120 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 



used wholly or in part in comb-foundation in the United 

 States. This statement came from Canada a short time 

 ago, and now it is repeated by the chief chemist of the 

 United States, and I say in my editorial there are only a 

 few manufacturers of comb foundation in the United 

 States. If they put paraffin in wax they know it, and we 

 want to know it. If they don't do it, it will not be a very 

 hard thing for them to prove it. If they do do it, it will 

 be a very easy thing for the United States' chemists to 

 prove. Now this subject of foundation is up, I think it 

 would be a good time to hear from the comb-foundation 

 makers right now as to what they have to say in answer 

 to Dr. Wiley. I have had my say in the paper, and it will 

 appear in the next issue, and I want to know if they put 

 paraffin in foundation. 



Mr. Dadant — I will give you three methods by which 

 you can all detect, without chemical analysis, whether 

 comb foundation is pure or not, and you can test it with 

 your own beeswax, comparatively. The first test we have 

 is the HEAT TEST. It is the most delicate because you have 

 to get the exact heat at the exact spot. Foundation is a 

 little more brittle, a little more in pieces than solid bees- 

 wax. Therefore you will heat the foundation more readily 

 than beeswax. A lump of beeswax that is round or large 

 will not heat so readily through as sheet foundation full 

 of holes. Therefore you must expect your foundation 

 to melt a little more readily. Between 135 and 150 is the 

 temperature, but your thermometers may vary a little. 

 You take a piece of beeswax, tie it to the thermometer, 

 take it to the right spot, put it in a pint bottle, put the 

 stopper in it, put it on the stove, and see at what degree 

 that thin beeswax melts. Do the same with the sheet 

 foundation, and see whether it melts at the same or about 

 the same temperature. Another test is the saponification 

 TEST. That is the changing of beeswax into soap; it will 

 change to soap as grease will. It is no longer beeswax. 

 Take lye and heat it, and take beeswax and melt it, and 

 pour the two together and it will no longer be beesv/ax; 

 if it is paraffin it will be paraffin. The paraffin will 

 pour out just the same as before. The paraffin is a min- 

 eral substance which is not at all touched by lye, while 

 beeswax is absolutely dissolved by lye. 



The third test is specific gravity. Beeswax is heavier 

 or lighter than other substances of the same kind. That 

 is another very fine test, because if there is a little bulb 

 of air in your specimen, whether beeswax or foundation, 

 you will change the specific gravity. It is very difficult to 

 make that test, but you can. A specimen that has a great 

 deal of paraffin of one kind will flow where beeswax 

 would go with the foundation. The way to do is this: 

 Take water and put pure beeswax into it. Pour in alcohol 

 until the beeswax goes to the bottom. The beeswax is 

 then heavier than the solution which you have of water 

 and alcohol. Then you are ready to test any samples 



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