AnAJPTif;iP892arm-}  Italian  Yellow  Waxes.  197 
his  own  investigations  which  were  made  with  eleven  samples  of  wax 
from  different  parts  of  Italy. 
The  specific  gravities  were  determined  with  the  picnometer  of 
Unger1,  and  the  results  corrected  to  temperature  at  -j-  40.  One  speci- 
men gave  0  966,  and  another  0*964,  while  the  remaining  nine  ranged 
from  0-959-0-961.  Dieterich  and  Riidorf  have  found  the  specific 
gravity  of  yellow  wax  to  be  0-973.  The  present  German  Pharma- 
copoeia gives  0-962-0-966 ;  the  preceding  edition  0-955-0  966 ;  the 
Russian  Pharmacopoeia  0-960,  the  Danish  0-960-0-970,  and  the 
Netherland  as  o  968-0  970.  The  author  claims  that  the  Unger' 
picnometer  is  much  superior  to  the  older  method  of  using  an  alco- 
holic and  ammoniacal  solution. 
The  melting  points  in  the  Italian  waxes  varied  from  62-5°  to  63-5°, 
and  from  63-3°  to  64-4°.  The  point  of  solidification  was  from  0-5°  to 
i°  less  than  the  point  of  fusion.  The  fusing  point  is  stated  by  the 
German  Pharmacopoeia  to  be  from  63°-64° ;  by  Schodler,  62°-62-  5  0  ; 
by  Payen,  6i-5°-62° ;  by  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  6o°  ;  by  the 
Austrian  and  Netherland,  6o°-62°;  by  the  Danish,  620 ;  by  the 
Russian  62°-63°;  by  the  Swiss,  62°-64°  and  by  the  Hungarian 
Pharmacopoeia,  68°. 
The  acid  numbers2  were  next  determined  by  ascertaining  the 
number  of  milligrams  of  KHO  required  to  neutralize  the  free  acids 
in  one  gram  of  the  wax,  of  which  the  more  important  is  cerotic 
acid;  they  are  soluble  in  boiling  alcohol.  The  following  method 
was  used :  Introduce  2  to  4  grams  of  the  wax  into  an  Erlenmeyer 
flask  with  30  cc.  of  alcohol  (95  percent.),  slowly  bring  the  contents 
to  the  boiling  point,  agitating  briskly.  To  the  alcoholic  solution  of 
the  free  acids  a  few  drops  of  one  per  cent,  alcoholic  phenolphtha- 
lei'n  solution  are  added  as  indicator,  and  a  half  normal  alcoholic  solu- 
tion of  KOH  is  used  for  estimation.  According  to  Hehner,  each 
milligram  of  KOH  corresponds  to  7-  308  milligrams  of  cerotic  acid. 
The  data  of  Hubl  show  that  for  the  saturation  of  the  free  acids  in  one 
gram  of  wax,  there  was  required  19-21  mgm.  of  KOH.  Hehner 
has  found  that  English  wax  requires  20  mgm.,  Buisine  placed  it  at 
19-21  mgm.,  Mangold  at  20  mgm.;  in  the  Italian  waxes,  examined 
1  Beckurts'  Jahresbericht,  1888,  p.  145. 
2  For  acid,  ether  and  saponification  numbers,  see  Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,  li 
p.  480,  and  1888,  p.  561. 
