The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-09-30
INSECTS MAKE SHELLAC.
Little Creatures Whose Wonderful Worl
Benefits Mankind.

lac. What is sealing-wax? Shellac
chiefly, principally. What is shellac:
1t is the product of a composite mass
that is found on the young twigs and
branches of the butea, croton and other
trees that grow in the countries of the
east
Shellac is consumed in great quaint
| tics all over the world in commerce and
in arts. 1t is kept in the shops and
warehouses in large hogsheads. 1t
varies in color and thickness and is
| transparent. 1t comes in broken pieces
of irregular sizes, some of it being very
| thin.
The crude mass from which shellac is
| obtained is produced by a small insect
| (cocars laccal resembling somewhat the
cochineal. This insect is Matched, ma
lures and dies on these twigs. A num-
Der of female insects, with few males,
fasten themselves upon the tender twig
and puncture the bark. \ tenacious
fluid exudes and envelopes them. The
insects feed upon this juice, derive their
nourishment from ii and deposit their
eggs within il.
The males only have wings. and as
soon as the females begin to die a fe A
females and the malcsbVo tootAer tressss
After the females that remain in this
gelatinous mass have deposited their
eggs and have died, the eggs hatch ont
the young insects. The young burrow
through the dead bodies of Their NOM
ers to the surface of the mass and cover
the neighboring branches.
The eggs are deposited close 70 the
bark, so that they are protected 10y
their mothers bodies and by the mass
that has exudei and envelopei the fe-
male insects.
Finally the young twigs are COM
plete.y covered with thick, hard. res
nous substance.
When the females die the frames of
their bodies form little cells Ike those
of a honeycomb. As a result Of Ge:om-
position there are the elements Of a
beautiful purple dye.
When these twiGs have become sufii-
GENTLY loaded with this resinols mass
the natives OF the countries in which
these trees grow strip the trees Of these
twigs ana break them into small sticks.
These pieces are called sticklac. These
broken twigs are immersed in het water
and the hard resinous substance is
kneaded with the hands to press out
the purple dye stuff. After the 0ela-
tinous mass has become sufficiently soft
it is taken out and dried 1t is then put
into coarse cloth bags and suspended
close to charcoal fires
Presently the mass begins te melt
BY twisting the bags the mass is
squeezed out, dropping onto fat sticks
placed for that purpose.
As it is dropping from the bags it
hardly strikes the sticks before it is
cakes as it is deposited on these sticks
on narrow fiat boards and dries.
These cakes or sheets are called shell
lac.
As the melted mass is dropping from
the cloth bags small drops unavoidably
fall to the ground and dry in little
round bodies called cotton-lac. Other
and larger pieces that also fall to the
ground and dry are called plate-lac.
The liquid in which the strick-lac or
small pieces of the twigs covered with
the crude mass was soaked is now filled
with the results of decomposition and
other matters. 1t is strained and evap-
GRATED until the residue is purple
mass. The residue is thoro ughly dried
and cut into square cakes about two
inches square, VIII ich are stamped with
certain marks which ind icate the quail
ity of the dye. They are then carefully
packed for the market
The purple dye obtained from this
source is used to great ext mt. The
beautiful scarlet shade in soldiers cloth
is produced 10y the use of this purple
dye. The annual consumption of this
lac dye amounts To 1900, 900 pounds.
The lac insect is a native OF Siam.
Assam, Burmah, Bengal and Maelabar
The proportion of males to females is
to 5000
The best shellac is that which is most
completely freed from impurities, and
which approaches nearest to light
orange brown color. If the coloring
matter is not all washed out the resin
is often very dark, consequently there
are different varieties. such as orange,
garnet and liver.
The juice of the trees is somewhat
changed by the insects, So that if any
one tells You that shellac is "a resin,
he is not correctly informed. She,lac
is not the simple juice of the tree, but
it is the result of the action of the in
sccts upon the juice or resin. Shellac
contains several peculiar resins.
The great value of shellac is it's use in
making varnishes, on account of the
fine, hard polish it imparts TO the var
nish. A iine, thin preparation made of
this material constitutes the lacquer
with which brass and other metals are
coated TO preserve their polish.
In olden times common beeswax was
used for scaling envelopes. The wax
was mixed with earthly materials to
give it consistency. Ii was difficult to
preserve il, however, as even little
heat tended to soften it. Later. gum
was introduced for this purpose. ana
then came sealing wax, which is made
chiefly of shellac. The sealing wax
that comes from India is the purest,
and is made almost entirely OF shellac.
vermillion or some other pigment being
mixed with it for color. All of the