PHILIPPINE BEESWAX! 



By Harvey C. Brill and Francisco Agcaoili 



(From the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Bureau of Science, 



Manila, P. I.) 



The determination of the purity of beeswax is a somewhat 

 difficult matter, especially so when the adulteration is slight or 

 ingenuity has been practiced in the preparation of the adulter- 

 ated product. 



Seiichi Neno ' has given figures for the beeswax of Korea and 

 states that these are not different from the constants of the 

 beeswax of Japan and India, but are different from the constants 

 for the European and American products. 



The beeswax of Korea is produced by Apis indica; that of 

 India by A. indica, A. florea, and A. dorsata; that of Europe 

 and America by A. mellifica; that of the Philippine Islands by 

 A. zonata, A. dorsata, and A. indica. According to the figures 

 given by the Bureau of Customs of the Philippine Islands ' 

 42,602 kilograms of beeswax were exported in 1913 and 44,148 

 kilograms in 1914. 



In view of the difference in the properties of the Japanese 

 and Korean waxes from the European and American and the 

 likelihood of the local waxes being different and in order that 

 standards might be established for the determination of the 

 purity of any samples submitted for examination and thus 

 honesty in the preparation of the commercial product be en- 

 couraged, the Bureau of Science has determined the constants 

 of a number of samples of local beeswax. 



Samples were purified by boiling in water, then separating 

 from the impurities and drying at 100° C. 



For the purpose of comparison some results found by Shi- 

 basaki * for Japanese beeswax and by Neno ' for Korean beeswax 

 are included. 



' Received for publication January 11, 1916. 

 'Analyst (1915), 40, 343. 



* Bur. Customs, Foreign Commerce of the Philippine Islands, Manila 

 (1915). 



* Analyst (1915), 40, 343. 



* Ibid. 



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