VARNISH, is the name of a fluid substance, con sisting of a gum or resin dissolved in some fluid, and used by painters, Re. to give an artificial pol ish to their works. The most common varnishes are, amber varnish, made with amber, drying oil, and oil of turpentine; mastich varnish, made with spirit of turpentine and gum mastich; lac varnish, made of gum lac dissolved in spirit of wine; and gold coloured or lacquer varnish, which is made of gum lac 2 oz., yellow amber 2 oz., dragon's blood 40 grains, half a dram of saffron, and 40 oz. of good spirit of wine.
One of the most useful varnishes is caoutchoue varnish, made of caoutchouc dissolved in kyapootee or cajeput oil, or, what is much cheaper, in naph tha prepared from coal tar. Its utility in rendering cloth, leather, &c. waterproof, is very great, and the manufacture of such cloths has been carried to great perfection by our able countryman, Mr. Charles Mackintosh, of Glasgow. The black var.
nish of the East, the nature of which was long un known, has been found to be the juice of a large tree, now known by the name of Illelanorrhea usi tata, a new genus established by Dr. Walker. Some of these trees are 40 feet high, with stems 12 feet long, and 11 in girth four feet above the ground. Captain Grant speaks of some as having clear stems of 42 feet to the first branch.
The following interesting account of it is given by Dr. Wallich:s " As long since as the year 1812, the late Mr. M. R. Smith, for nearly forty years an inhabitant of Sillet, and during the latter part of that long period a zealous contributor to the Ilonourable Company's botanic garden at Calcutta, furnished some very curious information concerning our tree to Mr. H. Colebrooke, then in charge of that insti tution. He must therefore be considered as the first person who brought this valuable tree into notice, although he failed in his endeavours to procure either dried specimens or fresh seeds of it. I shall here subjoin some of his remarks.
• I have discovered a sort of varnish, which I consider as the identical one made use of by the Chinese in their eastern and northeastern provinces. It is procurable, in great quantities, from Munipur, where it is used for paying river crafts, and for var nishing vessels destined to contain liquids, such as oil, ghee (clarified butter), milk, honey, or water. The drug is conveyed to Sillet for sale, by the mer chants, who come down annually with horses and other objects of trade. The tree which yields it grows to an amazing size. I am informed that it attains one hundred cubits in height, and twenty in circumference, and even more. It forms exten sive forests, which commence at a distance of three days' journey from the capital, and stretch in a northerly and easterly direction towards China for many miles.' " That the A7ieu which Mr Smith describes is the same as that found by captain Grant, there cannot be any doubt; nor that it is identical with the or Varnish-tree of the Burmese. It fol
lows, hence, that the tree has a very wide geo graphical range, extending from Munipur (in lati tude N. and longitude 94° E.) to Tavoy (in latitude le, longitude 97°). The valley of Kubbu, which has been ascertained by actual survey, made by lieutenant Pemberton, to be only five hundred feet above the plains of India, is distant two hun dred miles from the nearest sea shore. The tree there attains its greatest size, and I believe it be comes smaller as it approaches the sea on the coast of Tenasserim, -where it grows in comparatively low situations.
Our tree belongs to the Deciduous class, shed ding its leaves in November, and continuing naked until the month of May, during which period it produces its flowers and fruit. During the rainy season, which lasts for five months, from the mid dle of May until the end of October, it is in full foliage. Every part of it abounds in a thick and viscid greyish-brown fluid, which turns black soon after coming in contact with the external air. In Dr. Brewster's Journal of Science, vol. viii, page 96 and 100, there are two interesting articles, contain ing valuable information concerning the varnish produced by our tree, and its deleterious effects on the human frame. It is a curious fact, that, to my certain knowledge, the natives of the countries where the tree is indigenous, never experience any injurious consequences from handling its juices: it is strangers only that are sometimes affected by it, especially Europeans. Both Mr Swinton and my self have frequently exposed our hands to it with out any serious injury. I have even ventured to taste it, both in its recent state and as it is exposed for sale at Rangoon, and have never been affected by it. It possesses very little pungency, and is en tirely without smell. I know, however, of instances where it has produced extensive erysipelatous swellings, attended with pain and fever, but not of long duration. Of this description was the effect it had on the late Mr Carey, a son of the Rev. Dr. W. Carey, who resided several years in the Burma empire. Among the people who accompanied me to Ava, both Hindoos and Mahomedans, no acci dent happened, although they frequently touched the varnish, except in a slight degree to one of my assistants, whose hand swelled and continued pain ful during two days. Dr Brewster informs me that, after resisting its effects for a long time, it at length attacked him in the wrist with such violence that the pain was almost intolerable. It was more acute than that of a severe burn, and the Doctor was obliged to sleep several nights with his hand im mersed in the coldest water. He considers it as a very dangerous drug to handle. One of his ser vants was twice nearly killed by it.