Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/763

 WAX

The probability of fuccefs in an attempt of this kind, has en- gaged the French naturalifts in the following trials. Mr. Geoffroy, in his account of the farina of plants, ob- serves, that they preferve their figure a long time when im- fnerfed in fcveral liquors, but that they impart a tincture to thofe liquors. This induced Mr. Reaumur, to try the expe- riment of what different fluids were able to cxtrafl from them. For this purpofe he colled a conlidcrable quantity of the rough matter from the legs of the bees of one of his hives, and dividing it into three parts, he poured upon one fome common water, upon the other fpirit of wine, and upon the third oil of turpentine.

When thefe had all ftood three months, eften renewing the liquors, he evaporated the water, which was coloured of a deep and dufky brown, to a perfect drynefs. When this was done, there remained at the bottom of the fpoon in which the evaporation was made, a fmall quantity of a perfect gum, •which had all the properties of the common vegetable gums, and was as eafily foluble in water as any other of them. The impregnated fpirit of turpentine was next evaporated ; out the refiduum was not great in quantity, and was in fo much owing to the liquor itfelf, that little could be judged from it. In trials made after this, by boiling thexough Wax in frefh oil of turpentine, this appeared to be but a very poor menftruum for it, the Wax rather hardening than, foftening in it.

The fpirit of wine impregnated with the tincture of the farina was next evaporated ; as the liquor grew thick toward the end of the evaporation, it fent out a ftrong I'mell of Wax, and, when wholly evaporated, it left on the fpoon a cake of yelluw- ilh matter, having perfectly the fmell and external appear- ance of Wax. ^ We may learn from this, that the fub- ftance of Wax is in the farina of flowers, and that this men- ftruum is capable of extracting its finer parts. The quan- tity of extract remaining from this operation was a fcruple. This carried all the external appearances of Wax, and fome of its properties. It was of the fame colour and confidence with the common yellow Wax ; its fmell was wholly the fame, and it would fufe or run into a liquid matter at the fire, and might be moulded between the fingers, being as dudilc as common Wax.

With all thefe properties there was great reafon to fup- pofe it to be perfect Wax ; but this appeared not to be the cafe when it was held a little time in the mouth, for it there broke to pieces, and diffolved in the manner of the com- mon lozenges, which have fugar for their bans. The evi- dent refult of this experiment was, that the matter of Wax was contained in this fubftance, collected on the legs of the bees, and owing its origin to the farina of flowers ; but that it ■was as yet mixed with fome other fubftance, and the fpirit of wine had extracted them both together.

The moft likely extraneous matter to be mixed with the iOaxey fubftance, was fome fait ; this was eafily proved to be the cafe by another operation ; for if this refiduum was dried to a perfect hardnefs over the fire, it would become fo moift again, on being expofed to the air, that in an hour's time the fingers would flick to it ; this imbibing humidity from the air is fo known a property of falts, and fo uncommon in other things, that there is little room to doubt but that this was the cafe in this refiduum.

It is evident, however, from this experiment, that a part, at leaft, of the matter of which Wax is made, is contained in the ftamineous powder, or farina of plants, and that the fpirit of wine extracts this, and with it fome portion of heterogene matters. It is probable, that if we knew the proper diffolvent o(Wax in its perfect ftate, which is a thing not yet known, we fhould be able, by means of that, Is extract thaWaxfure and alone, either from the ftamina of flowers, or from the matter lodged on the legs of the bees ; but that till we are acquainted with fuch a did'ulvent, we are not to wonder that we cannot extract pure and perfect Wax, either from the fa- rina in its natural ftate on the plant, or when lodged on tin legs of the bee.

Laftly, fpirit of wine digeftcd upon real Wax, and the tincture evaporated, docs not diffolve the whole fubftance of the Wax but the refiduum of the evaporation is the fame with that from' the farina itfelf ; a fubftance of the confidence of butter, of a yellow colour, having the fmell of Wax, and fome of its pro- perties, but being foluble in water. Reaumur, Hid. Inf. vol. 10. p. 48.

The fait which is extracted from perfect Wax, as well as from the farina of plants, by digeftion in fpirits of wine, is of the nature of fugar or honey, being the cflential fait of fome .peculiar juices of the plant. This is contained in much laiger quantity in the virgin Wax, of which the firft combs of bees are made, than in fuch common Wax as has been melted and run into cakes ; this is proved by extracting a tinflure from fuch virgin Wax, which always has a plainly facchaiine or honey-like tafte.

The difficulty in the way of the making Wax from the fub- ftance from which the bees make it, is the poflibility of its being converted into Wax within the body of the ani- mal: If this is the cafe, notwithirandmg that we perfectly know the matter of which Wax is made, wc are not to won-

Wax

der that we are not able to make it, any more than that we are not able to make chyle or blood out of the feveral fub- ftances ufed by us as food, and out of which we well know tnat itts made within our bodies. Crude or rough Wax, called by the French cm Irate, in na- tural hiflory, a name given to a fubftance called by the an- tients enthace, fandarac, and amhnfia. We feem to have no name for it in Englifh, but may call it a>ter the name ot the French, rough-Wax The Dutch call it the food of the bees, and that perhaps very properly, there appearing many reafons to think that the bees eat it.

It is the yellow fubftance found on the hinder Ie<*s of bees in fmall lumps, and is the fubftance of which Wax is made by this infeft. See the article Wax, fupra. Manner ^ of colleP.ing the crude Wax. If we examine a bee juft entering a flower, which is well opened, and in its perfect ftate, we (hall ufually fee her body very clean and neat ; but it we examine her when file comes out, fhe is ufually found covered oyer with a fine duft : It is very eafy to determine that the : creature has got this duft from fome part of the flower s and observations equally eafy will alfo prove, that this powder IS the matter of which the bee makes its Wax. People who have not examined flowers as botanifts have yet often obforve, that in a tulip or a lilly there are certain' fila- ments wh-ch duft over the fingers in touching them. Thefe Marnents are by authors called the framina or threads of flowers, and they always contain a large quantity of this duft. Tour- nefort, and many other great writers, have fuppofed tiiis duft to be only a fort of excrement fecreted from the abundant juices of the plant by thefe filaments, which they have fup- poled to be oigans deftined only for that purpofe ; but later obfervers have allotted a more noble ufe to this duft ; they have called it the farina fauyadam, and have proved that all trie faecundlty of plants is owing to it, the feeds never growing if they arc not properly impregnated with the particles of this duft, any more than the eggs of animals will be hatched into young ones, if not impregnated by the male femeii. ' This farina is not to be fuppafed an irregular duft, in the manner of our common powders ; but the farina of the fame plant is al- ways compofed of particles of the fame fhape, and that dif- ferent from the fhape of the globules of the farina of other plants. Reaumur, Hift. Inf. vol. 9. p. 371. ft is of this powder or farina that the bees prepare their Wax. When one of thefe infefls goes into a flower, fhe always fhakes thefe ft.miina, and difcharges all their globules or duft upon het body, while fhe is fucking the honey with, her trunk. It is on this occafion that the hairs, with which the bee is covered, are of fervice to her. Thefe round globules would all roll off from her fraooth body and legs ; but the/ are entangled in great numbers among this foreft of branched and foliated hairs, and the creature carries them off for her fervice. Thus when the bee comes out of a flower, fhe is always feen to be dufted over with a yellow, a red, or a white powder, according to the colour of the farina of that fpecies of plant. In fome places the bees return to their hives, at certain feafons, fo covered with thefe powders, that the owners have thought they were, at certain times of the year, poffefled of yellow or white bees,

b'ome bees carry their duft thus on their body to the hive ; others rake the pains to clean themfelves firft, by brufttirig their bodies, and colkaing the whole together into a body" or fmall lump : This is done by means of the fquare brudies, which make the fourth pieces of the four hinder legs ; thefe are befet with tufts of hairs, in the manner of a common brufh ufed for cloaths, and thefe they are able to move to every part of the body. The hairy parts of the anterior pair of legs ferve to bruflt the head, and parts about it, as clean as the brufhes on the other legs do the body ; and the duft, which is to them a very precious matter, is by this means collected into two parcels or lumps, one of which they place in the triangular bafket, with which nature has fnrnifned them on the third joint of the hinder legs. See the article Bee. Reaumur, Flift. Inf. vol. 9. p. 374. This lump on each leg is formed into a fort of round figure, and they fix it down in the cavity of this triangular piece, and the ftrong and large hairs with which all the edges of this piece are furnifhed, very well keep it in till the creature gets to the hive.

1 he quantity of powder received from a fingle flower, when thus collected into two lumps, feldom forms them fo large as a fmall pin's head ; but as the creature incefiantly flies into frefh flowers, the new matter collected from each, and added to the reft, (fill incrcafes the heap, till, when the bee is ready to return to the hive, each ball often is as large as a pepper'- corn, and refembles it in fhape, only that it is fomewhat flat- ted. Many perfons have oblerved the bees thus bufying them- felves, and forming the powder with which they are covered into balls ; but the motion of their limbs, on this occafion, is fo fwift, that we can only fee the brattling, and the effect of it in the balls ; but our eye can never trace the manner of the operation. There are fome circumftances alio in which the bee may be feen to make an immediate collcaion of Wax from the flowers, to the place on the hinder legs, where it is

receiv*!