502 BEESWAX AND ITS USES. 



Several nations of old, having noticed that beeswax does 

 not rot, used it to embalm 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 ivax 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. 



870. The casting of bronze statues and works of art, a 

 cire perdue, has been largely practiced in France since the 

 Renaissance. This process is mentioned in Harpers' Monthly 

 for September, 1886. 



871. 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. 



Beeswax 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 seed, or lin- 

 seed oil, or even by fresh unsalted butter. 



This cerate, may be used as a 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- 

 phor, henbane, opium, as sedatives ; iodine, as depurative ; 

 and so on, the only care being to have the drugs carefully 

 mixed. 



