Chemical Nature of Wax. 22 1 



by this method a substance can be obtained melting at 70° and 

 even 72° Centigrade, much harder than the residue of the wax, 

 brittle, and slightly crystalline in its structure. If this sub- 

 stance be boiled with a solution of caustic potash, it is saponi- 

 fied with the greatest facility. If the soap be decomposed by 

 an acid, a baryta salt formed of the acid produced, and this 

 salt be dried and washed out with aether, a certain portion of 

 a substance will be taken up by the aether, which is but very 

 slightly acted on by potash. This is that substance which 

 has been called ceraine. I remarked that while from the re- 

 sidue of the wax this matter could be procured in considerable 

 quantities, but a very small portion was obtained from the 

 cerine ; a portion very small in relation to the acids formed, 

 and the quantity of which diminished with the purification of 

 the substance. The analysis also of the unsaponified cerine 

 agreed closely with that of the acid as separated from the 

 baryta salt, and the melting-points only differed by four or 

 five degrees Centigrade. Further experiment showed me that 

 the same cerine, when boiled with caustic baryta, entered with 

 the greatest facility into combination with that substance. 

 These facts led me to suspect that the formation of the unsa- 

 ponifiable body was due to the presence of a certain portion of 

 the other substances of the wax, and was no true product of the 

 decomposition of the cerine itself; but that this substance was 

 in truth no other than the acid itself existing, in a free state, 

 in the wax. The experiments which follow are inconsistent 

 with any other hypothesis. 



To prepare this acid bees'-wax is to be boiled out with strong 

 alcohol, and the hot solution poured off from the undissolved 

 residue. This operation may be repeated with advantage 

 three or four times. The precipitates which are formed on 

 the cooling of the alcohol are to be collected together and 

 treated repeatedly with alcohol in the same manner as the wax 

 itself, until the melting-point of the precipitate is raised to 

 about 70° C, after which point the further purification of the 

 body by this method of crystallization is extremely difficult. 

 This substance is now to be dissolved in a large quantity of 

 boiling alcohol, care being taken perfectly to effect the solu- 

 tion. To this solution is to be added a boiling solution of 

 acetate of lead in alcohol, by which a voluminous precipitate 

 is produced, which does not redissolvein the boiling mixture. 

 The solution is to be boiled and filtered hot, by means of a 

 hot water- apparatus, from the precipitate. The precipitate 

 while moist is to be taken from the filter, placed again in the 

 flask, and boiled out with strong alcohol, and afterwards with 

 aether. This operation is to be repeated several times until 



