Royal Society. 65 



The substance dissolved in the ether has the appearance of a wax. 

 By crystallization its melting-point may be raised to 79° C, at which 

 point it is fixed. The body, when analysed, gave numbers agreeing 

 with the formula C s4 H 5G 2 , the formula, namely, of the alcohol of 

 cerotic acid, the acid which in a previous paper the author has shown 

 to exist in a free condition in bees'-wax, and the constitution of 

 which he there determined. To this alcohol the author gives the 

 name of cerotine. By oxidation, by means of lime and potash, the 

 alcohol is capable of being converted into cerotic acid, C S4 H 54 4 . 

 The analyses of the acid and of its silver salt are given. The for- 

 mula of the alcohol is further confirmed by the analysis of its com- 

 bination with sulphuric acid ; and the process to be employed to pro- 

 cure this substance is detailed. Its formula is S0 3 , C 54 H 55 O -f HO ; 

 the sulphate of the oxide of cerotyle, using the usual chemical 

 language to express the nature of the combination. By the action 

 of chlorine on the alcohol, the alcohol-type is destroyed, and a body 

 is formed, analogous to chloral, containing two equivalents of hy- 

 drogen less than the alcohol itself. The analyses lead to the formula 



f H 



Cm < £j° 3 2 . The substance has the appearance of a resin. 



By decomposing the above-mentioned baryta salt, after the cerotine 

 has been entirely removed by washing with suitable solvents, the 

 same cerotic acid may be obtained as that into which the alcohol 

 itself is converted by oxidation. The analysis of the acid and of its 

 silver salt is given. 



This Chinese wax cannot be distilled without decomposition. By 

 its distillation two substances are procured ; cerotic acid, C 54 H 34 4 , 

 and hydrocarbon. The hydrocarbon consists principally of a solid 

 matter, one of those substances which, in the opinion of the author, 

 have been indiscriminately classed together under the general name 

 of paraffine. This substance, to which he gives the name of cerotine, 

 contains equal equivalents of hydrogen and carbon, and has the for- 

 mula C 54 H 54 . This formula is determined with precision by the ac- 

 tion of chlorine on the substance, which gives rise to a series of 

 products of substitution, of which several were analysed, namely the 

 substances 



p J "35 n J "33 r< ) "32 



M<v Mqw new 



The density of the vapour of cerotine cannot be taken, as, by di- 

 stillation, it is decomposed. The experiment was made of distilling 

 and redistilling the substance in a sealed tube, in which cases it 

 passes entirely into fluid and gaseous hydrocarbon. 



The analysis of the Chinese wax itself corresponds with the for- 

 mula C 108 H 108 4 , which admits of a simple explanation of the nature 

 of its decompositions : its decomposition by potash being explained 

 by the equation 



C.03 H 1(B 4 + KO HO = (C 54 H 53 3 + KO) + C 54 H 5f> % 

 Phil. Mag. S. 3. Vol. 33. No. 219. July 1848. F 



