102 
MR. BRODIE ON MYRICIN. 
requires — 
C92. 
H92 
O4 . 
Atomic weight- 
81-65 
552 
13-60 
92 
14-75 
32 
100-00 
6/6 
leaving- a difference of one and a half per cent, of carbon, a difference too great to be 
attributed to any accidental error. 
I have stated that the decompositions of the myricin are far from being so simple 
as those of the Chinese wax, and that in order to obtain either the acid or the wax 
alcohol, long and repeated crystallizations are necessary. This at once led me to the 
suspicion that the so-called myricin was no pure chemical substance, but a mixture 
of two or more bodies. Subsequent experiment confirmed this view. 
The residue of the wax, after the cerotic acid has been boiled out by alcohol, 
melts at 64° C. It is but very slightly soluble in alcohol. Pure ether, however, will 
dissolve it without much difficulty. It crystallizes out of this reagent in light feathery 
crystals. The precipitate and the residue from the solution, evaporated to dryness, 
have different melting-points. I succeeded in this manner in raising the melting- 
point of the precipitate to 71°‘5. This end may be more readily obtained by adding 
a small quantity of naphtha to the ether. 
The following analyses were made of a substance of 72°, which after repeated cry- 
stallizations was precipitated on the filter out of the hot solution, the filter being 
kept hot by means of a hot water apparatus. I have not succeeded in raising the 
melting-point beyond 72°. The substance is now highly crystalline in appearance, 
which the impure myricin is not, and of about the consistency of wax. I regard it in 
this state as pure. 
CO,. 
HO. 
I*. 0-2592 grin, of substance 
gave . . 
. . 0-7735 
0-3135 
II. 0-2243 grm. of substance 
gave . . 
. . 0-672 
0-269 
which give in 100 parts, — 
I. 
II. 
Carbon . . . 
81-38 
81-70 
Hydrogen . . . 
13-44 
13-33 
Oxygen . . . 
5-18 
4-97 
100-00 
100-00 
These numbers are very different from any which have been before obtained for 
any substance from the myricin, and different from those which I myself have ob- 
* The thorough combustion of these waxes is difficult, and I have made many experiments to ascertain the 
best method of analysis. Bichromate of lead was the material generally employed. But when the combustion 
is made very slowly, I believe it to be complete even with oxide of copper alone. The greater number of such 
analyses in this investigation were made by my chemical assistant, Mr. L. Hoffmann, to whose care and skill 
I am much indebted. 
