Am.  Jour  Pharm.") 
February,  1897.  J 
Pure  Spermaceti. 
107 
gravities  embodied  in  the  present  paper  were  all  taken  during  the 
cold  weather  of  December,  1896. 
To  throw  further  light  on  this  point,  further  observations  were 
made.  The  writer  has  in  his  possession  a  sample  of  crude  sperm 
oil;  on  cooling,  spermaceti  crystallizes  out  and  floats  indifferently 
on  the  liquid  at  about  220  C;  the  specific  gravity  of  this  mixture  at 
22°  C.  is  0  8846,  which  would  approximate  0  8900  very  closely  at  1 50 
C.  Next,  a  sample  of  spermaceti,  having  a  specific  gravity  of  o  9385 
at  1 50  C.  by  the  suspensory  method,  was  dissolved  with  20  per 
cent,  of  paraffin,  having  a  specific  gravity  of  0  9132  at  150  C.  by  the 
same  method.  This  mixture  possessed  a  specific  gravity  of  o  945 
by  the  same  method.  The  same  spermaceti,  with  an  admixture 
of  33  per  cent,  of  paraffin,  had  a  specific  gravity  of  0-946  at  150  C. 
by  the  suspensory  method.  The  experiments  again  indicate  that 
the  conclusion  arrived  at  above  is  correct. 
In  view  of  the  possibility  of  obtaining  such  variable  results  for 
the  specific  gravity  of  solid  spermaceti  it  is  necessary  to  detail  ex- 
actly the  conditions  under  which  the  observations  are  made,  or  the 
results  are  worthless. 
The  writer  recommends  that  the  specific  gravity  of  this  substance 
be  taken  at  the  boiling  point  of  water.  The  results  by  this  process 
are  uniform  and  concordant.  This  is  done  as  follows :  Pour  the 
melted  spermaceti  into  the  warmed  pycnometer,  insert  the  stopple 
and  plunge  the  bottle  immediately  into  boiling  water,  to  such  a 
depth  that  the  neck  of  the  bottle  only  projects.  Keep  the  water 
boiling  for  one  hour,  remove  the  bottle,  wipe  well,  cool  and  weigh. 
This  gives  the  weight  of  a  given  volume  of  spermaceti  at  the 
temperature  of  boiling  water. 
The  conclusions  arrived  at  in  the  previous  article  are  fully  sup- 
ported by  the  observations  made  in  this  communication,  except  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  solid  material.  To  this  constant  a  greater 
degree  of  variableness  must  be  ascribed,  depending  entirely  on  the 
crystalline  or  non-crystalline  condition  of  the  spermaceti  oper- 
ated on. 
Before  closing  the  writer  desires  to  kindly  thank  all  who 
assisted  him  with  this  work. 
305  Cherry  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
