70 INSECT-WIIITE-WAX OF CHINA. 



1863. COMMERCE. Dr. Macgowan estimates the annual produce of 

 Chinese wax as not far short of 400,000 pounds, valued at up- 

 wards of 100,000 Spanish dollars. At Ningpo he says the wax 

 costs from 22 to 35 cents (Is. to Is. 6d.) per pound. 1 



The only considerable importations of Chinese wax into 

 England that I am aware of, were in the years 1846 and 1847, 

 when nearly three tons were imported into London. Some of 

 this wax sold in April, 1847, fetched Is. 3d. per pound, a price 

 too low, I believe, to be remunerative, and no further import- 

 ation that I know of has since taken place. 



The insect-wax occurs in commerce in circular cakes of 

 various dimensions : some of those imported into London had a 

 diameter of about 13 inches, a thickness of about 31 inches, and 

 were perforated near the centre with a hole jths of an inch 

 across. The broken surface generally exhibits the wax as a 

 beautifully sparkling, highly crystalline substance somewhat 

 resembling spermaceti but much harder; some cakes are in- 

 ternally much less crystalline and sparkling than others. The 

 wax is colourless and inodorous or nearly so, tasteless, brittle 

 and readily pulverizable at the temperature of 60 Fahr. 



USES. In China, candles are made of the insect-wax per se, 

 but more commonly of a mixture of it with some softer fatty 

 substance. To give to these softer candles a hard coating and 

 to prevent their guttering, they are dipped into melted insect- 

 wax often coloured red with alkanet root, sometimes green 

 with verdigris. 



Mr. Lockhart tells me that the edges of books and the edges 

 of the soles of shoes are rubbed with the wax in order to give 

 them a bright face ; and that it is also rubbed on the brush with 

 which red earthenware is polished. 2 



1 Journal of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India, vol. 

 vii., part i. p. 164. 



1 1 will here acknowledge the kindness with which my friend Mr. Lock- 

 hart has ably assisted my investigation respecting the substance under notice. 

 My thanks are also due to Mr. G. F. Wilson, of Vauxhall, for some valuable 

 information about its commercial history ; to Mr. Hugh Barclay, of Regent 

 Street, for aiding my inquiries aud for a fine specimen of the wax ; and to 

 Sir W. J. Hooker and Mr. Kippist for their assistance in endeavouring to 

 identify Mr. Fortune's wax tree. 



