SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 851 



COMPOSITION OF BEESWAX.* 



Beeswax is formed chiefly of two immediate principles, which can be separated, 

 owing to the difference of their solubility in alcohol into cerin and myricin. Bro- 

 die, in his classic work on the constitution of beeswax, has shown that cerin, the 

 parts of beeswax soluble in hot alcohol, is formed essentially of a high fatty acid, 

 viz, cerotic, and that the insoluble part, myricin is the palmitic ether of melissic 

 alcohol. 



Nafzger and Schwalb have shown that the wax contains small quantities of acids 

 related to cerotic, such as melissic acid, as well as some nonsaturated acids of the 

 oleic series, and of alcohols related to cerylic alcohol, such as melissic alcohol, etc., 

 and also some saturated hydrocarbons, such as heptacosane (Ca 7 HW) and hentriacon- 

 tane (Csi H M ). 



Hiibl, Becker, and Hehner have pointed out methods of estimating the free acids 

 and combined acids in wax. They have thus established two particular numbers for 

 wax, which, according to them, characterize it. 



MM. Buisinehave sought many methods for determining the other classes of bodies 

 in wax, notably the nonsaturated acids of the oleic series, the fatty alcohols, and the 

 hydrocarbons. They did not seek to find methods of determining each one of these 

 bodies separately, which would have been a very difficult thing, and of very little 

 practical value; but only for reactions, which would permit each class of bodies to 

 be estimated as a whole and by simple processes, based upon reactions easy to pro- 

 duce, and which could be applied to the practical examination of the wax of com- 

 merce. The methods are as follows : 



Determination of free acids. Hiibl was the first who indicated a practical process 

 for the estimation of free acids in wax, and of fatty bodies in general. It consists 

 in treating the bodies in solution in alcohol by a standard solution of soda, with 

 phenolphtalein as indicator. It is found that 1 gram of wax requires from 19 to 21 

 milligrams of potash to saturate the free acids which it contains. This number cor- 

 responds to a content of from 13.22 to 15.71 percent, of cerotic acid. The authors 

 applied this process to numerous samples of pure French beeswax, and found a vari- 

 ation of from 13.5 to 15.5 per cent in cerotic acid. 



Estimation of all the acids and of the combined acids of wax. Becker has shown that 

 the potash required for the complete neutralization of the acids contained in 1 gram 

 of yellow wax is from 97 to 107 milligrams. 



Hiibl. operating in the same manner as Becker upon wax prepared in the labora- 

 tory and perfectly washed, has found somewhat smaller numbers, viz, 92 to 97 milli- 

 grams of potash for 1 gram of wax. It is believed that this difference is due to the 

 fact that Becker worked upon wax imperfectly washed and retaining traces of honey. 

 If from the above number be subtracted the number representing the free acids (19 to 

 21 milligrams of potash) the number found for the combined acids varies from 73 to 

 76 milligrams of potash for 1 gram of wax. 



Hiibl takes the proportion of the two numbers thus found and shows that the pro- 

 portion should be 1 : 3.6 and 1 : 3.8. 



Hehner translates the results of the titration of the free acids into cerotic acid and 

 the quantity of combined acids into palmitate of myricyle. Wax of English origin 

 examined by Hehner, contained from 13.12 to 15.91 per cent of cerotic acid and from 

 85.95 to 92.08 per cent of palmitate of myricyle. The authors have made this deter- 

 mination upon a certain number of samples of yellow French wax, and the results 

 obtained are given in the following table : 



* MM. A. & P. Buisine, Bull, de la Soc. Chim. de Paris, T. 5, 1890, 867. 



