20 Jetton of Alkalies on Wax. 



which on cooling solidified into a waxy brittle substance. 

 After being well washed with boiling water to remove any 

 traces of hydrochloric acid, it was treated with alcohol, in 

 which, with the assistance of heat, it was perfectly soluble, 

 and on cooling separated in a crystalline state. From these 

 appearances, we were inclined to entertain the idea that 

 a conversion of the wax into stearic acid had taken place, but 

 the alcoholic solution of the supposed acid did not in the least 

 affect blue litmus paper, and when boiled with a solution of 

 carbonate of soda not a trace of gas was evolved. Its melting- 

 point was ascertained to be 74 C, and the fused mass on 

 cooling exhibited not the slightest trace of crystalline struc- 

 ture ; it could not evidently therefore be stearic acid, and such 

 was proved to be the case by the annexed analysis. 



0*34-6 grm. of the substance, dried for six hours in the water- 

 bath to remove all trace of alcohol, afforded on combustion 

 with chromate of lead 0*427 grm. of water and 1*005 grm. of 

 carbonic acid, or in 100 parts, — 



Carbon . . . 80*31 

 Hydrogen . . 13*70 

 Oxygen . . . 5*99 



It is therefore as widely different from stearic acid as any 

 body can be— the alcoholic solution of which distinctly red- 

 dens litmus paper, expels carbonic acid from carbonate of 

 soda, solidifies into a mass, having a decided crystalline struc- 

 ture, and whose composition was found by Liebig, Redten- 

 bacher and other chemists, to be carbon 76*69, hydrogen 

 12*70, and oxygen 20*61. 



On comparing the results obtained in our analysis, it will 

 be however immediately seen that this substance has exactly 

 the same composition assigned by Ettling to ceraine, with 

 which it is therefore isomeric, if not identical. The peculiar 

 characters of ceraine are that it melts at 70° C, and on cooling 

 forms a hard brittle mass. It is not soluble in cold alcohol, 

 and but very slightly in hot ; on the cooling of the alcoholic so- 

 lution it becomes gelatinous, but may on slow cooling be ob- 

 tained in a crystalline state; it is not saponifiable. The body 

 we have examined melts at 74° C, forms on cooling a hard 

 brittle waxy mass, but it dissolves readily in hot alcohol, from 

 which it crystallizes on cooling ; it affords a kind of soap with 

 potash ; it does not expel carbonic acid from carbonate of soda, 

 and has no acid properties. It will be seen that the results 

 we have obtained agree closely with those described by Ber- 

 zelius and by Ettling. On a future occasion we hope to bring- 

 before the Society an account of several curious phenomena 

 we have observed in our experiments on this subject ; for the 



