508 On the Spontaneous Change of Fats. 



0*986 gr. of the inner portion of the substance was boiled 

 with aether, the solution evaporated and the fatty matter fused, 

 it weighed 0*709 gr. ; the residue, 0*277 gr., was decomposed 

 by hydrochloric acid ; it gave 0*249 gr. of a fat acid and 0*01-7 

 gr. of carbonate of lime, equivalent to 0*026 gr. of lime. If 

 we calculate these values to the 100 parts and compare them 

 with the numbers derived from the known composition of 

 stearate of lime, and deduct the ascertained amount of the 

 stearate, the remainder will represent the stearine. 



Found. Calculated. 



Lime .... 2-640 f 2*70 



Stearic acid . . 25*25 J \25*39 



Stearine . . . 71*90 71-91 



99*79 100*00 



In the inner part, consequently, the substance consisted 

 more of stearine and less of soap than on the exterior parts, 

 so that the saponification, which began through the medium 

 of the adjacent lime, is not yet complete, but is more advanced 

 in the exterior portions than the interior. 



This substance probably had the same origin as the first spe- 

 cimen; it is very similar to [the] adipocire discovered by Four- 

 croy, and which Chevreul has proved to be human fat partly 

 saponified, the bases of which are ammonia, from the nitro- 

 genous compounds of the human body, and magnesia and lime, 

 from the bones. The process of saponification took place in 

 this, as well as in the described substances, by the long-conti- 

 nued action of the materials on each other, which action is not 

 as yet perfected. The change of fats into stearine has many 

 analogies in the manufacture of candles. The manufacturer 

 of stearine candles prefers using tallow of from one to two 

 years old, because it yields a larger profit, and the fat looks a 

 little whiter than fresh tallow. If a piece of mutton tallow is 

 broken asunder and lies in a warm room, the fracture-surface 

 is soon covered with an oily substance, the elaine, which is 

 present in great abundance. The surface of an old fat, treated 

 in the same manner, remains dry and without this oily aspect, 

 because it does not contain so much elaine. The fact that 

 tallow candles become whiter after some time, is not of this 

 nature, because it demands the presence of air, and the can- 

 dles do not become hard, but tough. 



Another occurrence that gave rise to a product quite re- 

 sembling the described fats must here be mentioned. In a 

 manufactory of candles in Berlin the tallow was poured into a 

 large box; the door of this, by which the fat was taken out, 

 was one day not well closed, some of the fat consequently ran 

 out, and remained under the box during ten years. After this 



