Am,FTeba"'i87h7arm*}  An  Artificial  Substitute  for  Beeswax.  79 
thermometer  was  sunk  to  the  centre  of  the  flask,  and  the  latter  lightly 
closed.  The  contents  of  the  flask  were  then  slowly  warmed  by  means 
of  a  spirit  lamp.  When  about  a  third  of  the  wax  was  melted,  the 
mercury  in  the  thermometer  stood  at  700  C.  This  temperature  indi- 
cated, therefore,  the  melting  point  of  the  wax.  For  the  determination 
of  the  specific  gravity  two  similar  pieces  of  wax  were  allowed  to  sink 
in  diluted  spirit  of  wine,  contained  in  a  beaker,  and  distilled  water  was 
added,  little  by  little,  and  mixed  well  with  the  spirit  until  the  pieces 
floated  just  beneath  the  surface  of  the  fluid.  The  specific  gravity  of 
this  fluid  was  then  determined.  This  was  0*962,  which  was  taken  as 
the  gravity  of  the  wax  under  examination. 
In  the  further  examination  1  gram  was  warmed  with  10  grams  of 
chloroform  in  a  small  flask.  The  solution  was  clear  and  yellow,  but 
soon  became  turbid  ou  cooling,  and  an  almost  transparent,  colorless, 
serous  mass  separated,  more  particularly  upon  the  walls  of  the  flask. 
Afterwards  1  gram  was  dissolved  in  15  grams  of  70  per  cent,  alcohol 
by  boiling,  and  allowed  to  cool.  In  the  clear  yellow-colored  solution 
round  and  half-round  colorless  granules  were  deposited.  These  were 
recovered  by  filtration,  dried  in  the  air  and  weighed  ;  six  decigrams 
were  thus  obtained.  The  specific  gravity  of  these  granules  was  0*910. 
The  filtrate  was  evaporated  at  a  gentle  heat,  and  left  as  residue  a  brittle 
resin  of  a  beautiful  dark-yellow  color,  weighing  about  four  decigrams. 
Further,  one  gram  of  the  wax  in  raspings  was  boiled,  and  well  shaken 
in  a  solution  of  1*4  gram  borax  in  20  grams  of  distilled  water.  A 
colorless  mass  separated  on  the  surface  of  the  liquid  in  the  vessel. 
The  liquid  was  turbid,  but  on  cooling  was  neither  milky  nor  gelatinous  ; 
Japan  wax  was  therefore  not  present.  The  same  experiment  was  made 
with  the  granules  free  from  resin.  This  time  the  fluid  remained  clear 
during  boiling  and  when  cooled.  The  granules  united  into  a  cake  at 
the  top  of  the  fluid.  A  sample  in  fine  shavings  was  then  agitated  with 
diluted  ammonia  solution  ;  a  portion  of  the  residue  above  mentioned, 
free  from  resin,  was  also  treated  with  ammonia.  In  both  cases  the 
fluid  remained  clear  and  transparent,  and  the  samples  unchanged,  indi- 
cating the  absence  not  only  of  stearin,  but  also  of  curcumin  and  olein. 
The  granular  body  quite  free  from  resin,  which,  according  to  the  above 
tests,  contained  neither  stearin  nor  Japan  wax,  was  now  tested  for 
paraffin.  It  had  a  lustrous  appearance  and  alabaster-like  transparency, 
yielded  between  the  fingers  without  adhering,  and  dissolved  easily  and 
