Am.  Jour.  Ph arm. 
Dec.  1,  1872. 
Japanese  Wax,  etc. 
545 
torn  of  the  tube.  Raised  again  to  50°  C.  and  placed  in  water  at  30° 
C,  it  became  transparent,  but  only  ran  slowly.  Upon  repeating  the 
operation  with  water  at  28°  C,  it  became  transparent,  but  did  not 
run,  and  gradually  resumed  its  opacity.  This  showed  that  by  the 
addition  of  the  above  proportion  of  olive-oil  to  Japanese  wax,  its 
highest  melting-point  was  lowered  eight  degrees — from  54°  C.  to  46° 
0. — and  its  lowest  ten  degrees — 42°  C.  to  32°  C. — the  cerate,  like 
the  wax  contained  in  it,  having  two  melting-points,  which  are  sepa- 
rated by  fourteen  degrees. 
White  Beeswax  and  Olive-Oil. — At  39°  C.  it  commences  to  lose  a 
little  of  its  opacity ;  from  42°  C.  to  52°  C.  it  becomes  more  and  more 
translucent;  at  54°  C.  transparent;  at  56°  C.  runs  slowly;  at  57° 
0.  it  runs  easily.  So  that  a  mixture  of  olive-oil  with  beeswax  in  the 
proportions  indicated,  lowers  the  melting-point  seven  degrees.  Just 
as  there  is  a  difference  of  ten  degrees  between  one  of  the  melting- 
points  of  Japanese  wax  and  that  of  beeswax,  there  is  a  difference  of 
ten  degrees  between  those  of  the  two  cerates. 
The  observation  of  the  melting-point  alone  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  distinguish  between  cerate  made  from  vegetable  wax  and  that  from 
beeswax,  as  the  melting-point  might  depend  upon  the  proportion  of 
olive-oil  present.  But  the  existence  of  only  a  single  point  of  fusion 
in  beeswax  might  be  a  useful  indication  as  to  the  presence  or  absence 
of  Japanese  wax,  or  probably  of  margarin  or  stearin.  A  cerate 
made  with  beeswax  may  also  be  distinguished  from  one  made  with 
Japanese  wax  by  the  action  of  a  strong  alcoholic  solution  of  caustic 
potash,  which  dissolves  entirely,  even  in  the  cold,  a  cerate  made  from 
the  vegetable  wax,  but  only  dissolves  very  incompletely  one  made  from 
beeswax. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  from  a  pharmaceutical  point  of  view,  the 
effect  of  substituting  Japanese  for  beeswax,  in  medicaments  having 
wax  for  their  base,  is  a  notable  lowering  of  their  melting-point;  and 
a  cerate  made  of  the  proportions  indicated  above  would  melt  at  the 
temperature  of  the  human  body,  the  mean  of  its  two  melting-points 
being  about  37°  C.  or  38°  C.  It  will,  therefore,  be  evident  that  such 
a  substitution  should  not  be  made  without  the  greatest  care. — Pharm. 
Journ.,  Land.,  Jug.  17,  1872,  from  Journal  de  Pharmacie  et  de 
Chimie  [4],  vol.  xvi,  p.  20. 
35 
