DR ISAAC,** a learned and eminent dissenting minister, was born at Southampton in 1674, of parents eminent for piety, and considerable sufferers for conscience-sake. In 1690 he was sent up to London for academical education under the tuition of the Rev. Mr Thomas Rowe; and in 1696 was himself engaged as tutor to the son of Sir John Hartopp, Bart., at Stoke Newington. He began to preach in 1698, and met with general acceptance; and after officiating as an assistant to the Rev. Dr Isaac Chauncy, he succeeded in his parochial charge in 1702, and continued to preside over that church as long as he lived. Though his whole income did not amount to an hundred a-year, he allotted one third of it to the poor. He died in 1748. His numerous works have rendered his name famous among people of every denomination, both in this and other countries, and have been translated into a variety of languages. His Lyric Poems, his Psalms and Hymns, and his Divine Songs for Children, are a sufficient proof of his poetical talents, and have had an amazing number of editions. His logic and philosophy have been much admired. He also wrote works upon a variety of other subjects, and printed several volumes of his sermons. He was admired for the mildness and benevolence of his disposition and the sweetness of his manners. After his death, his works were collected, and published in six volumes quart.

**WAVE,** in Philosophy, a cavity in the surface of water, or other fluids, with an elevation above thereof. The waves of the sea are of two kinds, natural and accidental. The natural waves are those which are exactly proportioned in size to the strength of the wind, whose blowing gives origin to them. The accidental waves are those occasioned by the wind's reaching upon itself by repercussion from hills and mountains, or high shores, and by the washing of the waves themselves, otherwise of the natural kind, against rocks and shoals: all these causes give the waves an elevation, which they can never have in their natural state. For the height of the waves, see Sea.

**Stilling WAVES by means of Oil.** See Sea.

**WAVED,** in Heraldry, is said of a bordure, or any ordinary or charge, in a coat of arms, having its outlines indented in manner of the rising and falling of waves: it is used to denote, that the first of the family in whose arms it stands, acquired its honours by service.

**WAVING,** in the sea-language, is the making signs to a vessel to come near or keep off.

**WAX,** or Bees WAX, in Natural History, a firm and solid substance, moderately heavy, and of a fine yellow colour, formed by the bees from the pollen of flowers. See Apis. The best sort is that of a lively yellow colour, and an agreeable smell, somewhat like that of honey: when new, it is toughish, yet easy to break; but by age it becomes harder and more brittle, loses its fine colour, and in a great measure its smell.

It appears that wax and the pollen have for their basis a fat oil, which passes to the state of resin by its combination with oxygen. If the nitric or muriatic acid be digested upon fixed oil for several months, it passes to a state resembling wax. Wax, by repeated distillations, affords an oil which possesses all the properties of volatile oils. It is reduced into water and carbonic acid by combustion. The colouring matter of wax is insoluble in water and in alcohol.

Fixed alkalies dissolve wax, and render it soluble in water. It is this faponaceous solution which forms the punic wax. It may be used as the basis of several colours; and may be made into an excellent paste for washing the hands. Ammoniac likewise dissolves it; and as this solvent is evaporable, it ought to be preferred when it is proposed to use the wax as a varnish.

From the common yellow wax, by bleaching, is formed white-wax, sometimes called, very improperly, virgin-wax. The greater the surface is in proportion to the quantity, the sooner and more perfectly this operation is performed. The usual way is to melt the wax in hot water; when melted, they press it through a strainer of tolerable fine linen, and pour it into round and very shallow moulds. When hardened by cooling, it is taken out and exposed to the sun and air, sprinkling it now and then with water, and often turning it: by this means it soon becomes white. The best sort is of a clear and almost transparent whiteness, dry, hard, brittle, and of an agreeable smell, like that of the yellow wax, but much weaker.

The common yellow wax is of very great use both in medicine and in many of the arts and manufactures. It has been sometimes given internally in dysenteries and erotions of the intestines; but its greatest use is in the making ointments and plasters, and the greater part of those of the shops owe their confidence to it. The white wax is also an ingredient in some of the cerates and ointments of the shops; and is used in making candles, and in many of the nicer arts and manufactures where wax is required.

Sealing-Wax, or Spanish-Wax, is a composition of gum lac, melted and prepared with resins, and coloured with some suitable pigment.

There are two kinds of sealing-wax in use; the one hard, intended for sealing letters, and other such purposes; the other soft, designed for receiving the impressions of seals of office to charters, patents, and such written instruments. The best hard red sealing-wax is made by mixing two parts of shell lac, well powdered, and resin and vermilion, powdered, of each one part, and melting this combined powder over a gentle fire; and when the ingredients seem thoroughly incorporated, working the wax into sticks. Seed-lac may be substituted for the shell-lac; and instead of resin, boiled Venice turpentine may be used. A coarser, hard, red sealing-wax, may be made, by mixing two parts of resin, and of shell-lac, or vermilion and red lead, mixed in the proportion of one part of the vermilion to two of the red lead, of each one part; and proceeding as in the former preparation. For a cheaper kind, the vermilion may be omitted, and the shell-lac also, for very coarse uses. Wax of other colours is made by substituting other colouring matters for vermilion, as verditer for blue, ivory black for black wax. For uncoloured, soft sealing-wax, take of bees wax, one pound; of turpentine, three ounces; and of olive oil, one ounce; place them in a proper vessel over the fire, and let them boil for some time; and the wax will be then fit to be formed into rolls or cakes for use. For red, black, green, blue, yellow, and purple soft sealing-wax, add to the preceding composition an ounce or more of any ingredients directed above for colouring the hard sealing-wax, and stir the mass till the colouring ingredients be incorporated with the wax.

WAX-Work, the representation of the faces, &c. of persons living or dead; made by applying plaster of Paris in a kind of paste, and thus forming a mould containing the exact representation of the features. Into this mould melted wax is poured, and thus a kind of masks are formed; which being painted and set with glass eyes, and the figures dressed in their proper habits, they bear such a resemblance that it is difficult to distinguish between the copy and the original.