198  Italian  Yellow  Waxes.  {AmAJP°rnr;i89h2arm' 
by  the  author,  the  greater  number  run  from  19*04  to  20-03;  those 
from  Liguria  from  20-67  to  21-22. 
The  ether  number  is  represented  by  the  milligrams  of  KOH 
required  for  the  saturation  of  the  acids  present  in  combination  in  1 
gram  of  wax.  The  main  acid  is  palmitic,  combined  with  melissic 
alcohol,  constituting  myricin.  For  the  determination  of  the  ether 
number  the  mixture  left  from  the  previous  acid  determination  is 
heated  to  boiling  with  30  cc.  of  alcohol  (95  per  cent.)  and  10  cc. 
of  a  normal  alcoholic  potash  solution  ;  and  when  saponification  is 
complete,  estimate  excess  of  alkali  with  a  half-normal  solution  of 
HC1;  the  difference  for  one  gram  of  wax  will  give  the  ether  number, 
which  varies  in  the  Italian  waxes  examined  between  72-18  and  76-05. 
The  ratio  of  acid  and  ether  numbers  is,  therefore,  3-55  to  3  8  ;  Hiibl 
determined  it  between  3-6  and  3  8 ;  Mangold  between  2-89  and  4-02, 
and  Buisine,  3-  5  to  3-8.  The  total  of  KOH  used  for  the  free  and  com- 
bined acids  gives  the  saponification  number,  which  varies  for  the 
Italian  waxes  between  91-22  and  97-27  (to  96  for  the  greater 
number),  while  Becker  found  97  to  107,  Hiibl  92  to  97,  Buisine  91 
to  97,  and  Mangold  88-26  to  99  9,  in  many  cases  less  than  93. 
In  the  estimation  of  the  volatile  acids,  Reichert's  method  modi- 
fied by  Meissl  was  used  as  follows :  Saponify  5  gm.  of  the  wax 
with  1  gm.  of  KOH  and  50  cc.  of  the  purest  alcohol ;  distil  off 
the  alcohol  when  reaction  is  complete,  dissolve  the  residue  in  100  cc. 
of  distilled  water,  add  20  cc.  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid  (1  :  10),  and 
several  pieces  of  pumice  stone  to  facilitate  ebullition,  collect  100  cc. 
of  distillate,  and  titrate  this  with  normal  soda.  The  number  of 
cubic  centimeters  necessary  for  neutralization  is  the  Meissl  number, 
which,  in  the  specimens  examined,  varied  from  0*35-0-40;  for  two 
samples  from  Liguria  it  was  0-54  and  0  91. 
The  iodine  number  is  the  quantity  of  iodine  absorbed  by  100 
grams  of  wax.  The  author  does  not  agree  with  A.  and  P.  Buisine 
that  the  iodine  absorbed  is  due  entirely  to  the  presence  of  oleic  acid 
and  other  non-saturated  acids  of  the  series  CnH2n_20.2,  but  he  claims 
that  a  part  of  the  iodine  must  go  to  the  unsaturated  hydrocarbons 
in  the  wax,  which  amount  to  about  2-86  per  cent.,  and  must  also  be 
influenced  by  the  coloring  and  odorous  matters  present,  and  for  these 
reasons  he  questions  the  value  of  the  iodine  number  as  an  indica- 
tion of  the  amount  of  oleic  acid.  A  number  of  Italian  waxes 
examined  by  the  method  of  Hiibl,  showed  the  iodine  number  to 
