236 JAPAN VARNISH. 



time exposed to the air. Some foreigners are very susceptible to the 

 action of the varnish poison. A visit to the lacquer-shop, or the varnish- 

 ing of some article of furniture in the house, has been followed by an attack 

 of severe nettle-rash, or even of erysipelas of the face. A patient suffering 

 an attack of this kind once sent for me. He had frequently experienced 

 the effect of the varnish before, but I could not account for the present 

 attack. He said he had not bought or used any lacquer-ware ; no new 

 furniture had been brought in ; but at last it was remembered that a car- 

 penter had been repairing a door which had slightly warped, and it was 

 found that on finishing his work he had rubbed a little varnish over the 

 new surface caused by his plane. This was quite sufficient to affect the 

 susceptible patient. Several of these varnish trees grow in the gardens of 

 the London Mission at Shanghai, and it was found that the varnish flowed 

 readily from slight wounds in the bark, and dried in black stains on the 

 stem. The chief districts where the article is produced are ha the province 

 of Nganhwui, which are also the green tea districts. Hence it is generally 

 found in the warehouses of the native wholesale tea-brokers. The varnish 

 is gathered in the heat of summer ; it is scraped from the trees and carried 

 home in bamboo cups, and emptied from them into wooden tubs lined with 

 a stiff paper, and is then sent to market. All the articles used in the stor- 

 ing of the varnish acquire a beautifully hard, black, and polished surface, 

 which even resists the action of boiling water. The articles to be lacquered 

 are of wood or pasteboard. When a large surface has to be covered, it is 

 daubed with a combination of the pig's blood and lime, with some tow and 

 hemp ; at other times the surface is covered with moist clay, which is 

 rubbed into the grain of the wood and then scraped off, the wood being 

 allowed to dry. After this a mixture is laid on of Tung-yew, or wood -oil 

 (the oil of the Tung tree, a species of Dryandria), and lamp-black for 

 coarser articles ; but for those which are more delicate, a mixture of lamp 

 black and varnish. The surface is again allowed to dry ; the varnish is 

 applied with a hard brush in a thin layer, which, after drying, is rubbed 

 smooth with Dutch rush and tutty powder. Another thin layer of varnish 

 follows, care being taken that each layer successively is rubbed properly 

 smooth. For the finer tables and cabinets, this process of rubbing down 

 and laying on the varnish is repeated ten or a dozen times, as the object is 

 to produce a surface very hard and clear, which retains its polish for a long 

 time. Various colours are added to the varnish, according to the use made 

 of the article. Cups formed of very thin wooden strips are carefully 

 lacquered, and serve for tea-cups or rice-bowls without shrinking from boil- 

 ing water, or being liable to fracture like porcelain. These are often of 

 beautiful pattern, and finished with much artistic skill. One kind of 

 lacquered ware, of the reign of Keen-hung, who gave the fashion for it, in 

 boxes, vases, cabinets, pictures, &c, is made by covering wood or card- 

 board with coatings of red lacquer to the thickness of a third or half of an 

 inch. Upon this various figures, or fruits, or landscapes are beautifully 

 carved in high relief, when the whole is finished by the application of a 



