280 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



the process of manufacturing it, and the dry wax on cooling becomes slightly 

 darker in color. Made into candles, it burns with a deep opaque yellow flame, 

 a thin stream of smoke creeping from the apex ; its decomposition in this way 

 showing an excess of carbon, as the carbo-hydrogens burn in the air. This 

 important character forbids its application as a substitute for wax, or for 

 affording light in confined spaces ; otherwise, its high melting point would 

 render it very valuable hi many situations when our ordinary materials fail. 

 When mixed with tallow, the latter becomes harder, and the apparent melting- 

 point of the mixture is higher than that of tallow. But the resulting mixed 

 mass softens at a temperature of 100 F., and the new wax does not break 

 up in the act of combustion, so as to unite with the carbo-hydrogens of the 

 tallow with which it is mixed. Its application in this way does not, there- 

 fore, promise a valuable result. 



Alcohol of sp. gr. 0-821, when boiled on the dried wax, dissolves a small 

 portion, which separates in part by cooling, in the form of a hydrous mass, 

 becoming white. The cold solution evaporated disengages a balsamic odor ; 

 the coating it leaves, when dry, has the characters of the original wax. 



In sulphuric ether the same characters are preserved, the matter dissolved 

 being identical with the original wax. Benzole is the appropriate solvent for 

 this wax ; it melts in it, dissolving largely, so that on cooling the solution 

 becomes a soft mass. A more dilute solution allows the pure wax to deposit 

 in beautiful snow-white granules, which, while wet, are transparent, becoming 

 opaque on drying. These granules, when magnified, appear generally to be 

 composed of aggregations of spherules, forming marnillary concretions ; but in 

 rare cases radiating lines occur within them, indicating the existence of a 

 polarizing force too feeble to form a rectilinear solid. Chloroform dissolves 

 the wax freely, and the results of cooling and evaporation are the same as 

 occur with benzole. These characters sufficiently prove that this wax does 

 not, like many other kinds, divide into a more fluid and a more solid body, 

 when subjected to the action of solvents, and its unity hi this respect is its 

 most strongly marked peculiarity. 



In alkaline solutions, by ordinary treatment, no saponification takes place, 

 after long boiling. The wax retains a little alkali after it has been washed in 

 water, and the compound is to a small extent soluble in water, but has not 

 the characters of soap. This alkaline wax will absorb a considerable quantity 

 of an alkaline solution in which it has been boiled ; washing in water removes 

 the excess of alkali, no definite compound being formed. When distilled 

 from a nearly closed vessel, it leaves - 44 per cent, of carbon and ash, the 

 latter amounting to O'lO only. This wax can be supplied, should a want 

 exist commercially, at a price intermediate between that of tallow and the 

 ordinary wax. The only application at present known in which it exhibits 

 useful properties is in forming a basis for a preparation used in waxing furni- 

 ture and polished wood work. 



BRILLIANT AND CHEAP CAEMINE. 



The following economical method of making carmine has lately been 

 patented in England by Mr. B. Wood .-Take 9 ounces of the carbonate of 



