The small twigs, when well covered, are gathered by the natives, and are placed in hot water, which melts the resinous matter, liberates the pieces of wood and the remains of the insects, and also dissolves the coloring matter. This is facilitated by kneading the melted resin whilst in the hot water; it is then taken out and dried, and is afterwards put into strong and very coarse cotton bags, which are held near enough to charcoal fires to melt the resin without burning the bags. By twisting the bags, the melted resin is then forced through the fabric, and received in thin curtain-like films upon strips of wood. This hardens as its surface becomes acted upon by the air, and being broken off in.fragments, constitutes the shell-lac of commerce. The best shell-lac is that which is most completely freed from impurities, and approaches most to a light orange-brown color. If the coloring matter has not been well washed out, the resin is often very dark, consequently we find the varieties in commerce—orange, garnet, and Much that is squeezed through the bags falls to the ground without touching the sticks placed to catch it; small quantities falling form button-like drops, which constitute the whilst larger ones, from 1 in. to 2 or 3 in. in diameter, constitute the plate lac of commerce. That known as stick-lac is the twigs as they are gathered, but broken short for the convenience of packing.
Below the lac-bearing trees there is always a very considerable quantity of the resin in small particles, which have been detached by the wind shaking and chafing the branches; this also is collected, and constitutes the seed-lac of our merchants.
The water in which the stick-lac is first softened contains, as before mentioned, the coloring matter of the dead insect. This is strained and evaporated until the residue is a purple sediment, which, when sufficiently dried, is cut in small cakes about 2 in. square, and stamped with certain trade-marks, indicating itsquality. These are then fully dried. 'and packed for sale as lac-dye, of which large quantities are used in the production of scarlet cloth, such as that worn by our soldiers; for this purpose, lac-dye is found very suitable.
The lac insect is a native of Siam, Assam, Burmah, Bengal, and Malabar; the hies and he-dye come chiefly from Bombay, Pegu, and Siam. During the year 1876 nearly 5,000
tons of the different kinds of lac were exported into Great Britain. The annual con sumption of lac-dye amounts to about 1,200,000 lbs.
As we have no strictly analogous resin from the vegetable kingdom, not even from the lac-bearing trues, it may be assumed that the juices of the trees are somewhat altered by tire insects. The best analyses show that shell-l^c contains several peculiar resins. The great value of the Lacs is found in their adaptability for the manufacture of var dishes, both in consequence of their easy solubility, end also because of the fine, hard coating, susceptible of high polish, which they give when dry. The well-known " French polish" is little more than shell-lac dissolved in alcohol; and a fine thin varnish made of this material constitutes the lacquer with which brass and other metals are coated, to preserve their polish from atmospheric action.
All the varieties of lac are translucent, and some of the finer kinds, which are in flakes not much thicker than writing-paper, are quite transparent, and all, as before stated, are colored various shades of brown, from orange to liver. Nevertheless, if a quantity of shell-lac be softened by heat, it may, by continually drawing it out into lengths, and twisting it, be made not only quite white, but also opaque; in this state it has a beautiful silky luster; and if melted and mixed with vermilion, or any other color ing matter, it forms some of the fancy kinds of sealing-wax: the more usual kinds are, however, nuule by merely melting shell-lac with a little turpentine and camphor, and mixing the coloring matter. Shell-lac has the property of being less brittle after the first melting than after subsequent meltings; hence the sealing-wax manufactured in India has always had a high reputation, and hence also the extreme beauty and dura.
bility of those Chinese works of art in lac, some of which are very ancient. These are usually chow-chow boxes, tea basins, or other small objects made in wood or metal, and covered over with a crust of lac, colored with vermilion, which, whilst soft, is molded into beautiful patterns. So rare and beautiful are some of these works that even in China they cost almost fabulous prices.