Wax Figures.—The employment of wax in imitative art dates from a period anterior to historical times, although, according to Pliny, the art of casting it in molds was not practised previous to the time of Lysistratus, its reputed inventor, who flourished about 300 B.C. and whose productions were chiefly portraits cast in plaster molds taken from the face. Wax por traits eventually became common, and among the Romans. who placed them in the vestibules of their houses, were regarded as an evidence of ancient nobility, as none were allowed to possess such images whose families had not horns some cootie magistracy. In the Middle *ices, wax was employed in the construction of =ages of saints and of votive images, and those who practised sorcery melted before a slow fire wax figures of the persons against whom their incantations were directed. In the latter half of the 15th century Andrea del Ver media° and Orsino gained considerable reputa tion by some figures of Lorenzo de' Medici, their joint production, which consisted of frameworks of wood or skeletons for the bodies and limbs, while the heads, hands and feet were cast in wax, painted in oil colors to counterfeit hie. They were furnished with glass eyes and natural hair, and were habited in the costume worn by Lorenzo. The manufacture of wax figures of the size of life is still carried on to a considerable extent, but has long ceased to he considered a branch of the fine arts, no mutative skill or taste oo the part of the artist being sufficient to overcome the ghastly fixed ness which such images must always present, and which is the more disagreeable as the re semblance to life is closer. In the preparation of anatomical models and pathological exam ples, however, wax has been very advantage ously employed, the invention being due to uaetano Giulio Zununo, a famous modeler in colored wax, who flourished in the latter half of the 17th century. In the succeeding century the celebrated collection of anatomical models in the Institute of Bologna was begun under the direction of Ercole Lelli, the finest speci mens being by Giovanni Manzoli and his wife, Anna Morandi Manzoli. In the Museum of Natural History at Florence are 15 chambers devoted to preparations by Fontana, Susini and other celebrated modelers; the Musee Dupuy men at Paris is famous for its morbid speci mens; and almost every considerable city of F-nrope now has its collection.
The collection of ssax figures at the Eden Music in New York was for about 50 years prior to 1910 one of the show features of the city WAX. Vesetable, a solid, fatty substance, animal wax, which is secreted by many plants, sometimes in large enough quan tities to be of commercial importance. It forms, on foliage, a varnish or which prevents excessive transpiration or wetting of the cells; and, on twigs and flower-pedicels, by its slippery surface keeps unwelcome insects from reaching the flowers and robbing them of their honey.
The whitened under surfaces of some willow leaves and the bloom of fruit are composed of wax either in granules or rods or spread over the cuticle. The most familiar example in America of the hard fat or wax in quantity is on the bony outlets of the wax-myrtles or bay berries Ofyrica). The gray-coated drupes of if. carobnentis clustering on the hare twigs are conspicuous in seashore regions, after the leaves arc fallen; the wax dinging to their rough. granular surfaces when melted is a greenish, hard substance, sharing the balsamic odor of the plant. It was used in colonial times as a basis for candles and for soap. Other species, of other countries, furnish a similar wax and are known as candle-berries or tallow-trees. Carnauba wax is exported from Brazil for candles and as a substitute for beeswax. It is the coating on the young leaves of Corypho cerifero, indigenous to tropical South America. The young leaves are removed and dried. The wax-granules may then he shaken off in the form of a fine dust, melted and caked. A varnish-like exudation of wax, on the stems of two other South American palms, Klorstockia cerifera and Ceroxylon andicolo, the the latter being a tall tree slightly thickened at the centre of the trunk and crowned by a tuft of pinnate leaves. This wax is scraped off and melted. A mixture of resin and wax results, from which the latter is extracted by hot alcohol, and is then utilizable for candles. It is, however, seldom seen in commerce. Japan wax is a wax-like, hard fat, which is largely exported from Japan to Europe, in yellowish hard cakes, with a resinous, rancid odor, and often covered with a powdery efflorescence. It is mixed with or substituted for beeswax, where its rancid odor is not preventive and is extracted by several methods, such as heating under pressure or boiling from the crushed drupes of an oriental species of sumac (q.v.).
or SENEGAL FINCH, an African weaver-bird (Estrilda astrildal, one of the section of the family called blood finches on account of the prevalence of red in the plumage. This has long been a favorite among cage-1 irds and is sold by dealers all over the world. It is nearly five inches long. The beak is bright red and somewhat swollen. A bright red stripe passes between the eyes and the middle of the breast and belly is a beautiful reddish-brown. The upper surface of the body is brownish-gray, the lower sur faces lighter, eserywhere traversed by very fine blackish wavy lines; wings and tail brown. They are varied much in color by breeders, bright blue tints, even, having been des eloped in some. Their song is not very musical, but they are pretty and affectionate to a high degree. Their food and care should be similar to those gisen to a canary.