VARNISH TREE. A name given to several trees of the family Anacardiacew because the resinous juice is used for varnishing or for lac quering. The black• varnish tree (.11elanorrlgra vsitata) is described in the article on .MELANOR RocEA, and I he Japan tree (Rh us rurni cifera) in the article on SUMACH. Other trees valuable for the varnish they yield are Gluta benghas and Mclanorrlava natives of .lava, Sumatra, Borneo. Celebes, and other East India islands. The juice is extremely acrid. and soon ha rde»s into a flack resin. To obtain it, pieces of bamboo are inserted into the bark, and allowed to remain all night, as the juice flows more freely by night than by day. It is prepared for by boiling with equal parts of oil ob tained from the fruit of 11 imusops VAR'NUM, .1.kmEs 3liTmtEr.1. (1748-89). An American soldier, born at Dracut, 3.1ass. lie graduated at Brown (then Rhode Island) liniver sity in 1769. was admitted to the bar in 1771. and practiced at East Greenwich, II. I. In 1774 he beearne commander of the eelehrotNI Kentish Guards, and in May, 1775, was made colonel in the First. Rhode Island Infantry. For efficient
services at the siege of Boston, at Harlem heights. and at White Plains, lie was appointed brigadier-general of Rhode Island troops in De. cember, 1776, scion afterwards, in February, 1777, taking the same rank in the Continental Army. (in his recommendation, Rhode Island passed a law, in 1778, liberating all negro slaves who should enlist in the army. Atter participating in the battle of Monmouth and in Sullivan's Rhode Island campaign, lie resigned on Mareh 5, 1779, and resumed the practice of law. Ile was major-general of the State militia from 1779 to 1788, was a member of the Continental Congress in 17810-82 and again in 1786-S7. and in 1787 was appointed one of the Supreme Court judges of the Northwest Territory, removing to Mari etta, Ohio, in June. 1788. Be was especially notable as an eloquent speaker and an able debater.