SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 831 



ence of Japan wax, and, from the light specific gravity also of paraffin, was established, 

 but the question of the presence of beeswax remained undecided. To settle this the 

 author used the difference in behavior of the different ingredients toward sulphuric 

 acid and alcohol. Japan wax, when added to twenty times its weight of concentrated 

 sulphuric acid, the mixture warmed on the water bath and occasionally shaken, gives 

 a clear dark, brown red solution, remaining fluid on cooling. If this solution is 

 again heated until it becomes brownish black and foams, and then added drop by 

 drop to four or five times its volume of alcohol, a dark blackish red (often clear) 

 mixture is obtained, depositing nothing on the surface, or at most a few easily disin- 

 tegrated flocks. The same test made on pure wax gave a dark brown, foaming, 

 cloudy mixture, not liquid after cooling. When again heated till foamed strongly, 

 and then mixed with alcohol (thorough mixture may be obtained by pouring from 

 one test tube to another repeatedly), there is formed on cooling a black, crumbly 

 cake on the surface, which when dissolved in petroleum ether leaves a black powdery 

 substance. The decanted petroleum-ether solution on evaporation gives a black sub- 

 stance which climbs upward on the sides of the dish. This black substance, heated 

 to 300, becomes solid again after cooling. It is smeary and melts under the warmth 

 of the finger. It is of lower specific gravity than wax. 



Paraffin treated with sulphuric acid gives a clear brown mixture, liquid while hot 

 and solidifying on cooling. When again heated and mixed with alcohol of 90 per 

 cent it gives a solid grayish crystalline cake. On evaporation it leaves clear gray 

 margins (not black), and gives a residue of paraffin, completely volatile at 300 to 

 310, with no bad smell. 



The wax tested by the author gave, when treated in the same way, a black but 

 more solid cake than had the yellow wax. This, in dissolving in petroleum ether, left 

 a black substance. The decanted solution left, on evaporation, dark gray margins. 

 The residue had a scarcely recognizable structure, and left, after heating in a mercury 

 bath to 300, a black, solid substance similar to that obtained from wax, of 0.930 "spe- 

 cific gravity. Further heating produced stifling vapors, but complete volatilization 

 was not obtained until nearly 400. 



As by the foregoing tests the Japan wax remained dissolved in the sulphuric acid- 

 alcohol mixture and the black cake indicated wax and paraffin, Hager concluded 

 that the sample contained all three, probably in equal parts. The color was very 

 likely due to curcuma. 



ADULTERATION WITH PARAFFIN.* 



Beeswax is met with in the Philadelphia market adulterated with paraffin to the 

 extent of 80 per cent. It is a trifle translucent on the edges and rings somewhat on 

 being struck. It may also be recognized by a peculiar concavity on the tops of the 

 cakes, beeswax cakes being always either flat or slightly convex, or else having ver- 

 tical fissures running through the block. Melting point, 146 F. (63); specific 

 gravity 0.929. Beeswax cakes were also met with made of black earthy matter, neatly 

 covered with yellow wax. 



DETECTION OF CERESIN IN WAX. t 



For the detection of ceresin (a mixture of "earth wax" and carnauba wax) M. 

 Buchner recommends the determination of the specific gravity. He found genuine 

 wax to have a specific gravity of 0.959 for yellow and 0.955 for white wax, while 

 the specific gravity of samples of ceresin examined by him was between 0.858 and 

 0.901. Pure wax will sink in alcohol of 0.954 to 0.950, while ceresin will float. 



* Proc. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 1875, 498; Amer. Jour. Phann., Nov., 1874. 

 t Dingl. polyt. Jour-, 231, 272; Fres. Zeit. f. a. Chem., 1880, 240. 



