JOURNAL 



OF 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



THE ARTS. 



MARCH, 1803 



ARTICLE I. 



Comparative Experiments and Obfervations on Myrtle Wax, Bees 

 Wax, Spermaceti, Adipocire, and the Cryjlalline Matter of 

 biliary Calculi. In a Letter from John Bostock, M. D. 



SIR, 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 



Liverpool, Jan. 23, 1803. 



IN the courfe of Ian fummer, I was requeued by a friend, Enquiry con-: 



who had received from America a quantity of the peculiar ve- cernln S the na * 



. . r . r tare and ufes or 



getable matter called Myrtle Wax, to give him fome informa- myrtle wax. 



tion refpe&ing its nature and properties, and the probable ufe 



to which it might be advantageoufly applied. For this pur- 



pofe I examined feverai works on natural hiftory and chemif- 



try, but I could only meet with a general account of the 



method employed for obtaining it, with a vague defcription 



of its phyfical properties. Refpe&ing its chemical analyfis I 



could find nothing fatisfactory ; even the elaborate work of 



Fourcroy contains little precife information on this head *. I Scarcely men- 

 _ „ _. , ^ ._ _. . . .. tioned by Four- 



* Fourcroy, Syfteme des Connoiffances Chimiques, torn. vn. crC y, 



p. 339. 

 Vol. IV. — March. K determined 



