250 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



SOnE RESULTS OBTAINED IN THE DE= 



STRUCTIVE DISTILLATION OF 



LINSEED OIL.* 



WITH REMARKS ON ITS BEARINGON ENGLER'S 

 THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM. 



By Prof. SAMUEL P. SADTLER. 

 It is well known that, in boiling linseed oil 

 for varnish-making and similar purposes, in- 

 flammable vapors are given off, the boiling 

 being continued often until they burn freely. 

 Very little has been noted with regard to the 

 character of these vapors, and I know of no 

 special study of them. During the past win- 

 ter, in connection with the examination of 

 some boiled oil driers for the Atlantic Drier 

 Company, of Philadelphia, I was surprised to 

 find some 40 per cent, of neutral petroleum-like 

 oils in the product. The natural explanation 

 of adulteration with mineral oils being out of 

 the question in this case, I was led to ask as to 

 the process used for the preparation of the 

 boiled oil. I found that it was boiled under 

 pressure, and that considerable quantities of a 

 liquid distillate were being condensed in the 

 dome of the large still and returned to the 

 material in the still. I had the process carried 

 out for me specially and so arranged that I 

 could collect the prodnct of this destructive 

 distillation of the linseed oil, for so it proved 

 to be. 



At first the odor of acrolein was very pro- 

 nounced and powerful, showing that the 

 glycerin of the glycerides composing the oil 

 was being decomposed ; later the odor was 

 more that of a cracked petroleum oil, showing 

 that the linoleic and other acids of the oil were 

 undergoing decomposition. I submit a sample 

 of the linseed oil used. It was a clear "old 

 process" oil, of specific gravity 0.929, and 

 showing a saponification equivalent of 183, 

 which is normal for linseed oil. The raw dis- 

 tillate collected after this acrolein odor had 

 nearly disappeared I also show. It had a 

 specific gravity of 0.860 and a saponification 

 equivalent of 1.09, showing that it had been 

 nearly all converted into a neutral hydro- 

 carbon oil. 



This was then redistilled from a small iron 

 retort and two fractions collected, leaving a 

 residue in the retort which had the appearance 

 of petroleum residuum or reduced oil, such as 

 is used in the manufacture of vaseline and 

 similar products. The two fractions were then 



*Read at the Montreal meeting of the A. Ph. A. 



treated with sulphuric acid, as is done in purify- 

 ing petroleum distillate, and the results are 

 shown in the samples submitted. They re- 

 semble quite strongly what is called paraffin 

 oils, showing the characteristic fluorescence of 

 these latter. 



From a portion of one of these fractions, on 

 chilling in a freezing mixture, scale paraffin 

 was also separated, a sample of which I submit. 



These results, while they can only be con- 

 sidered as preliminary, are sufficient to show 

 that we have hydrocarbon oils analogous to the 

 natural petroleum or mineral oils formed in the 

 distillation of linseed oil under pressure. I 

 have not yet extended this line of experiment 

 to the other seed oils, such as cotton-seed and 

 rape-seed oils, but believe it to be very prob- 

 able that similar results could be obtained from 

 them. I expect to do this, as well as study 

 more fully the products already obtained. I 

 may be allowed to call attention to what seems 

 to me to be the importance of these results in 

 their bearing on some well-known work of 

 Prof. Carl Engler, of Carlsruhe, Germany. In 

 1888 and 1889 Prof. Engler published in the 

 Berichte der deut. cheni. Gesellschaft (21, p. 

 1816 and 22, p. 592), the results of experiment 

 on the distillation of menhaden oil under 

 pressure. He began at a pressure of 10 atmos- 

 pheres and ended at 4 atmospheres. A dis- 

 tillate came over at 325° to 400° C, and was 

 approximately 60 per cent, of the oil taken. 



The new distillate was of brownish color, 

 transparent in thin layers, and of a strong 

 green fluorescence. Its odor was not un- 

 pleasant, and contained no recognizable 

 amount of acrolein. The specific gravity of 

 this distillate was 0.8105. 



BACTERIA IN MILK SUGAR. 



By Prof. ALBERT R. LEEDS. 

 Certain phases of bacteriological investiga- 

 tions command universal and profound popu- 

 lar interest, and any publication relating to the 

 connection of a specific organism with a zymotic 

 disease elicits general attention and discussion. 

 This intimate connection of bacteriology with 

 questions of life and death has led many to re- 

 gard the study as the proper province of medi- 

 cal specialists, despite the first uses made of 

 bacteriological methods by Pasteur and his fol- 

 lowers, and to neglect them as instruments of 

 chemical research. But the morphology, the 

 classification, the physiology, and the botany 

 of the bacteria are in such a rudimentary and 

 unsatisfactory condition that the most valuable 



