100 
MR. BRODIE ON MYRICIN. 
My own experiments confirm the analyses of Ettling, and the constitution 
originally assigned to the substance, to which theoretical considerations also lead. 
But I cannot see any reason to believe the wax hydrocarbon to be identical with the 
paraffin of Reichenbach. This name of paraffin has been applied indiscriminately 
to the whole class of solid hydrocarbons, which have, or have nearly the formula 
H^, the identity of which has been taken for granted, in the absence of any true 
knowledge as to the chemical nature of the substances from the decomposition of 
which by heat they are produced. The different melting-points however of these 
substances point out to us at once a distinction between them. The paraffin of 
M. Lewy melted at 46°’8. A specimen of the paraffin of wood given to me by Pro- 
fessor Liebig, and which that gentleman received from Reichenbach, its discoverer, 
melted at 43°’5 C. ; Ettling’s paraffin at 57° to 58° C. I confess it is difficult for me 
to conceive what substance in a state approaching to purity Lewy analysed from the 
wax having the melting-point he has given, since nothing is easier than to raise the 
melting-point of the paraffin from the wax to 56° C., although beyond this any 
change is effected with difficulty. 
Cerin alone gives on distillation hardly a trace of this hydrocarbon, while it forms 
a principal product of the distillation of myricin. The palmitic acid is separated by 
saponification, and the general preparation of the substance is the same as in the 
similar case of the ceroten from Chinese wax, to which substance it is closely analo- 
gous. If the hydrocarbon from the distillation of the pure myricin, the acids having 
been boiled out with potash, be pressed out in a press between blotting-paper, it will 
have a melting-point of about 56° C. This can be raised by further crystallization 
out of ether to 60° C. The analysis of the substance in this condition shows the 
presence of some body containing oxygen, in addition to the hydrocarbon. 
CO,. HO. 
0‘2606 grm. of this substance gave .... 0'8094 0*3402 
giving in 100 parts, — 
Carbon 84*74 
Hydrogen .... 14*51 
Oxygen .... 0*75 
10000 
Another analysis gave similar results. This led me to prepare the substance in 
rather a different manner. The paraffin having been carefully pressed out in the 
manner described, was rectified over potassium, which destroys the oxygen com- 
pound. The distillate is perfectly white : it contains a little oil, which may again 
be pressed out. By crystallization out of pure ether, the melting-point may now be 
raised to 62° C. This substance was analysed. 
COa. HO. 
0*261 grm. gave . . . 0*8165 0*3393 
