Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MYR'I-CIN, n.

The substance which remains after bees-wax, or the wax of the Myrica cordifolia, of South Africa, has been digested in alcohol. It is in fact one of the proximate principles of wax. It differs from Cerin, the other proximate principle, in being incapable of being converted into a soap by caustic potassa. Dr. John.