92 
MR. BRODIE ON xMYRICIN. 
by crystallization out of alcohol, ether or absolute alcohol, great variations in the 
melting-point both of the acid and of the basic substance will be observed. And 
careful observation shows that these are not, as in the case of the Chinese wax, sub- 
stances in a state of comparative chemical purity, but are mixtures, both in the case 
of the acid and of the other matter, of at least two bodies difficultly separable from 
one another. It is the separation of these substances which gives a peculiar difficulty 
to the investigation of the nature of myricin. 
Although the acid and basic products of the saponification may thus, as in the 
case of the Chinese wax, be separated by precipitation of the soap by a baryta salt, 
in the case of the bees’- wax these substances admit of a simpler method of separation, 
Avithout which method, so difficult is it to wash perfectly out the baryta salt, that I 
question whether the substances could be obtained pure. The soap, in whatever 
way the saponification may have been effected, and after the alcohol, if any, used for 
the saponification has been distilled off, is to be dissolved in a large quantity of water, 
and the boiling solution decomposed by an acid. The melted mass which results 
from this operation, after having been repeatedly boiled out with water, is to be dis- 
solved in a large quantity of hot alcohol. An abundant precipitate appears in the 
cold fluid from which the solution is to be filtered, and the precipitate repeatedly 
redissolved and recrystallized out of alcohol. The precipitate will at length be found 
to consist, almost entirely, of the basic portion of this waxy matter. The alcoholic 
solution contains the acid. 
I shall proceed to give the simplest method by which the pure substances may be 
obtained, and those experiments which I have made upon their constitution, which 
I think can leave no doubt upon the mind of the chemist as to the true nature of 
that matter of which by far the greater portion of the myricin and, indeed, of the 
wax itself consists. 
The first separation of the products of saponification may be made as I have 
stated, by combining the acid with baryta and washing out the resulting salts with 
ether ; the basic portion of the products may be obtained as pure by this as by the 
other method. 
Melissin. 
If the substance contained in the etherial solution, With which the baryta salt is 
washed out, be crystallized out of ether or alcohol, the melting-point will be con- 
siderably raised, from below 70° C. to above 80°, by repeated crystallization. The 
difficulty with which the melting-point was raised, made it evident that the substances 
contained in the solution were to be separated only by long crystallization and a 
careful attention to the variations of the melting-points. I made various experiments 
to discover a satisfactory method of purification. At length I found that if the 
etherial solution be filtered while yet warm, and when only a small portion of matter 
has crystallized out, a substance remains on the filter of a melting-point of 85° C. 
of a satiny lustre, and of highly crystalline appearance. It is with difficulty that 
