SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 819 



ture shaken. In another similar flask 40 cc chloroform and 25 cc iodine 

 solution (but no wax) were placed. The flasks were then placed in a 

 dark closet, where they remained three hours. Fifteen cc of a 10 per 

 cent solution of potassium iodide and 100 cc. of water were then placed 

 in each flask and the free iodine titrated with standard solution of sodium 

 thiosulphate. The iodine found in the first flask deducted from that 

 found in the second, gave the amount absorbed by the 2 grams of wax. 

 The "iodine number" expresses the per cent of iodine absorbed. 



Determination of specific gravity. The specific gravities were all taken 

 at 100. A specific gravity bottle was filled with distilled water, plunged 

 neck deep in a bath of boiling water, and kept the*e for half an hour. 

 The stopper, which was perforated, was then inserted, the bottle re- 

 moved from the bath, allowed to cool to room temperature, and weighed. 

 It was then emptied, washed with alcohol and ether, dried, and re- 

 weighed. The difference between the weighings gave the weight of the 

 water held at 100. This, divided by 0.95865 (Bossetti's figure for the 

 density of water at 100) gave the capacity at 100 in cubic centimeters 

 (true air). It was then filled with melted wax, again plunged into the 

 bath, in which it was kept for half an hour, the stopper inserted, the 

 wax wiped off, and cooled and weighed. The wiping off was facilitated 

 by keeping the surface of the bottle hot by occasionally letting hot water 

 from a tap run over it. The weight of the wax contained, divided by 

 the weight of water contained at 100, gave the figures put down in the 

 column headed " times water at 100." The weight of the wax was then 

 divided by the number of cubic centimeters held by the specific gravity 

 bottle at 100, and the figures thus obtained placed under the head 

 "weight of one cc at 100." 



ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS RELATING TO WAX AND ITS ADULTERATIONS. 



The literature relating to wax and its adulterations is so fragmentary 

 and scattered as to make it desirable to collect brief abstracts thereof 

 for convenience of reference. Such an attempt is beset with many dif- 

 ficulties, chief of which is the labor of condensing the material into a 

 manageable space, retaining at the same time the essential features of 

 the original articles. 



It is proper to mention here that many of the tests and methods of 

 analysis proposed in the following abstracts are valueless, and even 

 misleading, but it is advisable that analysts be fully informed of the 

 work already done, even if it be without value, in order that they may 

 avoid its repetition. In many of the methods cited, moreover, no com- 

 parative tests have been made by this division, the inaccuracy of the 

 methods being recognized from the work of others. All the more prom- 

 ising methods, however, have been tried, and the scheme of analysis 

 finally adopted for our own work has been fashioned in accordance with 

 the results of these tests. Fortunately the chemist has rarely presented 

 for his examination a substance offering so many analytical difficulties 



