430 
Manufacture  of  Ceresin. 
Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
Sept.,  1886. 
2.  If  morphine  is  rubbed  up  with  about  8  drops  of  concentrated 
sulphuric  acid  and  a  drop  of  a  solution  of  chlorate  of  potassium  1 :  50, 
a  persistent  grass-green  coloration,  having  a  pale  rose-red  margin,  is 
produced. — Ibid.,  p.  580. 
Pepsin. — Podwissotzki  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  fresh  mucous 
membranes  show  very  little  pepsin, but  a  large  quantity  of  propepsin; 
consequently  a  much  larger  yield  can  be  obtained  from  membranes 
which  have  been  exposed  to  the  air  and  prevented  from  decomposing. 
To  extract  the  pepsin,  diluted  hydrochloric  acid  or  glycerin  acidulated 
with  hydrochloric  acid  is  recommended.  Alcohol  extracts  a  very 
small  percentage,  glycerin  extracts  the  propepsin,  which  must  be  treated 
with  hydrochloric  acid  at  ordinary  temperature  for  from  2  to  10 
minutes  to  be  converted  into  pepsin. — Ibid.,  p.  578. 
Similar  observations  were  made  by  Sellden  in  1873,  by  Bechamp 
and  Gautier  in  1882,  and  by  others. 
THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  CERESIN  FROM  OZOKERITE.1 
By  E.  Saueelandt. 
In  the  showcase  of  a  Belgian  manufacturer  of  candles,  at  the  Ant- 
werp Exhibition,  was  to  be  seen  a  fragment  of  waxlike  substance 
labelled  "  Ozokerite  or  Vegetable  Wax."  This  fact  shows  how  little 
is  known,  even  by  those  most  nearly  interested,  of  an  industry  which , 
dating  back  only  about  fifteen  years,  has  attained  an  annual  value  of 
upwards  of  half  a  million  pounds  sterling.  The  ignorance  is  no 
doubt  due,  mainly,  to  the  paucity  of  information  that  has  been  pub- 
lished respecting  the  industry  and  the  raw  material  used  in  it. 
The  first  attempt  at  bleaching  mineral  wax  known  to  the  author 
dates  from  1870.  The  first  industrial  results  were  obtained  by  H. 
Sljhely,  of  Stockerau,  near  Vienna,  Dr.  Pilz,  of  Carlsbad,  and  J.  F. 
Otto,  of  Frankfort-upon-Oder ;  ceresin  was  introduced  into  the 
market  by  these  different  houses  in  the  course  of  1872. 
During  the  last  ten  years  a  number  of  processes  for  the  purification 
of  ozokerite  have  been  proposed,  very  few  of  which  have  been  practi- 
cally successful.  At  the  present  time  scarcely  more  than  two  pro- 
cesses are  employed,  both  of  which  are  based  upon  the  employment  of 
sulphuric  acid.  In  the  more  important  establishments  where  mineral 
wax  is  refined,  the  ozokerite  is  heated  in  contact  with  sulphuric  acid  to 
1  Al  stract  from  a  paper  in  the  Chemiker  Zeitung,  1886,  pp.  21  and  38. 
