170 MR. BRODIE ON THE CHEMICAL NATURE OF A WAX FROM CHINA. 
was given off. The oil which had collected at the other end of the tube was a mix- 
ture of hydrocarbons of various boiling-points, from 75° C. to above 260° C. No trace 
of solid matter was to be seen. 
If from the products of decomposition we turn to the analysis of the Chinese wax 
itself, we find numbers which are perfectly consistent with the idea that the chemical 
position of this body is among the class of compound ethers, where its reactions also 
would lead us to place it. 
To purify the substance, it is to be crystallized out of naphtha and alcohol ; washed 
with ether to remove the naphtha ; boiled with water and crystallized again out of 
absolute alcohol, in which it is soluble, although with difficulty. Its melting-point is 
82° C. 
I. 0‘2644 grm. gave 0’798 COg and 0'323 HO. 
II. 0’2622 grm. gave 0*79 CO 2 and 0'3205 HO, 
which give in 100 parts — 
I. II. 
Carbon . . . 82-31 82-16 
Hydrogen . . . 13-57 13-58 
Oxygen ... 4-12 4-26 
100-00 100-00 
These numbers agree with the formula 
C 108 ... 648 82-23 
HjQg . . . 108 13-71 
O 4 ... 32 4-06 
788 100-00 
This formula affords us a simple solution of the decompositions of this substance 
by saponification and by heat. 
In the former case, 
^ A 
^108 1^108 O4 + KO, H 0 = C54 H53 O3, KO-1-C54 H56 O2. 
In the latter, 
^108 Hios 04=^54 H54 04-f-C54 H54. 
It is my intention shortly to offer to the Society another communication, on the 
nature of myricin from bees’-wax ; but I will now take the opportunity of stating 
that I have discovered in the investigation two wax substances of the formulae 
^60 1^62 ^2 ^92 ^92 ^ 4 ' 
