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XXI. 



THE ANALYSIS OF BEESWAX. 



By HUGH RYAN, M.A., D.Sc, F.E.U.I., 



University College, Dublin. 



[Read May 25. Ordered for Pulilicatiou June 8. Published July 17, 1909.] 



If we regard beeswax as a secretion of the honey bee {Apis mellifica), we 

 should expect that the composition of the wax would be more or less 

 constant, and that it would to some extent depend on the variety of the 

 bee by which it was secreted. 



The determination of constants, sixch as the melting-point, the specific 

 gravity, Acid Number, Ester Number, Ratio Number, and Iodine Number, 

 showed that the composition of genuine beeswax varies only between 

 comparatively narrow limits, while the composition of other waxes, such 

 as Indian Ghedda wax, secreted by Ajns clorsata, florea, and indica, and 

 bumble-bee wax, secreted by Bombus terrestris, may differ widely from that 

 of true beeswax. The following table illustrates the difference between 

 true beeswax and Indian Ghedda wax : — 



The more commonly employed criteria of the purity of a beeswax sample 

 are the melting-point, the specific gravity, the Acid and Ester Numbers. 

 It is, however, possible to prepare so-called " composition " waxes, containing 

 no beeswax, which will have Acid and Ester Numbers lying between the 

 limits given in the above table for beeswax. Thus a mixture of lO'lS parts 

 of stearic acid, 38-6 parts of beef tallow, and 51'25 parts of paraffin will 

 have Acid Number 20, Ester Number 75, and contain 51'25 per cent, of 

 unsaponifiable matter ; but to determine the percentage of such a com- 



1 G. Bucbner. Chem. Ztg. xxx. (1906), p. 528. 



