36. MYRICA CERIFERA, 
Bostock informs us that alcohol, at the ordinary 
temperature of the atmosphere, has no action 
upon it; but one hundred parts by weight of the 
fluid, when boiling, dissolve about five parts of 
the wax. About four fifths of this is deposited 
by cooling, and the rest is slowly deposited in a 
few days, or may be precipitated by water. Of 
the mass of wax, a certain portion remains insol- 
uble in alcohol. 
‘Sulphuric ether, according to Dr. Bostock, 
dissolves but little of the wax, when cold, but 
acts upon it rapidly, when boiling, taking up 
somewhat more than one quarter of its own 
weight. Upon evaporation, the wax is deposited 
in a erystalline or lamellated form, its texture 
resembling that of spermaceti.—Rectified oil of 
turpentine, when assisted by heat, dissolves about 
six per cent of its own weight, most of which is 
deposited on cooling.—Pure: potash, in water; 
renders the wax colourless by boiling, and forms 
a soap with a small part, which may be decom- 
posed by an acid, and affords the wax nearly un- 
changed.—The sulphuric acid, assisted by heat, 
dissolves about one twelfth of its own weight, and 
forms a dark brown mass. The nitric and muriatic 
acids exert very little action upon it. Dr. Bostock 
considers the Myrtle wax to be a fixed vegetable 
oil, rendered concrete by oxygen. 
