the size of a Pepper- 

 corn. The berries are gathered and thrown into a 

 kettle that is nearly filled with water. The kettle is 

 then made to boil, and the wax which is melted out 

 swims on the surface. It is of a pale green colour. 

 Its specific gravity 1-O15O. It melts at the tem- 

 perature of 109, and when strongly heated burns 

 with a white flame, producing smoke and emitting 

 an agreeable odour. 



Wax is also extracted from a variety of other 

 vegetables, and has been detected by Proust in the 

 green fecula of many plants, as in that of the Cab- 

 bage. He considers it as a constituent part of the 

 pollen of all flowers, and thinks that the bees col- 

 lect it along with the gluten of the pollen, which, 

 according to him, serves them for food. 



Certainly it is one of the most abundant of vege- 



