SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 847 



By addition of a body belonging to the second class, saponifiable substances, the 

 apparent amount of myricin is increased and that of cerotic acid decreased. Aver- 

 aging the molecular weights of tri-palmitin and tri-stearin, one part of added fat 

 will correspond to 2.391 parts of myricin. Japan wax is stated to consist entirely of 

 palmitin. A pure sample gave free acid corresponding to 6.21 per cent palmitic acid 

 and a saponification number corresponding to 94.12 per cent palmitin, total 100.33. 

 Another somewhat yellow sample gave figures representing 11.93 and 91.38, and a total 

 of 103.31 per cent. An addition of Japan wax to fat would therefore amount to addition 

 of both free fatty acid and fat. and in consequence to an apparent increase in both 

 myriciu and cerotic acid. Spermaceti is too high priced to be used in adulterating 

 wax, but, on the other hand, wax is often added in making sperm candles. Several 

 samples tried were found to be free from free acid. They gave saponification num- 

 bers corresponding on the average to 109.68 per cent of cetyl palmitate. Carnauba 

 wax has been little studied. One specimen was examined which showed an acidity 

 equal to 6.09 per cent of cerotic acid and a saponification number corresponding to 

 92.58 per cent myricin, total 98.67. With alcoholic potash, therefore, carnauba wax 

 closely corresponds to beeswax. Its physical properties are, however, so different 

 and remarkable that it could hardly be largely used as an adulterant, except possi- 

 bly in hardening and giving consistence to wax containing fats. The foregoing sub- 

 stances saponify with different degrees of rapidity. Fat, including Japan wax, breaks 

 up very readily ; next comes spermaceti ; carnauba wax much more slowly, its melt- 

 ing point being higher than the boiling point of alcohol. Ordinary wax is the most 

 tenacious of all. 



Of the third class, represented by paraffin, little need be said. An addition of 

 paraffin decreases both the myricin and cerotic acid, their proportions not being 

 altered. A mixture of wax and paraffin, containing nothing else, offers no difficulty 

 in estimating, as the paraffin may be taken to represent the number left after deduct- 

 ing the sum of myricin and cerotic acid from 100. Its presence can hardly be over- 

 looked in saponification, paraffin being but little soluble in alcohol. It adheres to 

 the sides of the flask in a characteristic way. The specific gravity would also be 

 lower than that of pure wax. But it is quite easy to imagine a mixture of fatty 

 acids, fat and paraffin quite devoid of wax, yet giving analytical results identical 

 with those of wax. A mixture of 9.48 per cent fatty acids, 36.84 per cent of fat, and 

 53.68 per cent of paraffin would show on analysis 14.40 per cent of cerotic acid and 

 88.09 of myricin. 



Paraffin may be estimated directly by heating a weighed quantity of the wax with 

 from five to ten times its volume of sulphuric acid to about 130. Volumes of sulphur 

 dioxide are given off, the fluid frothing and rising considerably. After about ten 

 minutes heating the mass becomes almost solid, it is allowed to cool, the acid 

 washed out with water, and the residue exhausted with ether. The paraffin thus 

 obtained is re-treated with a little sulphuric acid to destroy particles of wax escaping 

 the first treatment, again washed, and extracted. 



Having obtained the per cent of paraffin in any mixture, the other ingredients may 

 be obtained by the use of the following formulae : Let A be the per cent in the paraf- 

 fin-free mixture of free acid calculated as cerotic, and B the per cent of saponinable 

 matter calculated as myricin ; let X be the unknown per cent of cerotic acid, Y that 

 of fatty acid, Z that of myricin, and W that of fat, in a mixture containing fatty' 

 acid, fat, and wax, either separately or all together. Now, 



1. X + 1. 518 Y = A, whence Y = ^-l*: 



1.518 



2. Z + 2.391 W = B? , MW B 6.117 X 



3. Z 1 6.117 X {whence W= 



4. 



