Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/747

* LACORDAIRE. 675 LACQUER-WORK. sectes: genera des coleoptdres {10 vols.. 1854-70), which describes more than eight thousand genera. LA COSA, la ko'sa. Juan de (e.UtiO-loOO) . A tSpanish navigator and cartographer, born i)rob- ably in the Province of Biscay. He accom- panied Columbus on his first and second voy- ages, and afterwards settled at Santofia. where he became famous as a cartographer. He was the principal pilot of the expeditions sent out under Ojeda (1499) and Rodrigo Bas- tidas (1.501) to explore the coast of Venezuela. After two other successful voyages (1504-Oti and 1.507-08) he was appointed oh/uiicil mai/or of Uruba, and as such again accompanied Ojeda to South America, where the entire party, with the exception of Ojeda and one otiier, was massacred by Indians while trying to land in Cartagena Bay. In 1500 La Cosa made a large map of the world, probably the first to be |)repare<l after 1492. and the first, therefore, to include the Xew World, For this reason it is of the greatest alue to cartographers and historians, and many reproductions of the part relating to America have been made. It was accidentally discovered by llunilxildt in the library of Baron Walckenaer in Paris in 1832, and since 185(i. when it was acquired by the Spanish Government, has been in the Naval Museum in Madrid. LACOSTE, la'kost', Sir Alexandre (1842—). A Canadian jurist. He was born in Bouclierville, Quebec, was edticated at Saint Hyacinthe College and Laval University, and was admitted to the Ibar in 18(13. In 1880 he was appointed (Jueen's Counsel, and from 1882 to 1884 was a member of the Legislative Council of Quebec. He was called to the Dominion Senate in 1884, and served as Speaker in 1891. He became Chief Justice of the Province of Quebec in 1891, and Privy Councilor of Canada in 1892. For several years he was professor of civil law in Laval I'niversity. He was knighted in 1893. LACQUER. See Lac; Lacquer-Work ; Var- nish. LACQUER-WORK (Fr., Sp.. Port, lacre, from Port, laca, sealing-wax, from Pers. lak, Hind. Uikh, lac, from Ski lakst'i. lac-insect, from io/.-.s'f/, hundred thousand ; so called from the great ninnbors of the insect in a single nest). In the so-called lacquer-work of Japan no lac is used, but a natural varnish, wdiich is obtained by tap- ping the Rhus vcrnicifera or varnish-tree. This tree, which lives to a great age, belongs to the same genus as the American poison ivy and poi- I son sumach. Usually, it is not tapped until about ten years old. and the best sap is obtained from trees one hundred years old or more. The process of tapping is elaborate, several instruments being employed and several incisions made. The crude liquor is prepared for market liy simi)ly drying it in the sun. The process of drying is facilitated and the quality of the varnish improved by add- ing water. This curious feature of the drying process makw it necessary to dry lacquer-work in a close damp cupboard, as it will not dry properly under ordinary atmospheric conditions. Several difTerent varnish preparations are used in making a single piece of lacqtier-work. Srshinr unisJii is a varnish usually prepared by adding to the crude liquid a jelly composed of seaweed and finely gi-ated potato. This is used as a priming coat, and in the suVisequent jirocesses is introduced between coatings of other mixtures. Other varnishes are formed by mixing with the si'shine urushi, or with the crude varnish, wheaten Hour, burnt clay, or other sub- stances. In black lacquer-work the final black varnish is prepared by adding to the crude lacquer a coloring matter made by boiling iron filings in strong rice vinegar, and then exposing the mixture for several days to the rays of the sun. After the woodwork to be lacquered has had the joints properly filled and the surface primed, the article is carefully covered with liempen cloth aecurately cut and fitted to the surface. Tliis elfectually prevents cracking of the wood and springing of the joints, and forms a fovmdation for the successive coats afterwards applied. The first layers of varnish are laid on with a spatula, each layer being dried from 12 to 50 hours in a damp closet, as already de- scribed. The final layers are applied with a brush made from human hair. When dried, each coat of varnish is thoroughly ])olished, at first with a whetstone, later with a mixture of burnt clay and calcined deer's horn, and finally with several coats of calcined deer's horn laid on with the fleshy part of the thumb. For ordinary lacquer-work over thirty distinct and separate operations), consuming more than twenty days, are required, at least fifteen different coats of var- nish being applied. For finer work many more coats are used. There are also cheaper grades made with less care. Colored lacquer is produced in much the same way, a pigment being added to the final coats of varnish, after a foundation of nncolored lac- quer is laid. Crold lacquer and aventurine lac- quer are produced by mixing gold or bronze powder with the prepared varnish. In aven- turine work, only enough powder is added to give the surface a mottled appearance. In gold lacquer enough of the powder is used to impart an even dull metallic appearance to the sub- stance. Ornamental designs, either flat or em- bossed, are obtained by applying to the lacquered surface different gold or colored lacquers. In in- crusted or mosaic work the surface of black lac- quer is first made as described above. The spaces to be occupied by the inlaid pattern are then sunk through the polished surface into the wood, to give a firm hold to the pieces to be inlaid, which arc cemented into their places. Incrusted work is also done on gold and aventurine lacquer, and for this purpose ivory, mother-of-pearl, and metal are freely used. Lacquer-work of artistic value is also produced in Persia, India, and China, which is in part of the same general character as that of .Japan, though immeasurably inferior in variety and in artistic excellence. It is of gold on a black ground, or what seems to be gold, though not very brilliant : sometimes also in gold, on a grcnind of yellow and brown of dilTerent shades. A peculiar ware, known ordinarily as Fu-ehow lacquer, is thought to be made recently in direct imitation of the lacquer of Japan, which it does not seriously rival. Another variety is that in which the resinoiis coating is of consider- able thickness, an eighth of an inch or more, and carved in relief with figures and flowers of great decorative beauty. This is more usually red, but it is also niade of black lacquer in China, as well as in Japan.