Oils and Fats, 



113 



[Feb. 1908. 



appearance of marble. In order to 

 obtain the wax resin the tree has to be 

 cut down and scraped. A labourer can 

 cut down and scrape two trees in a day, 

 and as each tree yields on an average 

 1 2£ kilos of each substance, he can gain 

 25 kilos a day which lie can sell at a 

 price of about 34 pfenning per kilo. 

 The wax resin is likewise used for the 

 manufacture of candles if it is mixed 

 with tallow. This is not the only use ot 

 the palm. The wood of ihe straight 

 hijih trunk is very durable, and it is used 

 as a building material for houses, boats, 

 water works, etc. The leaves can be 

 used for the thatching of roofs, and the 

 upper part of (he trunk is covered with 

 fibres, like those of the Gomuit and 

 Pissavas palm. 



It is surprising that the cultivation of 

 the mountain palm has not yet been 

 considered, as an otherwise useless soil 

 can be made productive by means of 

 them in contrast to the palms of the 

 low land. 



CARNAUBA WAX. 



This substance, also known by the 

 name of Ceara wax, which has been 

 found in European commerce for several 

 decades, comes from the Carnauba palm, 

 a beautiful fanpalm, which, according 

 to Martins, grows in the damp soils of 

 the Brazilian provinces, Parnambuca, 

 Rio Grande and Ceara. 



The above named scientist says that 

 the wax of this palm comes from young 

 leaves. According to Senler, the young 

 leaves are used for the obtaining of wax 

 at that stage of development when they 

 spread themselves out like a fan, showing 

 a bright yellow colour on the under side. 

 The Carnauba leaves which Wiesner 

 saw at the Paris Exhibition (1867), and 

 which were used for the manufacture 

 of wax, were one metre in length. 



Wiesner found that the wax covers 

 the under as well as the upper side of 

 the leaf, it appears to the naked eye as 

 a perfectly even covering. The layer of 

 wax is thicker on the upper side of the 

 leaf. The wax comes off this side of 

 the leaf in the shape <f thin scales, 

 5 mm. long. The wax layer on the under 

 side of the leaf is not only thinner, but 

 it adheres so closely that it can only 

 be obtained by scraping the leaves. 

 The wax scales show very interesting 

 structures, for instance, they show on 

 the under side a. very accurate impres- 

 sion of the marking of the epidermis. 

 The scales reproduce very clearly the 

 impression of the epidermis and of the 

 stomata, especially of the latter, and 

 they show distinctly that all the cells 

 belonging to the epidermis take part 



in the excretion of the wax. The cells 

 consist entirely of microscopic rods, 

 sometimes cylindrical, sometimes pris- 

 matic in shape, lying at right angles to 

 the leaf surface. 



The extraction of the Carnauba. wax 

 is as follows : —The leaves are carefully 

 cut off and dried in a situation where 

 they can be laid on the ground in long 

 rows with the under side upwards. 

 After 4-5 days they are put in a heap 

 and leaf for leaf is beaten with a stick 

 until it is entirely free from wax. The 

 wax comes off as a greyish white powder, 

 which is either melted over an open fire 

 or boiled with a little water in a pot. 

 Another method is to dip the leaves 

 directly into hot water and the excre- 

 tion of wax on the upper surface is 

 collected. The wax is put in this liquid 

 condition into earthen moulds and left 

 to settle into cakes of about 2 kilos. 

 The raw carnauba wax obtained in this 

 way formerly came in large quantities 

 to England and other parts of Europe 

 where it was refined by remelting. At 

 present it is refined before exportation 

 from Brazil, and forms a not unimport- 

 ant article of commerce. In the year 

 1876 the yield was estimated more than 

 2,000,000 'kilos, of which 1,500,000 kilos 

 were exported to Europe. 



The raw Carnauba wax is of a dirty 

 yellowish green colour, brown in so^ie 

 parts and traversed by small bubbles. 

 It appears opaque to the naked eye, 

 except where the bubbles occur, but by 

 means of a lens you can detect that it is 

 covered with minute air bubbles all 

 through. It forms into lumps or cakes 

 which are of a darker colour on the 

 outside, and they are covered with a 

 whitish tinge which consists of a crys 

 talline substance. 



This kind of wax is hard, brittle, taste- 

 less, it smells slightly of Cumarin when 

 io is fresh, later on it is odourless. It 

 shows much more clearly the confirma- 

 tion of rods than the refined wax. In 

 places it shows a fibrous tissue radially 

 arranged. The irregular structure of 

 the raw material can be seen much 

 better under the polarising microscope 

 than in the refined carnauba wax, and 

 the prismatic colours stand out more 

 clearly in many parts. Some parts of 

 this kind of wax are of a dark brown. 

 Remains especially of the epidermis 

 are often found in it. The raw wax 

 when heated melts down as a greenish 

 brown substance and in which numerous 

 brown globules float. These globules 

 have, according to Wiesner, a granular 

 structure of a dark brown colour, and 

 melt at a much higher temperature than 

 the wax ; they only dissolve with diffi- 

 culty in alcohol. 



