246 Mr. B. C. Brodie o?i Myricine. 



suits from this operation, after having been repeatedly boiled 

 out with water, is to be dissolved in a large quantity of hot 

 alcohol. An abundant precipitate appears in the cold fluid 

 from which the solution is to be filtered, and the precipitate 

 repeatedly redissolved and recrystallized out of alcohol. 1 he 

 precipitate will at length be found to consist, almost entirely, 

 of the basic portion of this waxy matter. The alcoholic solu- 

 tion contains the acid. 



I shall proceed to give the simplest method by which the 

 pure substances may be obtained, and those experiments which 

 1 have made upon their constitution, which I think can leave 

 no doubt upon the mind of the chemist as to the true nature 

 of that matter of which by far the greater portion of the my- 

 ricine and, indeed, of the wax itself consists. 



The first separation of the products of saponification may 

 be made, as I have stated, by combining the acid with baryta 

 and washing out the resulting salts with aether ; the basic 

 portion of the products may be obtained as pure by this as by 

 the other method. 



Melissine. 



If the substance contained in the aetherial solution, with 

 which the baryta salt is washed out, be crystallized out of 

 aether or alcohol, the melting-point will be considerably raised, 

 from below 70° C. to above 80°, by repeated crystallization. 

 The difficulty with which the melting-point was raised, made 

 it evident that the substances contained in the solution were 

 to be separated only by long crystallization and a careful at- 

 tention to the variations of the melting-points. I made various 

 experiments to discover a satisfactory method of purification. 

 At length I found that if the aetherial solution be filtered while 

 yet warm, and when only a small portion of matter has cry- 

 stallized out, a substance remains on the filter of a melting- 

 point of 85° C. of a satiny lustre, and of highly crystalline 

 appearance. It is with difficulty that even a small portion of 

 substance can be thus obtained, and it is necessary to use, 

 during the filtration, a hot water apparatus to prevent the pre- 

 cipitation of the whole matter dissolved. I have never been 

 able to succeed in further raising the melting-point of this body, 

 and therefore regard it as pure. In this condition it crystallizes 

 on cooling from the melted state, and its crystallization is 

 marked by striae parallel to the line of cooling; it being in all 

 respects, but the melting-point, similar in appearance to cero- 

 tine as procured from Chinese wax. 



I give this method of preparing this substance as it was the 

 first I adopted, and as it can thus be procured in a high state 



