SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 



823 



on the coloring matters of wax. Chlorine bleaches waxen, but the chlorine is absorbed 

 asiodiue and bromine are, and thus the constitution of the wax is profoundly modified. 

 The composition of waxes bleached in various ways is illustrated iu the following 

 table : 



The composition of waxes decolorized by chemical processes, as is seen from the 

 table, is quite variable. 



The numbers obtained show the modifications which are produced in waxes by the 

 different processes followed in bleaching them. The data enable the analyst to de- 

 cide within certain limits whether a white wax be pure, and by what process it has 

 been bleached, and they will serve as a basis for a further investigation of adultera- 

 tions. 



BLEACHING OF WAX." 



The Jour, de phar. et de chim., 1891, May 15, contains a description of experiments 

 on the bleaching of wax, by A. and P. Buisine. These gentlemen were the first to es- 

 tablish the fact that to obtain a rapid decoloration, both air and light are necessary, 

 and that it is under the direct rays of the sun that the bleaching is best effected. 

 They then state that the combustion of coloring matter is favored by ozone, but only 

 in conjunction with the solar rays. 



In 1885 I published a series of experiments whose results coincide with those of the 

 authors just mentioned. Admitting that light plays a great part in the phenomenon, 

 I wrote : " But it is not known if this part is preponderant ; as for the exposure in 

 the night, that is a vague expression. Besides, how does this exposure determine the 

 bleaching, or at least contribute to it ? In a word, what is the active agent? " Seek- 

 ing to answer these questions, I first observed the influence of light alone, then the 

 effect of light combined with exposure to the " exposure in the night," and, finally, 

 the effect produced by this exposure without the action of light. 



First experiment : Yellow wax was exposed in thin sheets to the action of light, or, 

 to be more accurate, to the successive action of the sun and of diffused light. The 

 action was nearly complete at the end of twelve days. 



Second experiment: The same wax was exposed during the same time to the action 

 of light on one side and the "exposure in the night " on the other. The bleaching 

 was more nearly complete than before. 



* M. H. Barnouvin, Jour, de phar. et de chim., 1891, July 1. 



