Am  Jour.  Pharn  . ) 
Dec,  1880.  i 
Chinese  White  Wax, 
627 
concentrated.  Even  solution  of  soda  produces  a  precipitate  in  a  con- 
centrated solution,  but  not  in  a  dilute  one. 
Echitenine  forms  true  salts  with  acids,  but  they  are  amorphous,  and 
with  few  exceptions  are  unsuited  for  investigation. 
In  conclusion,  in  comparing  echitammoniumhydroxide  with  ditamine 
and  echitine,  the  other  bases  accompanying  it  in  dita  bark,  it  is  at  once 
apparent  that  they  contain  only  half  the  proportion  of  nitrogen,  and 
the  author  thinks  that  this  difference  may  also  be  partially  an  expres- 
sion of  the  relation  which  these  bases  show  toward  acids.  Though 
differing  in  this  respect,  they  appear  to  belong,  as  indicated  by  the 
nitric  acid  reaction,  to  a  common  group,  and  the  author  believes  that 
they  are  part  of  a  series  which  he  represents  of  follows  : 
Ditamine,        .....  Cj^gH^gNO^. 
....  C,3H,3NO,. 
Echitenine,      .  .  .  ,  .  C2oH,^^N04. 
Echitammoniumhydroxide,     .  .  .  C.^2^3o^2^5- 
Echitammoniumhydroxide  would  therefore,  according  to  this  view, 
be  the  most  perfect  basic  product  occurring  in  the  Alstonia  scholaris. — 
Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans. ^  Oct.  23,  1880. 
CHINESE  WHITE  WAX.' 
From  an  article  in  the  British  Mail  "  on  the  white  wax  industry  of 
China,  it  seems  that  the  average  annual  value  of  this  peculiar  crop 
amounts  to  about  £650,000.  From  Hankow  alone  upwards  of  X81,- 
000  worth  of  this  wax  was  exported  in  1879.  The  Chinese  white 
wax  is  a  deposit  found  on  twigs  oi'  Ligustrum  lucidum.,  and  caused  by 
the  puncture  of  an  insect.  It  is  said  that  in  Keenchang  district  the 
plant  thrives  in  great  abundance,  and  in  the  spring  of  the  year  the  twigs 
are  covered  with  countless  swarms  of  flies  having  the  appearance  of  a 
brown  film.  The  branches  soon  become  covered  with  a  white  soap- 
like incrustation,  which  increases  in  volume  till  the  commencement  of 
the  fall  of  the  year,  when  the  sprays  are  cut  off  and  immers^ed  in  water 
which  is  kept  boiling.  "The  viscid  substance  rises  to  the  surface,  and 
is  skimmed  off,  melted,  and  allowed  to  cool  in  deep  pans.  It  was 
accidentally  discovered,  that  by  transporting  the  insects  from  their  native 
districts  to  the  more  vigorous  one  of  Keating-fu,  in  the  north  of  the 
province,  their  power  of  discharging  wax  was  largely  augmented — a 
^  From  the  "  Gardeners'  Chronicle,"'  October  2,  1880. 
