WAX. 221 



I 



which see " Architecture" and "Propolis,") and 

 is partly the effect of age. 



Independently of its colour, the goodness of 

 wax may also be estimated by the passing of the 

 thumb nail forcibly over its surface : if good, the 

 nail will pass with a kind of jerk ; but if no ob- 

 struction be felt, the wax may be looked upon as 

 adulterated with suet, or some similar substance. 

 The average quantity yielded by a common hive, 

 is about half a pound of wax to fifteen pounds of 

 honey ; the quantity of both may be considerably 

 increased by storifying. 



WHITE WAX is nothing more than the yellow 

 wax that has been exposed in thin flakes or 

 shreds to the action of the sun and air. There 

 is an apparatus for melting and reducing the wax 

 into shreds or ribbands, but the process of con- 

 version, under any circumstances, is tedious and 

 dependent on the weather. " The following," 

 says Mr. Parkes in his Chemical Essays, " is the 

 usual process, as it is conducted in England. 

 Common bees- wax is melted upon hot water ; and 

 when in a fluid state, it is laded out of the copper, 

 together with a part of the water, into a wooden 

 vessel ; and in this it is allowed to remain a few 

 hours, for the impurities to subside from it. The 

 purified wax is then put, while still hot, into a 

 cullender full of holes, through which it runs, and 

 falls upon a revolving metallic roller, which dips 



