Concerns the conversion of optically active substances into others of opposite rotation, such as that of /chlorsuccinic acid into the rfisomeride, and /malic acid into the

The fermented juice of grapes, the colour of which depends upon that of their husks if and when they are included in the making. Red grapes can be made to give yellow or white wines if the husks be excluded, as in the cases of sherry and champagne. The flavour and other character? of wines depend not only upon the kind of grapes from which they are made but also upon the soil on which they are grown, and upon the ethereal bodies resulting from changes that take place upon keeping. Dry wines contain little or no sugar; sweet wines contain sugar in greater or less proportion while effervescent wines like sparkling Moselle and Champagne contain sugar in a state of fermentation, or are effervescent as the result of fermentation that takes place after bottling. They all contain alcohol as a natural product of the fermentation by which they are produced, the ferments consisting of the socalled “bloom” or living organisms that grow on the husks. Alcohol is added to many wines, such as port and sherry, and some of the Australian and Californian wines, in order to “fortify” them, as it is termed, against the acetic change that might otherwise subsequently take place of the smaller natural content of alcohol into acetic acid. The alcoholic strength of wines is by no means constant, but as sold, it may be said that port contains from 14 to 23 per cent.; sherry from 14 to 18 per cent.; claret from 6 to 12 per cent. Rudesheimer and other light wines about 8 or 9 per cent.; beer, 5 to b per cent.; small beer, 2 per cent. It is said that to produce good wines, the grape juice must contain not less than 20 per cent, glucose, but not infrequently, sugar is added to the “must” or expressed uice of the grapes. In addition to alcohol, wines contain in many cases small quantities of sugar, acids, and socalled extractive matter of indefinite composition. Old wines, particularly port, are apt to deposit acid potassium tartrate upon long keeping.

So named from its derivation from wood tar, particularly beechwood tar.

is prepared for use in thu manufacture of paper and artificial silk by a number of processes”mechanical,” “semichetnical,” “sulphite,” “sulphate,” “soda,” and socalled “kraft”all being directed to obtain the constituent cellulose dissociated from its accompanying substances.

There are many waxes of mineral, animal, and vegetable origin, of which the bestknown variety is Beeswax, produced by bees from the sugar of their iood. It is somewhat yellow, tough and solid, and can be bleached by chlorine It is of complex composition, and contains several different substances including myricm one of the normal f uty acids. It melts at 63 degrees C.; its sp. gr. is 096 to 097; t *s soluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform, and is used in making candles and various polishes. Bayherry Wax, from the bark of the Myrica, is green in colour, and con sists of palmiiin, palmitic acid, myristin, and lauric acid. It is used in candlemaking. CandeliUa Wax is found as an excretion on Euphorbia ceriis obtained from the leaves of the Evythnxylun coca plant cultivated in Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil, and which are used for chewing like tobacco. After purification, it is a white amorphous substance which melts at 70 degrees C. and is readily soluble in hot alcohol, CottonSeed Wax Contained in raw cotton to the extent of about 05 per cent. Oow Tree Wax is obtained by evaporating the milk of the cowtree. It resembles beeswax in some general characters and admits of saponification. Godan” Was tGetah Wax is made from the latex of a wild figtree. Japan or “Vegetable Wax. or tree wax, is partly obtained in the East Indies from berries of the Rims snccedanea and several species of sumachtree by boiling the fruit in water. It is not a real wax but a glyceride, and contains palmitin with free palmitic acid. It has a yellow colour, is soluble in benzol and naphtha, melts at 53 degrees C., and is of sp. gr. 0970 to C980. The Island of Kyushu accounts for about onehalf of the total production obtained from the fruit kernels of a tree peculiar to Japan. It is used in making wax matches, candles, furniture polish, and leatherdressing. Montan Wax is extracted from pyropissitt obtained from the lignites of Saxony and Thuringia. When refined it is white, and is used as a substitute for carnauba wax. It is soluble in benzol, chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride. Ocuba Wax is obtained from the fruit of Mynstica ocuba officinalis, which grows in marshy ground on the Amazon shores, and is used in Brazil for making candles. Paraffin Wax is made from ozokerite by treatment with sulphuric acid and subsequent bleaching, and is also a solid constituent of the oily distillates from natural bituminous substances including coal, shale, lignite, peat, wood, and natural petroleum, from which it is obtained by refrigeration. It is a white translucent mixture of hydrocarbons of sp. gr. o88o to 0915, and melts between 450 and 65 degrees C. It is soluble in turpentine, benzol, carbon disulphide, and chloroform, and comes into the market in many grades, some hard and some soft, all known as “paraffin scale” before purification, and s extensively used in the manufacture of candles, tlonr polishes, waxed paper, lubricants, waterproofing of wood and corks, etc. By oxidation at 150 degrees C. in a stream of oxygen and in presence of manganese compounds it is by catalytic action largely resolved into fatty acids, the resulting mass containing 35 per cent, insoluble in water, and about 25 per cent, of lower fatly acids. Palm Wax comes from the. Ceroxylon andicola, a palm indigenous in the tropical parts of America, on the stem of which it forms a covering. In Ecuador, trees are found in great numbers, each of which furnishes about 50 lbs. of wax. After washing with hot water, in which it does not melt, it is mixed with a little tallow and made into balls for exportation. It is yellow, and really consists of a wax and resin which are separated by hot alcohol, the resin remaining in solution and the wax separating out as a Jelly on cooling. When purified in this way it resembles beeswax in appearance and composition. Pisang Wax. a powdery mass obtained from the leaves of the Cera musa, indigenous in Java. Raphia Wax is found as a whitish layer on the under sides of the leaves of a Madagascar palm. The dried leaves yield about 10 per cent. Its sp. gr. is 0834, meltingpoint 825 degrees C., saponification value 51, and iodine value from 77 to 107.

A native crystalline variety of zinc sulphide found in Montana, Utah, etc.