112 FATS 



by the fat-splitting ferments (lipases), and it is only with comparative 

 difficulty that they are split into their components .by alkalies. They 

 are hydrolyzed by bacteria, and hence do not turn sour or "rancid" 

 on standing. While their high melting-points prevent them from being 

 " sticky" or exhibiting any of the characteristic properties of fluids or 

 oils at ordinary temperatures, yet they retain the " greasy" or slippery 

 qualities of the fats (more accurately expressed as the possession of a 

 low coefficient of friction), and their insolubility in water, a com- 

 bination of qualities which renders them ideal and indeed indispens- 

 able agents for polishing and waterproofing the surfaces of rough or 

 porous materials. 



In the skull of the white whale or cachelot (Physeter macrocephalus) , 

 there is found a large cavity which during life, is filled with an oily 

 liquid. This liquid partially solidifies after the death of the animal, 

 and consequent fall in temperature, and separates into two portions, 

 a solid crystalline part ordinarily called Spermaceti and a liquid known 

 as Spermaceti-oil. Spermaceti is also found in some other whales 

 and in certain species of dolphins. 



Purified spermaceti is a mixture of fatty acid esters of monatomic 

 alcohols. The chief constituent is the palmitic acid ester of Cetyl 

 Alcohol, Ci e H 33 OH, mixed with small quantities of the lauric, myristic 

 and stearic acid esters of the twelve, fourteen and eighteen carbon 

 atom alcohols of the paraffin series (general formula C n H 2n +iOH). 



Spermaceti is used for making "wax-candles," as a finishing material 

 or waterproof polish, and in pharmacy as a means of stiffening emol- 

 lients and salves, and raising their melting-point, particularly in hot 

 climates. Spermaceti-oil is a very valuable lubricant for small and 

 delicate machinery or apparatus. 



The Beeswax of commerce is a digestion-product of the honey-bee, 

 Apis mellifica. It is elaborated by special glands and the production 

 of honey and wax stand in inverse proportion to one another, the pro- 

 duction of one gramme of wax diminishing the yield of honey by from 

 ten to fourteen grammes. Regarding the mode of origin of the wax 

 from the foodstuffs of the bee, we are wholly in the dark. 



The chief constituent of beeswax is the palmitic acid ester of Myricyl 

 Alcohol C 30 H 6 iOH with an admixture of other acids and esters. Bees- 

 wax is employed in a variety of industries too numerous to mention 

 here, it is an important constituent of a variety of commercial waxes, 

 which are prepared by the admixture of paraffin and other substances 

 with the beeswax to obtain the combination of physical qualities which 

 is desired for the purposes for which the wax is to be employed. Adulter- 

 ation with paraffin and other non-saponifiable materials may be 

 detected by the low saponification-value of the mixture, the sapomfica- 

 tion-value of pure beeswax lying between 90 and 97. 



Waxes are produced by a variety of insects, notably the Hymenoi)- 

 tera (wasps and bees) and Homoptem (cicadas and scale insects). 

 Japan Wax (or Chinese Wax) is obtained from a scale-insect which 



