388 Mr. B. C. Brodie on the Chemical Nature 



100-00 



Cerotene. 



The portion of the distillate from which the soap has been 

 separated by decantation and by repeated washings and boiling 

 out with water, consists chiefly of a solid hydrocarbon, one of 

 those substances which have been comprehended and con- 

 founded under the general name of paraffine. It is mixed with 

 a certain quantity of oil, from which it may be almost entirely 

 separated by pressure in a press between folds of blotting- 

 paper. If this substance be crystallized out of naphtha-alcohol 

 and then out of aether, it may be obtained of a melting-point 

 of 57°, 58° C. In this state it is highly crystalline on cooling, 

 and presents the general appearance of the substance called 

 paraffine. 



I. 0-2555 grm. gave 0-802 C0 2 and 0-331 HO. 



II. 02593 grm. gave 0*810 C0 2 and 0*332 HO, which give 

 in 100 parts, — 



I. II. 



Carbon . . . 85-60 85-20 



Hydrogen . . 14-39 14-23 



378 99-99 



This substance may be called cerotene. After the discovery 

 of the alcohol, there was a strong presumption that the hydro- 

 carbon and the cerotine would be related in the manner ex- 

 pressed by the formula, the hydrocarbon being the olefiant 

 gas of the wax alcohol. It was, however, very desirable to 

 find some method for the determination of its formula. I 

 investigated, with this view, the action of chlorine on the sub- 

 stance. 



Chlor- Cerotene. 



If moist chlorine be passed over the melted cerotene in the 

 manner before described in the case of the other wax sub- 



