SEALING-WAX

The wax used for sealing letters, legal instruments, . The best red sealing wax is made by melting In a very gentle heat 48 parts of shell-lac with 19 of Venice turpentine and 1 of Peruvian balsam; 32 parts of the finest cinnabar, thoroughly levigated, are then stirred in, and the whole well mixed. When it has cooled down, it is either rolled into sticks, or shaped in bra moulds. The best black sealing-wax is a mixture of 60 parts of shelllac and 30 of ivory black; it may be perfumed with a little Peru balsam or styrax. The earliest application of sealing wax to its present use seems to have been made about the year 1553. The first printed account of it is said by Berzelius to have appeared in 1563. The great seals applied in tin boxes to certain legal documents are made of a mixture of 15 parts of Venice turpentine, 5 of olive oil, and 8 of wax melted together, and coloured with red lead. SEAL, [s. 1119]