VEGETABLE WAX AND OILS. 283 



Myricacea.) The wax exudes from the berries and forms 

 a scum on the water in which they are boiled ; this is col- 

 lected and re-melted ; it has a greenish-yellow colour and 

 aromatic smell. In the United States this wax is used in 

 country places to make candles ; it rarely comes to England, 

 except in very small quantities, and chiefly as a matter of 

 curiosity. 



To the student in Economic Botany, the Oil and Wax 

 series is especially interesting, from the extreme value of 

 their organic combinations in the various arts of civilized 

 life. What would machinery be without oils ? Even if 

 the various engines of human invention could be made to 

 work without the lubricating help of vegetable or animal 

 oils, the wear from friction would be so great and rapid 

 that the use of machinery would be almost doubled in cost- 

 liness, and consequently would, in most instances, be un- 

 available. Those mentioned in this chapter are the most 

 common commercial substances of this series, but there is 

 a vast number which would be valuable if made known to 

 the commercial enterprise of our merchants. 



