CHEMISTRY OF CHINESE INSECT-WHITE-WAX. 69 



substance nearly in a state of chemical purity. By alcohol 1853 - 

 small portions of a greasy matter may be separated from it, and 

 on distillation it affords traces of acrolein, which is not a product 

 of the pure wax. The impurities, however, are unimportant. 



The melting point of the commercial wax is 1S1'4 Fahr. j 1 Melting point. 

 that of the perfectly pure wax, 179'6. Chinese wax is very 

 slightly soluble in alcohol or ether, but dissolves with great 

 facility in naphtha, out of which fluid it may be crystallized. 

 The mean of M. Brodie's analyses of the purified wax gave its 

 composition thus 



Carbon 82-235 



Hydrogen 13*575 



Oxygen 4190 



10-0000 



which numbers agree with the formula C 108 H 108 4 . 2 Although Chemical 

 the wax is scarcely saponified by being boiled in a solution of 

 caustic potash, it may readily be decomposed by fusion with 

 the solid alkali becoming, as Mr. Maskelyne has observed, 

 broken up into substances with the formula C 54 H 56 2 [cerotin] 

 + C 54 H 54 4 [cerotic acid], two equivalents of water being as- 

 sumed in the saponification. Mr. Maskelyne, in some experi- 

 ments performed subsequently to those of Mr. Brodie, has shown 

 that by the action of lime and potash the cerotin may be oxi- 

 dized, and the whole converted into cerotic acid. 3 



I would however refer the reader to the original papers of 

 these gentlemen for a copious and interesting account of the 

 chemistry of the wax. 



1 I can confirm this ^statement so far as regards three specimens in iny 

 possession ; a fourth I find to fuse at 180 Fahr., while some prepared by 

 myself from the crude wax sent by Mr. Lockhart fuses at 182'75 Fahr. 

 Dr. Ure states its melting point to be 196 (Pharm. Journ., vol. vi, p. 69). 

 Dr. Macgowan gives it as 100 Fahr., but this latter must surely be a 

 misprint. 



2 Op. cit., p. 170. 



3 On the Oxidation of Chinese Wax, by Nevil S. Maskelyne, M.A., in the 

 Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society, vol. v., p. 24 (April 1852). 



