WAVICY, the common name in the Hudson Bay region for the smaller wild geese, (spe cially the snow-goose. See Gust-.
WAX, fatty solid animal substance, of which the typical sort is called beeswax. Various similar substance. of and animal origin bear the name. Beeswax is secreted by bees in constructing their hiss. and a ?Liy sundae vegetable product enters into the composition 4. f the pollen of flowers, covering the envelope of the plum and of other fruits, especially of the berry of the Myrica cerifera, and in many in stances forming a kind of varnish to the sur face of leaves. It is distinguished from fat and resinous bodies by its not readily forming soaps when treated with alkaline solutions. Common beeswax is always more or less colored, and has a distinct, peculiar odor, of both of which it may be deprived by exposure in thin slices to air, light and moisture, or more speedily by the action of chlorine. At ordinary temperatures wax is solid and somewhat brittle; hut it may be easily cut with a knife, and the fresh surface presents a characteristic appearance, to which the name of waxy lustre is applied. Its specific gravity is 0.96. At 155° F. it enters into fusion, and boils at a high temperature. Heated to redness in a closed vessel it suffers decompo sition, yielding products very similar to those which are procured under the same circum stances from oil. It is insoluble in water, and is only dissolved in small quantities by alcohol or ether.
In bleaching wax the wax must be melted. with a degree of heat not sufficient to alter its quality, in a caldron so disposed that the melted wax may flow gradually through a pipe at the bottom of the caldron into a large wooden cylin der that turns continually round its axis, and upon which the melted wax falls. As the sur face of this cylinder is always moistened with water, the wax falling upon it does not adhere but quickly becomes solid and flat, and acquires the form of ribbons. The continual rotation of the cylinder carries off these ribbons as fast as they are formed, and distributes them through the tub. \‘'hen all the wax ribbons to be whitened is thus formed, it is to be put upon large frames covered with linen cloth, which arc supported about a foot and a half above the ground in a situation exposed to the air, the dew and the sun. If the weather be favor
able, the color will be nearly discharged in a few days. It is then to he remelted and formed into rif)bons and exposed to the action of the air as before. These operations are to be re peated till the wax is rendered perfectly white. when it is cast into cakes or other commercial form.
The principal applications of wax are to make candles and medicinal ecrates; to give a polish to furniture or floors, for which pur pose it is largely used in the United States; to form a lute or cement, for which it is used by chemists; and to serve as a vehicle for colors. By modern painters colors previously prepared in oil are sometimes diluted just before being laid on in a mixture of wax and oil of turpen tine. This practice is much resorted to by French artists, especially in mural paintings. The object is to keep the painting free from that lustrous appearance which often renders it difficult to be seen properly in consequence of reflection. Wax also forms a principal in gredient in modelers' wax and gilder' wax. In the former the other ingredients are drug gists' lead-plastur. olive oil, yellow resin, and whiting; and in the latter verdigris and sul phate of copper. Sealing-sax is not properly a wax at all, but is composed of resin lac and some less brittle resin. The largest consunip tom of wax takes place in Roman Catholic countries, where large quantities are required for the candles used in religious ceremonials.
Chinese wax comes from the ash-tree where tt is secreted by an insect. It resembles sperms mot. Cork wax or cerin is extracted from cork by an alcoholic process. Mineral wax or °raceme is a waxy paraffine sometimes found in coal measures. Shoemakers' wax is a mixture i pitch and tallow. Wool wax is the solid greasy product obtained from sheep washing, is used as a dressing for leather, and is an adulterant or base for ointments. See also N1 ax, VrGrtwaut.