292 
Indian Forest Records. 
[VoL. 1. 
tlie sun’s rays in all directions like the thin film of unnielted tallow 
or like organised fluids such as blood and milk.” The lilm between 
the plates, on the edges of which a portion oi the varnish was 
squeezed, was then let stand exposed to the action of the aix for two 
days, after which jjeriod it was observed that the jjortion between 
the plate glasses on which the air had had no action was of the same 
structure as before, while the outlying portion which had been in 
contact with the air, having lost its organised structure through the 
action of the air, had become “ perfectly homogeneous and showed 
the sun of a beautiful red colour.” 
EXPERIMENTAL. 
Mic roscopica I Examination . 
A careful microscopical examination of the ‘‘ immense con- 
geries ” of small particles, which Sir U. Brewster found the 
Burmese Varnish to consist of, reveals two distinct kinds of these 
particles, — some very numerous small globules, dark brown in 
colour, and some light coloiired large globules which are scattered, 
more sparsely thau the former {vide Plates). On treating the var- 
nish with alcohol the former densely scattered kind of globules dis- 
appear {vide Plate 8). 
It will thus be observed that the Burmese Varnish exhibits under 
the microscope exactly the same structure as the Japanese lacquer 
(see ab( ve, p. 288). 
Chemical Examination. 
When the resiilue after separating the part soluble in alcohol is 
boiled with water, it is found that the large light coloured globules 
which are insohible in alcohol are dissolved, thus showing that the 
varnish under investigation is of a gaimmy resinous character like 
the IJrushi of Japan. The method of separating these and other 
constituents of the Burmese Varnish which I followed was a slight 
modification of the method adopted by Ishimatsu and, following 
him, by H. Toshida {loc. cit.) in analysing the Japanese article. A 
quantity of the varnish freed from bark pieces was treated with hot 
alcohol to separate the resinous constituent, and the extract dried 
at lfl5°0. In this way a brownish paste-like extract (A) was ob- 
tained. The residue was then shaken with dry ether, the ethereal 
extract distilled, dried and again treated wtih warm alcohol, which 
