“WAX MYRTLE: | 37 
\» M. Cadet, in ‘addition to many of the above 
characteristics of Myrtle wax, found that it com- 
bined readily with the semivitreous oxyde of lead, 
forming a very hard plaister.. When distilled in 
a retort, the wax was partly decomposed, and a 
portion which passed over was white and of a 
soft consistence. Oxygenated muriatic acid 
bleaches it, but with more oe he than bees 
wax, Le 
The experiments which I have susie on isabis 
substance confirm the preceding statements with 
the following exceptions. Cold alcohol dissolyes 
a minute portion, which is gradually separated by 
the addition of water, and floats in perceptible 
Jflocci, near the surface. Cold ether dissolves 
about one sixteenth of its weight. This it does 
with great rapidity, and if thin shavings of the 
wax be dropped into a vessel of ether, they 
=e almost immediately. eb 
‘Dr. J. F. Dana has published, in Silliman’ s 
ral an account of some experiments made 
to ascertain the proportion of wax, and of the 
other parts which compose ‘the entire berry. 
He found the wax to constitute nearly a third. of 
the whole, or thirty two per cent; the kernels 
47.00, the black powder 45.00. with about 5.00 of 
a resino.extractive matter, am veep) 
