512 
SECOND REPORT— 1832 . 
cisely the same composition, and is changed into it by solution 
in boiling water. The gums of the cherry-, apricot-, prune-, 
peach-, and almond-tree are of this kind. 
Vegetable and bees-wax. —Opperman has analysed two spe¬ 
cies of vegetable wax and one of bees-wax, with the following 
results: 
Car. Hyd. Oxy. 
Vegetable wax from Japan . . 70*96 . . 12*07 . . 16*95 
■--— Brazil . . 72*25 . . 12*70 . . 14*07* 
Bees-wax.8T29 . . 14*07 . . 4*63 
All that we can gather from these analyses is, that the several 
kinds of solid fat of which each of the above is a mixture, are 
probably of the same nature in the two kinds of vegetable wax, 
but different from those contained in bees-wax. 
Oil of turpentine — Artificial camphor. —He has also ana¬ 
lysed oil of turpentine and artificial camphor, and obtained from 
them 
Car. Hyd. 
Oil of turpentine, . . 84*59, 11*73, Oxy. 3*67 =60C-j-51 H + O 
Artificial camphor, . 72*80, 9*47, Chi. 17*71 s= 12 C + 9 H-j-(C1 +H) 
These analyses establish two interesting points,—that oil of 
turpentine contains oxygen, and that in artificial the carbon 
and hydrogen are in the same proportion as in natural cam¬ 
phor (4:), according to the results of Liebig. 
Resins and Gum resins —■ Acid bodies. —The resins and gum 
resins have been much investigated, and with great success, by 
Unverdorben. In a series of elaborate memoirs he has shown 
that manv of the known resins are mixtures of several sub- 
%> 
stances of the same class, which may be separated from each 
other generally by the action of alcohol and aether. Thus 
Sandarak is a mixture of three gums, Copal of five, Benzoin of 
three, Guiac of two, and Gum lac and Colophony also of several. 
He has shown likewise, that all these resinous bodies possess 
electro-negative properties, forming salts with oxides in definite 
proportions. These compounds are decomposed by the elec¬ 
tric current, the resins being attracted to the positive, and the 
oxides to the negative wire. The alcoholic solutions of these 
bodies also redden litmus, so that there can be no doubt of 
their electro-negative character, though it would not only un¬ 
necessarily extend the meaning of the term acid, but also un¬ 
necessarily overburden the nomenclature, to apply the term 
to all these faintly negative substances, and to form classes of 
salts of their many obscure compounds. The labours of L n- 
* Henry has also analysed a vegetable wax obtained'by Nicollet from juni¬ 
per berries, in which he found carbon 65-4, hydrogen 7*3, and oxygen 27*3. 
