vegetable Wax from Brazil. 2 63 
At 20 6 ° Fahrenheit, it enters into perfect fusion, and in 
this state it may be further purified, by passing it through fine 
linen. By this process, it acquires a dirty green colour, and 
its peculiar smell becomes more evident. When cold, it is 
moderately hard and brittle. Its specific gravity is ,980. 
2. Water exerts no action on the wax, unless boiled with 
it for some hours ; it then acquires a slight brown tinge, and 
the peculiar odour of the wax. 
3. Alcohol does not dissolve any portion of the wax, unless 
heat be applied. 
Two fluid ounces of boiling alcohol, spec. grav. ,826, dis- 
solve about ten grains of the wax, of which eight grains are 
deposited as the solution cools, and the remaining two grains 
may be afterwards precipitated by the addition of water, or 
may be obtained unaltered by evaporating the alcohol. 
The solution of the wax in alcohol has a slightly green 
tinge. 
4. Sulphuric ether, spec. grav. .7563, dissolves a very mi- 
nute portion of the wax, at the temperature of 6 o°. 
Two fluid ounces of boiling sulphuric ether dissolve thirty 
grains of the wax, of which twenty-six grains are deposited 
by cooling the solution, and the remaining four grains may 
be obtained by allowing the ether to evaporate spontane- 
ously. 
5. The fixed oils very readily dissolve the wax at the tem- 
perature of boiling water, and form with it compounds of an 
intermediate consistence, very analogous to those which are 
obtained with common bees wax. 
In examining some combinations which I had made of the 
vegetable wax with olive oil, I was surprised to find them 
