846 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



The foregoing results may be conveniently examined in two divisions : samples 

 1 to 18 comprising samples from various English sources, and 19 to 35, exotic produc- 

 tions. 



Excluding sample No. 4, fused from the conib, on account of the sample having been 

 palpably impure with suspended matters which could not be separated, the size of 

 sample being too small ; and sample 10 as having been made from comb containing 

 foundation, it is at once seen that the figures fluctuated only between narrow limits. 

 Only one of the samples contained less than 13 per cent of free acid calculated as 

 cerotic, 4 between 13 and 14, 7 between 14 and 15, and 4 between 15 and 16, the 

 average amount being 14.40 per cent. The saponifiable matter, calculated as rnyri- 

 cin, was in one case less than 86, in one between 86 and 87, in 6 between 87 and 88, 

 in 4 between 88 and 89, and in 4 between 89 and 89.6, the average being 88.09 per 

 cent. In all cases is the sum of myricin plus cerotic acid somewhat higher than 

 100, it reaching on the average 102.49. While these figures prove conclusively that 

 English beeswax consists almost completely of cerotic acid and myricin, they also 

 corroborate the existence of a substance of low molecular weight in wax in small 

 quantity. It is probably cerolein. It was thought possible that during the pro- 

 longed boiling of the alcoholic potash solution, some of the alkali might be neutral- 

 ized by the silica of the glass, the quantity destroyed of course counting in the 

 analysis as myricin, and thus bringing the total above 100. But this is not the case, 

 for in a blank experiment not the slightest diminution of strength could be observed 

 after 50 cc of alcoholic potash had been kept briskly boiling for one hour. It must 

 be considered as established by these results that the composition of wax is remark- 

 able for its constancy. In English wax the ratio of cerotic acid to myricin isl: 

 6.117. In the foreign samples the fluctuations are much more extensive, but due 

 allowance should be made for the fact that they were derived from a great variety 

 of different insects, yet the discrepancies are more likely due to the men who collected 

 and put the samples into marketable form, than to the insects that produced them. 

 For this belief testifies the fact that while some of the samples of Mogador and Mau- 

 ritius wax corresponded closely to the English samples, others showed a great increase 

 in the saponifiable matters calculated as myricine. The soft, smeary Mogadores were 

 obviously mixed with some fat ; some of the Mauritius specimens appeared burnt 

 in process of melting out of the comb. And lastly, it is not a little significant that 

 the price of the normal samples is considerably above that of the specimens which 

 gave excessive totals. 



SUBSTANCES USED FOR ADULTERATING. 



These may be grouped in three classes : (1) acid substances ; (2) neutral but sapon- 

 ifiable substances ; and (3) matters indifferent to potash. 



The first class embraces the solid fatty acids, mainly palmitic and stearic, and the 

 acids which constitute resin, particularly sylvic acid. The second class is made of 

 neutral solid glycerides viz, stearin and palmitin of Japan wax, spermaceti, and 

 carnauba wax. The only represeutative of the third division for all practical pur- 

 poses is paraffin. Solid alcohols of high molecular weight, such as cety lie or myricylic, 

 also belong to this class, but being unmarketable they need not be taken into ac- 

 count. 



Both compounds constituting the wax possess a higher equivalent weight than any 

 other substances belonging to the fatty series occurring in nature, excepting a fatty 

 acid recently discovered by Mr. Kingzett in cacao butter. 



A substance of the first class, say stearic acid, would inordinately increase the ap- 

 parent per cent of cerotic acid (1 per cent of stearic acid possesses the neutralizing 

 power of 1.443 per cent of cerotic) and depress the myricin. One part of palmitic 

 acid corresponds to 1.601 of cerotic and 1 part of resin to 1.246. The two fatty acids, 

 stearic and palmitic, never being found alone, but always mixed and in variable ratio, 

 an average between the two in approximating to the per cent of added fatty acids, 

 viz, 1.518, should be taken. 



