Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1891. 
Analysis  of  Beeswax. 
495 
minimum  necessary  for  the  determination  of  the  hydrocarbons. 
After  the  completion  of  the  reaction,  the  residue  in  the  bulb-tube 
and  the  bulb-tube  itself  are  powdered  and  extracted  for  some  hours 
with  petroleum  ether  in  a  Soxhlet's  tube,  the  ether  distilled  off,  and 
the  residual  hydrocarbon  dried  at  no°  C.  and  weighed. 
Schwalb  has  already  noted  (Annalen,  1886,  235,  149)  that  pure 
beeswax  itself  contains  about  6  per  cent,  of  hydrocarbons ;  while 
A.  and  P.  Buisine  have  found  as  much  as  12-5-14  per  cent.,  a  result 
confirmed  by  the  author.  In  endorsing  this  statement,  he  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  as  little  as  2  per  cent,  of  foreign  hydrocarbons 
may  be  detected.  The  best  approximation  to  the  true  proportion 
of  paraffin  is  said  to  be  obtained  by  assuming  the  quantity  of  hydro- 
carbons normally  present  in  beeswax  to  be  13-5  per  cent. 
The  following  table  gives  some  figures  for  unbleached  beeswax  of 
diverse  origins : 
Source  of  sample. 
Aussee,  
Native,  
Dalmatia,  
Hungary,  
Bosnia  (Banjaluka),  . 
Slavonia,   
Carniola,   
Bosnia  (Dolna-Tulza' 
Lower  Styria,  .  .  . 
Ivower  Austria,  .  .  . 
Mozambique,  .  .  .  . 
Chili,  
Monte  Cristo,  .  .  , 
Morocco,     .  .  .  .  , 
Bombay,  
Madagascar,   .  .  . 
Sam,   
Oran,  , 
Massanah,  .  .  .  .  , 
Mogador,    .  .  .   .  , 
Hydrocarbons. 
13-  5I 
1375 
1472 
I4'5i 
14*60 
14-  27 
1376 
13-64 
13-  32 
14-  34 
13*72 
13-  37 
13*35 
13*5° 
11*02 
14-  04 
1177 
12-20 
n-55 
12-80 
11-40 
Acid  number. 
19-  79 
20-  44 
20-42 
18-  81 
23-04 
19-  31 
20-  95 
20  -oS 
20*02 
18-  26 
20-  58 
19-  42 
19*99 
20*24 
21*66 
20*03 
19*92 
19*91 
21-  II 
20*85 
True  saponification 
number  (after  de- 
duction of  acid 
number). 
72*51 
70*65 
67*84 
71*99 
66*55 
70-23 
69*62 
7o*37 
72-  50 
67-83 
7178 
70*01 
67*45 
77*02 
72*85 
73-  48 
79*99 
69*49 
75*55 
A  sample  of  yellow  beeswax  from  Transylvania  had  an  acid 
number  of  1 6-66,  and  a  total  acid  number  of  72  68;  that  is  to  say, 
a  true  saponification  number  of  56  02,  plainly  indicating  that  it  was 
adulterated  with  paraffin  or  some  similar  hydrocarbon.    The  total 
