Mr. Beetz on the Spotitaneous Change of Fats. 507 



had combined with water, at the same time that it lost car- 

 bonic acid. The conditions necessary to this process are 

 always found in mines, water is present, and the admittance 

 of air is not required. 



Another piece of fat was found in the mine Frederic near 

 Tarnowitz ; its appearance was the same as that of the first 

 substance. By boiling alcohol and aether it was not perfectly 

 dissolved. The substance was carefully cleaned outside, and 

 then the exterior portions as well as the interior examined. 

 From the exterior 0*317 gr. were finely scraped and boiled with 

 alcohol, then filtered and washed. The filtered solution was 

 precipitated by water, and weighed 0*057 gr. The residue was 

 boiled with hydrochloric acid ; the weight of the fatty body 

 that was hereby separated was 0*232 gr. The liquid contained 

 nothing but lime in solution, which determined as carbonate 

 weighed 0*044 gr., and is equivalent to 0*025 gr. of caustic 

 lime. The melting point of the fat, soluble in alcohol, was 

 58° C, that of the fat acid, separated by hydrochloric acid, 

 60° C. The first fat was from all its reactions stearine, the 

 second stearic acid, so that the substance was composed of 

 0*257 gr. stearate of lime and 0*057 gr. stearine, or in 100 

 parts of 17*98 stearine, 7*88 lime, and 73*18 stearic acid. The 

 proportion of lime and stearic acid in the soap is the same as 

 that in the soap prepared in the common manner; for if we 

 calculate the composition of the 81*06 grs. lime-soap, which 

 the substance contains, we obtain the following values : — 



99*04 



This composition is confirmed by a second combustion of 

 another portion of the same body. 



0'317 gr. of the substance gave 0*833 gr. of carbonic acid 

 and 0*338 gr. of water. If we calculate these numbers to their 

 equivalents in 100 parts, and if the substance consists indeed of 

 stearine and stearate of lime, the resulting values must be 

 the same as those which can be calculated from the known 

 composition of stearine and stearic acid. This is the case in 

 the following table. 



73*18 17*96 99*04 100*00 



