That innocent cosmetic, so much used by the ladies, and commonly known by the French term Rouge, is no other than a preparation of Cochineal.[906]
Kermes-berries, Coccus ilicis, and Cochineal, C. cacti, Geoffroy says, “are esteemed to be greatly cordial and sudorific, being very full of volatile salt. They are given also to prevent abortion from any strain or hurt.”[907]
Lac is the produce of an insect supposed by Amatus
Lusitanus to be a kind of ant, and by others a bee, but now ascertained to be a species belonging to the Coccidæ—the Coccus ficus or C. lacca. It is collected from various trees in India, where it is found so abundantly, that, were the consumption ten times greater than it is, it could be readily supplied.
Lac is known in Europe by the different appellations of stick-lac, when in its natural state, adhering to, and often completely surrounding, for five or six inches, the twigs on which it is produced by the insects contained in its cells; seed-lac, when broken into small pieces, garbled, and the greater part of the coloring matter extracted by water; when it appears in a granulated form; lump-lac, when melted and made into cakes; and shell-lac, when strained and formed into transparent laminæ.
Lac, in its different forms, is made use of in the manufacture of varnishes, japanned ware, sealing-wax, beads, rings, arm-bracelets, necklaces, water-proof hats, etc., etc. Mixed with fine sand it forms grindstones; and added to lamp or ivory black, being first dissolved in water with the addition of a little borax, it composes an ink not easily acted upon by dampness or water. It has been applied also to a still more important purpose, originally suggested by Dr. Roxburgh about the year 1790—that of a substitute for Cochineal in dyeing scarlet.[908] From this suggestion, under the direction of Dr. Bancroft, large quantities of a substance termed lac-lake, consisting of the coloring matter of stick-lac precipitated from an alkaline lixivium by alum, were manufactured at Calcutta and sent to England, where at first the consumption was so great, that, according to the statement of Dr. Bancroft, in 1806, and the two following years, the sales of it at the India House equaled in point of coloring matter half a million of pounds’ weight of Cochineal. Soon after this, a new preparation of lac color, under the name of lac-dye, was substituted for the lac-lake, and with such advantage, that in a few months £14,000 were saved by the East India Company in the purchase of scarlet cloths dyed with this color and Cochineal conjointly, and without any inferiority in the color obtained.[909]
The Coccidæ, although they furnish an invaluable dye and many articles of commerce, are among the most hurtful of insects in gardens and hot-houses. In 1843, the orange-trees of the Azores or Western Islands were nearly entirely destroyed by the Coccus Hesperidum; and in Fayal, an island which had usually exported twelve thousand chests of oranges annually, not one was exported.[910]