488 



Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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PURITY TESTS FOR BEESWAX. 



1. — Chemical Tests. 



BY WM. P. MUNGER. 



There have been a number of different methods 

 suggested for deterniining the purity of beeswax, 

 but most of these plans have been either too com- 

 plicated for the average person or so unreliable as 

 to be practically worthless. We believe that this 

 article and the one that will follow it in the next is- 

 sue may be relied upon absolutely, as the writer is 

 chief chemist with the Stroraberg-Carlson Tele- 

 phone Company, which fact alone renders further 

 credentials unnecessary. — Kd. 



A majority of beeswax-producers and mid- 

 dlemen probably do not intentionally prac- 

 tice adulteration; yet as adulterations are 

 constantly found, there must be some pro- 

 ducers and middlemen who do adulterate 

 beeswax. Considering the ease with which 

 foreign materials may be incorporated with 

 beeswax, and the impossibility of detecting 

 many of these by inspection, it strengthens 

 one's faith in his fellow-man to know that 

 there are so few who practice adulteration, 

 and so many who are able to withstand 

 temptation. When adulteration is prac- 

 ticed, the extent of adulteration is appar- 

 ently limited only by the skill of the opera- 

 tor and the amount and kind of materials 

 available. Indeed, the range extends from 

 water, dirt, starch or Hour, and rock dust, 

 added by the dishonest producers, to the 

 precise mixtures of fatty matters, resins, 

 and waxes compoinided by large dealers. 

 These compounds may be at first sold under 

 their true names; but in i)assing through 

 several hands they become gradually 

 changed, so that the compound is beeswax 

 (in label) when it finally reaches the retail- 

 er or consumer. It is this uncertainty as to 

 purity that makes it necessary for even the 

 small or occasional purchaser to be familiar 

 with the simple and rai)id methods for de- 

 tecting gross adulterations. If adulteration 

 is indicated by the chemical tests, it is not 

 advisable to accept the consignment until 

 a chemist can report on a sample. 



For a person not ha^•ing the advantage of 

 a well-ec| nipped laboratory and much expe- 

 rience, the best way of testing the ptirity of 

 a substance is to make a comparative test. 

 This is made by taking the sample and a 

 sample of known purity, subjecting them to 

 the same intluences at the same time, and 

 noting the difference in results, if any. In 

 detecting adulterants by the following 

 methods, such comparative tests should al- 

 ways be made until the oi^erator has gained 

 considerable experience. 



The first step in testing wax is to elimi- 

 nate all insoluble substances, whether they 

 be unintentional impurities or such adulter- 

 ations as starch, meal, sand-clay, yellow 

 ocher, sulphur, gy])sum, or heavy spar. 

 When a ])ortion of the samjile is melted in 

 a dish' of water, the wax will rise to the top 

 and most of the insoluble im})urities will 



either settle to the bottom or diffuse through 

 the water. As the wax may hold some of 

 the impurities in mechanical suspension, 

 the only sure way of detecting this class of 

 adulterants is to drop a few thin shavings 

 from the sample into a glass or test tube 

 half ftill of cold chloroform or warm turpen- 

 tine. The beeswax will completely dissolve 

 in a short time, leaving any insoluble 

 adulterants in suspension or on the bottom. 

 Some samples of beeswax of known purity, 

 owing to previous atmospheric exposure, 

 will show imperfect solution when held be- 

 tween the observer and the light and sliaken 

 gently. Such seemingly imperfect solution 

 is not to be taken as evidence of intention- 

 al adulteration. If bleached wax is being 

 tested, it must be remembered that chloro- 

 form will dissolve only 25 per cent of the 

 sample. 



The second class of adulterations com- 

 prises fatty matters, such as sterine, stearic 

 acid, tallow beef, suet, japan wax; resins as 

 eolo])hony (rosin), galipot, and burgundy 

 pitch. Any adulterant of this group may 

 be detected by boiling, for half an hour, 

 one ]iart by weight of wax with o-") parts by 

 weight of sodium-hydroxide solution (this 

 solution is made by dissolving one part of 

 sodium-hydroxide sticks in seven parts of 

 water, letting the fluid cool, and filtering 

 through paper each portion as used) . When 

 the boiling is concluded and the solution 

 has cooled to the temperature of the room, 

 the wax should all separate, and the under- 

 lying liquid should not be opaque. The col- 

 or of the underlying liquid will vary from 

 colorless to a bright yellow; but deep color is 

 not to be taken as positive evidence of adul- 

 teration or the presence of dye stuffs. When, 

 to a portion of the underlying liquid, a few 

 drops of hydrochloric acid are added, the 

 liquid should not become turbid. 



The third class of adulterants consists of 

 soajjs. This class can be easily detected by 

 boiling the sample of wax in distilled water 

 (for ordinary water contains sufficient min- 

 eral matter to affect theresult.^) for an hour, 

 and then, when the liquid has become cool, 

 adding a few drojis of hydrochloric acid. If 

 the underlying liquid becomes cloudy or 

 opaf|ue, the presence of soap is indicated. 



The fourth class of adulterants consists of 

 mineral waxes such as paraffine, ozokerite, 

 etc. The detection of this class depends u]> 

 on the fact that moderately concentrated 

 sulphuric acid does nor decompose paraffine 

 like bodies when boiled for a short time with 

 the sample, while other waxes and fatty acids 

 would be decomposed by such treatment. 



The test is performed by healing five parts 

 by weight of beeswax with twenty-five parts 

 by weight of sulphuric aci<l for fifteen min- 

 utes at 320° F. (160° ('.). If, when the mix- 

 ture has been cooled and cautiously diluted 

 with water, no waxlike body separates, par- 

 affine is absent. 



If the wax has been bleached, then the 



