12  Permanganate  of  Potassium^  etc.  {^•iS"' 
lighting  material.  It  is  obtained  from  ozokerit  or  fossil  wax  by  the 
following  process.  Ozokerit  is  heated  up  to  a  temperature  ranging 
from  250°  to  300°  C,  in  order  to  separate  by  volatilization  and  sub- 
quent  condensation  the  liquid  oils.  The  mass  being  cooled  down  to 
60°,  it  is  treated  with  from  10  to  26  per  cent  of  Nordhausen  sul- 
phuric acid.  The  temperature  is  then  raised  to  100°,  and  care  is> 
taken  to  maintain  this  heat  until  the  precipitation  of  the  carbon  takes 
place  and  forms  a  viscous  residue,  which  is  carefully  separated  from 
the  supernatant  oils,  heated  and  then  treated  with  about  10  per  cent 
of  diluted  sulphuric  acid  and  afterwards  neutralized  by  aid  of  an 
alkali.  The  mass  is  then  heated  to  about  180°,  poured  upon  plates 
and  pressed  through  linen  cloths  in  order  to  separate  the  greasy  mat- 
ters ;  this  residue  of  wax  can  then  be  melted  and  filtered.  The  pro- 
duct is  ceresin,  which  is  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  candles. 
To  summarize  the  results  obtained  by  the  writer,  ceresin  is  undoubt- 
edly one  of  the  paraffins,  although  it  differs  from  common  paraffin 
in  several  respects.  It  is  not  unctuous  to  the  touch,  as  is  paraffin,  is 
not  as  translucent  and  does  not  break  with  the  characteristic  fracture 
of  paraffin,  and  has  a  higher  fusing  point,  although  the  fusing  point 
of  paraffin  is  sometimes  lower  than  135°  F.  It  seems  to  hold  a. 
middle  place  between  paraffin  and  wax.  It  would  serve  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  wax  in  pharmacy  in  a  number  of  cases.  A  very  white  and 
firm  simple  cerate  was  made  with  it,  using  it  in  the  same  proportion- 
as  wax — that  is  two  parts  lard,  one  part  ceresin. 
PERMANGANATE  OF  POTASSIUM — A  MODIFIED   FORM  OF' 
CRYSTAL. 
By  Joseph  P.  Remington. 
Read  before  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  of  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy. 
A  sample  of  permanganate  of  potassium  was  recently  examined  in 
which  the  prismatic  character  of  the  salt  was  almost  entirely  wanting. 
It  was  imported  from  Germany  and  offered  in  New  York  market. 
The  crystals,  when  thrown  into  a  heap,  resembled  a  miniature  pile  of 
anthracite  ;  the  pyramidal  summits  were  present  on  some  of  ihemr 
but  in  a  number  of  cases  this  characteristic  was  absent.    Tested  vol- 
umetrically,  a  given  portion  of  the  solution  was  exactly  decolorized 
by  the  requisite  quantity  of  solution  of  ferrous  sulphate,  thus  indi- 
cating a  pure  salt.    The  only  explanation  that  is  suggested  to  the 
