8o 
Laboratory  Notes. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm- 
(      Feb.,  1877. 
completely  in  oil  of  turpentine  and  benzin,  but  not  at  all  in  five  parts* 
of  absolute  alcohol. 
The  examination  carried  out  and  described  as  above  should  be  clearly 
understood  to  set  up  a  claim  to  be  exact  and  exhaustive.  It  shows  the 
object  to  be  determined,  viz.,  that  this  product  bought  and  sold  for 
beeswax  was  no  other  than  a  mixture  of  about  60  per  cent,  of  paraffin 
and  40  per  cent,  of  common  resin,  run  into  cakes,  and  thinly  covered 
with  genuine  beeswax.  The  examination  shows  also  that  the  specific 
gravity  alone  is  not  sufficient  for  the  detection  of  adulteration  in  wax„ 
and  that  a  product  perfectly  corresponding  in  this  respect  with  genuine 
wax  may  nevertheless  be  entirely  factitious  and  useless. — The  Chem* 
and  Drug.,  Lond.,  Nov.  15,  1876. 
LABORATORY  NOTES. 
By  T.  A.  Edison. 
1.  Hard  rubber  or  vulcanite,  placed  for  several  weeks  in  nitrobenzol^ 
becomes  soft  and  pliable  like  leather,  and  easily  broken. 
2.  The  vapor  of  chloral  hydrate  is  a  solvent  of  cellulose.  I  have 
found  the  corks  of  bottles  containing  the  crystals  eaten  away  to  the 
depth  of  a  quarter  of  an  inch,  the  cork  being  resolved  into  a  black  semi- 
liquid.  Certain  kinds  of  tissue  paper  are  partially  dissolved  in  time,  if 
thrown  in  a  bottle  containing  the  crystals. 
3.  A  very  difficult  substance  to  dissolve  is  gum  copal.  I  have  found 
that  anilin  oil  dissolves  it  with  great  facility. 
4.  Hyposulphite  of  soda  is  apparently  soluble  to  a  considerable  extent 
in  spirit  of  turpentine.  Large  crystals  of  "  hypo  "  melt  down  to  a 
liquid  after  several  weeks,  and  if  the  bottle  be  shaken,  partially  dis- 
appear.   The  turpentine  smell  nearly  disappears. 
5.  The  vapors  of  iodine,  in  the  course  of  several  months,  will  pen- 
etrate deeply  into  lumps  of  beeswax. 
6.  If  to  a  solution  of  bisulphide  of  carbon  there  be  added  twice  its 
bulk  of  potassic  hydrate  in  sticks,  and  the  bottle  be  well  sealed,  the 
whole  will,  in  two  months,  become  an  intense  reddish,  syrupy  liquid,, 
with  scarcely  any  free  bisulphide  of  carbon. 
7.  Some  substances  in  solution  form  crystals  or  deposits  on  the  sides 
of  the  bottles  containing  them,  generally  above  the  water  line.  Among 
such  solution  in  100  cc.  of  rain  water  may  be  mentioned  a  14-gram 
