THE OIL IN CHERRY PITS 453 



number of cubic centameters of the normal KOH used and the 

 number of eubiic centimeters of normal HCl necessary to neu- 

 tralize the remainder after the saponification, represents the 

 number of cubic centimeters of the KOH neutralized by the oil. 

 Then, knowino: the strength of the solution and the nature of the 

 oil, we can determine the percentage of the saponifiable oil. The 

 saponification equivalent is the object of this experiment and to 

 compute that we divide the w^eig'ht of the oil in milligTams by the 

 number of cubic centimeters of KOH solution neutralized by the 

 oil. In this case we found it to be 276.8. E. E. Valenta investi- 

 gated the oil from almond nuts and found the saponification 

 equivalent to be 285 and that in some oases it ranged as high as 

 296, depending on the purity of the speciment. Thoerner, in a 

 study of the mixed fatty acids of almond oil, found the equival- 

 ent as low as 204. 



It has been observed by various investigators that many f aitty 

 oils produce highly colored products when treated with sulphuric 

 acid. After this suggestion, we set out with this method to de- 

 termine the nature of the two oils. 



Taking first the light amber oil, which constituted the main 

 portion of the mixture of oils, we added two drops of concen- 

 trated sulphuric acid to twenty drops of the oil. At first there 

 was no color, but on stirring with a glass rod the oil and acid 

 mixture became brown and in a few minutes it began to solidify. 

 This also is characteristic of almond oil. 



Some of the smaller portion of the oil which had separated 

 out on being cooled in the first part of the investigation was 

 given the same treatment with a few drops of sulphuric acid. 

 When the mixture was stirred the color turned from a yellow 

 to a reddish brown with a purple cast. This indicated the pres- 

 ence of arachis oil, the principal oil in peanuts. There was only 

 a small amount of this oil present in the specimen. This was not 

 sufficient for a complete and thorough analysis. 



There are three sources from which almond oil may be ob^ 

 tained, almond nuts, peach kernels and apricot kernels. Then 

 since the cherry seed belongs to no one of these three classes, our 

 next question might well be : Which one of tlie three does it 

 most resemble? 



Samples of almond oil from each of the three sources vary in 

 specific gravity, bromine absorption, and color tests. In the 



