3o6 
Several  Varieties  of  IV ax. 
Am.  Jour  Pharm. 
June,  1880. 
^Alcohol,  95  per  cent.  Petroleum  spirit, 
€era  africana,            .  .           3-50  49-28 
■Cera  de  Orizaba,             .  .  10-22 
Cera  japonica,         .  .           i+  oo  69  80 
€era  Myrica  quercifolia,  .  .     1616  53-62 
€era  Myrica  cerifera,  .             7-16  41-62 
Cera  Myrica,       ?           .  .     19-88  68-70 
Cera  Bahia,^            .  .             9-70  3-32 
Cera  braziliensls,             .  .3-25  5-04 
The  quantitative  experiments  show  that,  with  the  exception  of 
Bahia  wax,  the  solubility  in  petroleum  spirit  is  much  greater  than  in 
alcohol. 
From  the  quantitative  results  it  is  evident  that  the  behavior  of  the 
samples  of  wax  under  examination  with  chloroform  renders  admission 
into  two  groups  possible,  viz.,  such  as  are  completely  soluble  in  that 
medium,  as  the  Myrica  and  beeswax,  and  such  as  are  only  partially 
dissolved  by  it,  as  Brazilian  and  Bahia  wax.  Further,  their  comport- 
ment to  ether  allows  of  a  similar  division,  and  here  the  Myrica  wax 
alone  is  completely  dissolved,  beeswax  and  Bahia  wax  on  the  other 
hand  only  partially.  The  effect  produced  by  the  addition  of  acetate  of 
lead  solution  to  the  alcoholic  solutions  can  also  be  made  use  of,  as  a 
means  of  distinguishing  the  various  varieties  of  wax,  since  Brazilian 
and  Bahia  wax  are  not  rendered  turbid,  whilst  the  contrary  is  the  case 
with  all  the  other  samples,  in  some  of  which  the  cloudiness  disappears 
on  warming,  in  others  it  does  not. 
These  peculiarities  allow  of  the  several  varieties  of  wax  being  well 
distinguished  from  one  another,  and  the  following  scheme  will,  I  think, 
be  found  to  answer  that  purpose. 
A  sample  of  the  wax  to  be  examined  is  heated  with  ten  times  as 
much  chloroform  to  boiling,  and,  when  completely  dissolved,  cooled  in 
cold  water. 
/.  The  chloroformic  solution  remains  clear  after  cooling. 
A.  Ether  dissolves  completely. 
{a)  Alcoholic  solution  of  ferric  chloride  gives  with  the  alcoholic  solution  of 
the  wax  a  precipitate  insoluble  on  heating. 
Wax  from  Myrica  quercifolia. 
\b)  Ferric  chloride  colors  the  alcoholic  solution  black. 
Wax  from  an  undetermined  species  oj  Myrica. 
[c)  Ferric  chloride  colors  brownish  but  gives  no  precipitate. 
Wax  from  Myrica  cerifera.     Wax  from  Orizaba. 
^  Ether  dissolved  10-52  per  cent,  of  this  sample. 
