CANDLE-BERRY MYRTLE. 



CANKER. 



.ers ; and when allowed to cool, the acids will j kind of soil from the borders of swamps to the 



tops of barren hills, and is very much influ- 

 enced in its size and appearance, by the place 

 in which it happens to grow. 



The wax myrtle is found bearing fruit at 

 every size, from the height of one foot, to six 

 or eight. In Louisiana, it is said, to grow to 

 twelve feet. The top is much branched, and 

 covered with a grayish bark. Every young 

 part of the wax myrtle has a fragrant, balsamic 

 smell, which it communicates to the fingers 

 When rubbed by them. 



Dr. J. F. Dana has published, in Silliman's 

 Journal, an account of some experiments made 

 to ascertain the proportion of wax, and of the 

 other parts which compose the entire berry. 

 He found the wax to constitute nearly a third 

 of the whole, or thirty-two per cent ; the kernels 

 47-00, the black powder 15-00, with about 5-00 

 of a resino-extractive matter. 



The myrtle wax is useful for many of the 

 purposes for which bees wax and tallow are 

 employed, particularly for candles. It burns 

 with a clear flame, though less vivid than that 

 of common oil, and emits a considerable fra- 

 grance. It was formerly much in demand as 

 an ingredient in a species of blacking ball, to 

 which it communicated a temporary lustre and 

 power of repelling water. It has occasionally 

 been used in pharmacy in various composi- 

 tions intended for external use, and is mild or 

 stimulating according as it is more or less 

 pure and freed from the colouring matter. 



In some parts of Europe plantations of this 

 shrub have been raised with a view to the profit 

 to be derived from the wax. In this country, 

 where the shrub abounds, the berries are often 

 neglected, their collection and the separation 

 of the wax being deemed too laborious to 

 compensate the trouble. The bark of the wax 

 myrtle considered medicinally is an acrid 

 stimulant and astringent. (Dr. Bigelow's Jim. 

 Med. Botany.} 



CANE. A provincial term used to signify 

 a hollow place, where water stands. It also 

 implies a wood of alder, or other aquatic trees, 

 in a moist boggy situation. 



In the South-western States of America there 

 are extensive and almost impenetrable cane- 

 brakes, consisting of a rank growth of a sub- 

 aquatic species of cane or reed (ArunJo prag- 

 mites?). These cane-brakes resemble in many 

 respects the jungles of the East Indies. 



CANINE MADNESS. See HYDHOPHOBIA. 

 CANKER, OR ULCER (Lat. canker; Sax. 

 cancejie, or cancpe). In the vegetable creation, 

 a disease to which our apple, pear, elm, and 

 other trees are subject. 



"This disease," says Mr. G. W. Johnson, "is 

 accompanied by different symptoms, accord 

 ing to the species of the tree which it infects 

 In some of those whose true sap contains 

 a considerable quantity of free acid, as in 

 the genus Pyrus, it is rarely accompanied by 

 any discharge. To this dry form of the dis- 



wax, and which he names cerifera after Lin- 1 ease, it would be well to confine the term 

 nsus, Caroh>nc,t*is irom "Willdenow, and Pe nn- j canker, and to give it the scientific name of 

 lyfoomea from Lamarck. The wax myrtle or | Gangrana sicca, or dry gangrene. In other 

 bayberry^as it is often called, which is com- j trees, whose sap is characterized by abounding 

 mon in New England, varies in height from \ in astringent or mucilaginous constituents, it 

 one to seven or eight feet. It is found in every j is usually ait<rnd"d by a sanious discharge. In. 



De formed into a solid mass. This mass is 

 now io be submitted to considerable piv>su if 

 in such an apparatus as is employed in ex- 

 ig oil iVoiu sfoU ; \\hen the liquid acid 

 will run oil" in the form of a substance resem- 

 bling oil, leaving a solid matter, similar, in 

 -permaceti, which is fit for 

 making candles. 



The wick to be used in the manufacture o r 

 these improved candles, and which forms one 

 of the features of this invention, is to be made 

 of cotton yarn, t\vi>tcd rather hard, and laid in 

 the same manner as wire is sometimes coiled 

 roiui.l the l>u>s strings of musical instruments. 

 For this purpose, straight rods or wires are to 

 be procurrd. of suitable lengths and diameters, 

 according to the intended size of the candles 

 about to be made; and these wires, having 

 been covered with cotton coiled round them as 

 described, are to be inserted in the candle- 

 moulds as the common wicks are ; and when 

 the candle is made, and perfectly hard, the 

 wire is to be withdrawn, leaving a hollow 

 cylindrical aperture entirely through the mid- 

 dle of the candle. See STKAUINK. 



For the process of making mould candles, 

 which is ev*n more simple than that for 

 dipping, see I're's Dictionary of Arts, $c., art. 

 C VM.I.K : where also may be found a drawing 

 and description of an ingenious machine for 

 making dipped candles, much used in Edin- 

 burgh. 



Candles ought never to be used until several 

 weeks have elapsed after they are made; other- 

 wise they are apt to gutter and run. (M'Cul- 

 loch't Com. Die. : Willich's Dom. Enryr.) 



CANDLE-BERRY MYRTLE (Myrica gale). 

 A hardy shrub, native of Britain, which grows 

 to four feet high, and bears a small red blos- 

 som in May and June. It loves heath mould, 

 and is propagated by seed, or by dividing the 

 roots. 



The species called candle-berry myrtle in the 

 United States, is the tnyrica cerifera of botanists. 

 It grows on the lands bordering on the sea and 

 bays of the Atlantic States, where the wax 

 which surrounds the clusters of berries is 

 often collected by the poor either for their own 

 use in mixing with tallow to make candles, or 

 to sell. The berries when gathered are put 

 into hot water, which melts the wax by which 

 each is enveloped, and which, rising to the top, 

 is skimmed off. It is of an olive-green colour 

 and fragrant odour. As a popular remedy in 

 dysentery it has acquired considerable repu- 

 tation. 



Almost every region of the United States 

 es> varieties of the wax myrtle. Mi- 

 chaux r,. raiders them all as belonging to one 

 specie;*, a conclusion which is warranted by 

 the great number of intermediate sizes and 

 forms of leaf, which may be observed between 

 the differert extremes. * Pursh, however, has 

 chosen to distinguish three species which bear 



