THE CHEMISTRY OF THE HIVE. 
589 
Wax, as a secretion of special glands, with its 
circuitous derivation from saccharine substances in 
the body of the bee, and many other related matters, 
have already received attention in Volume I. ; but 
we have yet to consider its chemical constitution, the 
substances used as adulterants, and the method of 
obtaining it in pure form. 
Mr. Hehner has recently independently investigated 
the composition of wax, and has corrected the errors of 
his predecessors. If wax be boiled in alcohol, cerotic * 
acid, forming about 14^ per cent, of the mass, dissolves 
out, while the residue — myricine — remains practically 
unaffected. Cerotic acid crystallises in delicate needles, 
fusing at 172° Fahrenheit, while myricine is greyish- 
white, without crystalline texture, and fuses at 127°. 
If myricine or myricylic palmitate be boiled with an 
alkali, it is broken into two bodies — myricylic alcohol 
and palmitic acid, the latter uniting with the alkali, 
and forming a soap. Wax differs from fat, in that it 
contains no glycerine. The fatty acids, united with 
alkalis, always liberate glycerine, in soap-making, e.g . ; 
but if wax be saponified, no glycerine presents itself, 
and thus the chemist is furnished with a method of 
detecting a certain class of adulterations. 
Much wax is wasted through failing to note that 
lime in water unites with the cerotic acid, forming 
an insoluble lime soap ; so that perfectly pure wax, 
if boiled over hard water, has, after cooling, a curious 
mass of material, greyish in colour and spongy in 
texture, lying under it. Wax should never be melted, 
nor should combs be rendered in any but rain or 
* “The Chemistry of the Hive.” Otto Hehner. 
