502 BEESWAX AND ITS USES. 
Several nations of old, having noticed that beeswax does 
not rot, used it to emhalm their dead. Alexander the Great 
was embalmed with wax and honey. 
868. Beeswax is largely used by the Catholic churches, 
for lights, during the ceremonies, for it is prescribed to 
priests to use exclusively wax produced by bees. 
869. In several countries of Europe the floors and stairs, 
instead of being covered with carpets, are rubbed with wax 
and carefully scrubbed with a dry brush every day till they 
shine. In Paris, floor scrubbing is a business which sup- 
ports many working families. 
Beeswax is used also by the sculptors and painters to 
varnish their work, to model wax figures; by dentists to 
take imprints of jaw-bones. It is retailed in small lumps and 
used to give smoothness and stiffness to thread for sewing. 
The casting of bronze statues and works of art @ cire 
perdue, has been largely practiced in France since the 
Renaissance. This process is mentioned in Harpers’ Monthly 
for September, 1886. 
870. Beeswax forms part of a great many medicines, and 
pomades for the toilet. Here are a few recipes selected 
among hundreds of others: 
1. Salve or Cerate for Inflamed Wounds. 
Dees waxeewdse sce wa ee ees See eee 1 part, 
Sweet almond oil.............. 4 parts. 
Dissolve the wax in the oil and stir well till cold. Sweet 
aimond oil can be replaced by olive, or cotton sved, or lin- 
seed oil, or even by fresh unsalted butter. 
This cerate, may be used asa vehicle by the endermic 
method —we mean by frictions on the thin parts of the 
skin — to introduce into the blood several substances, 
such as quinine, against fever; sulphur, for itches; cam- 
plor, henbane, opium, as sedatives; iodine, as depurative; 
and so on, the only care being to have the drugs carefully 
inixed. 
