OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 101 



" 100 parts at 212° F. became a transparent fluid after frothing, 

 having lost 2.10 per cent of volatile matter, this being mostly aqueous 

 moisture due to the process of manufacturing it, and the dry wax on 

 cooling becomes slightly darker in color. Made into candles, it 

 burns with a deep opaque yellow flame, a thin stream of smoke creep- 

 ing from the apex ; its decomposition in this way showing an excess 

 of carbon, as the carbo-hydrogens burn in the air. This important 

 character forbids its application as a substitute for wax, or for afford- 

 ing light in confined spaces ; otherwise, its high melting-point would 

 render it very valuable in many situations, when our ordinary mate- 

 rials fail. When mixed with tallow, the latter becomes harder, and 

 the apparent melting-point of the mixture is higher than that of tal- 

 low. But the resulting mixed mass softens at a temperature of 100° 

 F., and the new wax does not break up in the act of combustion, so 

 as to unite with the carbo-hydrogens of the tallow, with which it is 

 mixed. Its application in this way does not therefore promise a val- 

 uable result. 



" Alcohol of sp. gr. 0.821, when boiled on the dried wax, dissolves a 

 small portion, which separates in part by cooling, in the form of a 

 hydrous mass, becoming white. The cold solution evaporated disen- 

 gages a balsamic odor; the coating it leaves, when dry, has the char- 

 acters of the original wax. 



" In sulphuric ether, the same characters are preserved, the matter 

 dissolved beins; identical with the orisiinal wax. 



" Benzole is the appropriate solvent for this wax ; it melts in it, dis- 

 solving largely, so that on cooling the solution becomes a soft mass. 

 A more dilute solution allows the pure wax to deposit in beautiful 

 snow-white granules, which, while wet, are transparent, becoming 

 opaque on drying. These granules when magnified appear generally 

 to be composed of aggregations of spherules, forming mammillary 

 concretions ; but in rare cases radiating lines occur within them, in- 

 dicating the existence of a polarizing force too feeble to form a recti- 

 linear solid. 



" Chloroform dissolves the wax freely, and the results of cooling 

 and evaporation are the same as occur with benzole. 



" These characters sufficiently prove that this wax does not, like 

 many other kinds, divide into a more fluid and a more solid body, 

 when subjected to the action of solvents ; and its unity in this respect 

 is its most strongly marked peculiarity. 



