312 Professor Arthur W. Crossley [Feb. 5, 



valleys below about 300,000 electrical horse-power ; and to build a 

 power-station and factory in the wilds of Norway. 



This evening I wish to direct your attention more particularly to 

 another industry of still more recent birth, but which again proves 

 the power of organized research. I refer to a process known as the 

 " Hardening of Fats," which has been selected for a variety of 

 reasons. It must appeal to the scientist and to the householder 

 alike, though it may be for quite different reasons ; it is a new 

 industry ; it is largely carried on in this country ; it gave rise to a 

 law-suit as to patent rights, on which account it does not interest us 

 in the very least ; but inasmuch as all those who profess law are not 

 at the sarue time skilled chemists, it became necessary to have the 

 process submitted to exhaustive chemical examination, and by con- 

 sidering the evidence handed into court, a clear insight can be 

 gained into the scientific method applied by chemists in providing 

 answers to the questions raised by the patent. This evidence, 

 together with further information derivable from other sources, 

 makes it possible to follow fairly clearly the lines of the research 

 work which gave rise to the industry. The last thing which I am 

 desirous of doing is to call in question any of the legal proceedings, 

 or to appear to take sides with one or other " parties to the case." 

 I merely wish to draw from this law-suit whatever evidence I can in 

 illustration of the application of science to the solution of industrial 

 problems. 



Oils and fats are from the chemical standpoint of similar struc- 

 ture, being glycerides of certain acids or compounds of the alcohol 

 glycerol with principally palmitic (Cj^Hg^Oo), stearic (Ci^Hy.jOo), and 

 oleic (C^gHg^Oo) acids. ' The glycerides tripalmitin and tristearin are 

 solids, whilst triolein is a liquid at ordinary temperatures. Palmitic 

 and stearic acids are known as saturated acids, whereas oleic acid, 

 which differs from stearic acid only in containing two atoms of 

 hydrogen less, is called an unsaturated acid. When a glyceride 

 contains a large proportion of tripalmitin or tristearin, it will be a 

 solid at ordinary temperatures and is known as a fat, whereas if the 

 proportion of triolein is large the resulting substance will ])e liquid 

 at ordinary temperatures, and is called an oil. 



The hardening of fats is therefore from the theoretical point of 

 view an extremely simple process. It consists in adding to the 

 glyceride of an unsaturated acid the necessary number of atoms of 

 hydrogen to convert it into the glyceride of a saturated acid. It 

 follows from what has just been said that an oil is thereby converted 

 into a fat, and the process would be more correctly spoken of as the 

 "hardening of oils," or the conversion of the unsaturated acids 

 which they contain into saturated acids. For example, oleic acid is 

 converted by the addition of two hydrogen atoms into the solid 

 stearic acid : — 



CH8.(CH2)7.CH:CH.(CH2)7.COOH + Ho = CH3.(CH2)io.COOH, 



