59 



acid reaction. The corresponding extract from beeswax, tlie 

 Cerolein of Brodie, fuses at about 85°, and shows a much feebler 

 aciditv. 



The ingredient dissolved from the vegetable wax by hot alco- 

 hol and separating from the solution as it becomes cool, wlien 

 collected by filtration and thoroughly washed in alcohol at G0°, 

 was found to have its fusing point at 134°, and to become as 

 liquid as oil at 136°. This substance dissolves readily in alcohol 

 many degrees below boiling. The solution affords with litmus 

 no trace of acid reaction. The corresponding educt of beeswax, 

 the Cerotic Acid, has a much higher melting point, is less soluble, 

 and is distinctly acid. 



The solid residuum from which the hot alcohol had ceased to 

 extract anything more, being dried and strongly compressed 

 between folds of blotting paper was found to adhere together very 

 imperfectly, and to be much more brittle than the original wax. 

 Its melting point is about 130°, and at 132° it becomes entirely 

 liquid. The corresponding ingredient of beeswax, consisting 

 chiefly of Myricine, melts, according to Brodie, at 147°. 



It thus appears that the vegetable wax under consideration 

 differs from beeswax not only in the proportions of its ingredients 

 as separable by alcohol, but in the physical characters of these 

 corresponding substances, the composition and chemical proper- 

 ties of which can only be determined by a thorough investigation. 



In regard to the economical applications of this vegetable wax 

 it may be added that the great readiness with which it is saponi- 

 fied, and the clear and strong light which it yields when burned 

 in the form of candles, give promise that it may ere long become 

 an article of considerable commercial importance. 



Dr. C. T. Jackson confirmed the above experiments of Prof. 

 Rogers, and stated that ether extracts a hard dry wax, after 

 alcohol has extracted all that it can ; the fat extracted by boiling 

 alcohol is deposited on cooling, so that the alcohol can be used 

 economically over and over again in the process. AVhen dry 

 distilled, a fatty matter passes over, and a tarry matter is left 

 behind. The Japanese make this wax by boiling water ; he ex- 

 perimented on wax made by himself from the berries. 



Prof. William B. Rogers presented to the Society some masses 



