494 
Analysis  of  Beeswax. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1891. 
THE  ANALYSIS  OF  BEESWAX.1 
By  C.  Mangold. 
On  account  of  the  natural  fluctuations  of  the  so-called  constants 
of  yellow  beeswax,  such  as  the  acid  and  saponification  numbers,  as 
well  as  the  iodine  number  determined  by  the  Hubl  process,  adul- 
teration with  less  than  6  per  cent,  of  paraffin  or  ceresin  is  difficult 
to  detect. 
A.  and  P.  Buisine,  applying  {Bull.  Soc.  Chem.,  1890,  3,  567)  the 
principle  previously  enunciated  by  Hell,  Stiircke  and  Schwalb,  have 
devised  a  method  of  sufficient  apparent  value  to  warrant  its  investi- 
gation at  the  hands  of  the  author. 
The  wax  is  saponified  with  potash  and  heated  with  potash  lime, 
by  which  treatment  the  higher  alcohols  are  converted  into  fatty 
acids  with  elimination  of  hydrogen,  which  serves  as  a  measure  of 
their  amount.  The  hydrocarbons  present  are' unattacked  and  can 
be  extracted  from  the  residue. 
The  author's  investigations  confirm  those  of  A.  and  P.  Buisine, 
and  have  led  him  to  recommend  the  following  method :  2-IO 
grammes  of  the  wax  are  melted  and  saponified  by  potash-lime,  the 
reaction  being  aided  by  stirring.  The  saponified  product  is  pow- 
dered when  cold,  intimately  mixed  with  three  times  its  weight  of 
potash-lime,  and  the  mixture  transferred  to  a  thick-walled,  pear- 
shaped  bulb-tube,  which  is  heated  to  2500  C.  (for  two  hours,  accord- 
ing to  Buisine,  c.f.,  the  time  adopted  by  the  author  below)  in  a  mer- 
cury bath  contained  in  an  iron  vessel.  This  vessel  is  provided  with 
a  lid  which  screws  on  air-tight,  pierced  with  four  apertures  through 
which  pass  air-tight,  respectively,  the  pear-shaped  bulb,  a  ther- 
mometer, a  thermostat,  and  a  long  tube  open  at  both  ends  to  con- 
dense any  mercury  which  may  volatilize.  A  tube  connects  the 
pear-shaped  bulb  with  a  Hofmann's  burette,  in  which  the  hydrogen 
is  measured. 
Although  the  author  has  made  some  determinations  of  its 
amount  (obtaining  results  somewhat  lower  than  those  of  Buisine), 
his  attention  has  been  chiefly  directed  to  the  estimation  of  the 
hydrocarbons  present.  Having  observed,  however,  that  the  vol- 
ume of  hydrogen  only  becomes  constant  when  the  heating  has 
been  continued  for  three    hours,  he  adopts  this    time   as  the 
1  Chem.  Zeit.,  1891,  15,  799  ;  The  Analyst,  August,  1891. 
