544 
Japanese  Wax,  etc. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Phabm* 
\     Dec.  1,1872. 
it  became  more  and  more  transparent,  without  becoming  mobile ;  at 
^53°  C.  it  was  transparent  and  nearly  melted ;  at  54°  C.  it  was  com- 
pletely fused.  If  the  wax  be  rapidly  raised  to  a  temperature  suffi- 
ciently above  its  melting  point,  and,  after  cooling,  be  plunged  into 
water  at  42°  C,  it  melts  into  a  transparent  liquid.  So  that  this  wax 
has  two  melting-points — -42°  C.  and  54°  C— separated  from  each 
other  by  twelve  degrees,  the  highest  being  attained  when  the  tempe- 
rature is  slowly  and  progressively  raised. 
Japanese  wax  is  not  the  only  substance  presenting  such  anomalies 
in  fusion  and  solidification,  since,  according  to  M.  Duffy,  natural  stea- 
rin under  the  influence  of  heat  undergoes  three  distinct  modifica- 
tions, which  are  produced  in  a  similar  manner  by  heating  it  beyond 
the  melting-point  and  then  cooling  it.  The  same  phenomenon  is  no- 
ticed in  monomargarin  and  the  palmitins. 
To  ascertain  whether  the  wax  operated  on  was  constituted  by  a 
mixture  of  two  or  more  substances,  the  separation  of  which  might 
influence  the  phenomenon  of  fusion,  the  author  dissolved  a  portion  of 
it  in  boiling  90°  alcohol.  Upon  cooling,  the  greater  part  of  the  wax 
separated  ;  this,  dried  for  some  days  in  the  open  air,  still  contained 
a  considerable  quantity  of  water,  which  could  be  driven  off  by  heat. 
Deprived  of  its  water,  it  presented  exactly  the  same  points  of  fusion, 
42°  C.  and  54°  C,  and  comported  itself  between  these  two  extremes 
in  the  same  manner  as  that  which  had  not  been  treated  with  alcohol. 
Beeswax  offers  nothing  similar ;  two  specimens,  one  white  and  the 
other  yellow,  melting  at  the  single  temperatures  respectively  of  62*5° 
C.  and  64°  C. 
The  introduction  of  Japanese  wax  into  pharmacy,  and  its  substitu- 
tion for  beeswax,  suggested  the  following  experiments  as  to  the  rela- 
tions of  the  points  of  fusion  of  cerates  prepared  with  these  two  sub- 
stances, both  being  used  in  the  proportion  of  10  parts  of  wax  to  35 
parts  of  olive-oil  : 
Japanese  Wax  and  Olive-Oil. — At  30°  C.  it  commenced  to  melt, 
but  quickly  stopped  and  became  opaque  and  solid  on  the  sides  of  the 
tube.  From  32°  C.  to  45°  C.  the  cerate,  semi-transparent,  ran  slowly 
and  sluggishly.  At  46°  C.  it  melted  easily  into  a  transparent  mobile 
liquid.  In  this  state,  if  heated  to  50°  and  after  allowing  it  to 
spread  in  a  thin  layer  and  cooled,  it  was  plunged  into  water  at  32°  C, 
it  melted  into  a  transparent  syrupy  liquid,  accumulating  at  the  bot- 
