iVIOTH-ADIPOCERE. 77 



there really does not appear to me to be any defined point of 

 similarity. Adipocere is a formation which takes place in dead 

 human and other bodies at a variable time after death. It is 

 generally agreed that it is caused by ammoniacal gases emanating 

 from the nitrogenous portions of the body, such as the organs, 

 muscles, tissues, &c., combining with the hydrocarbons of the 

 fatty portions. 



A very interesting account is given in an article devoted to 

 the subject in ' Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence,' edited by Dr. 

 Stevenson, from which it appears that fat bodies are more 

 readily affected than lean ones, and that in cases of drowning 

 the change is comparatively quickly brought about ; the most 

 rapid case recorded (which occurred in five weeks) was that of a 

 body found floating on the water. Another case, mentioned by 

 Devergie, was that of a newly-born infant in a cesspool, which 

 became converted into adipocere in six or eight weeks ; but 

 Taylor says the usual time taken in a damj) grave is three or 

 four years. He mentions a curious case in which the lower part 

 only of a body half immersed in water became adipocere in four- 

 teen months, while the upper portion above water-level was not 

 acted upon, by which, I presume, it decomposed in the ordinary 

 way. In a case recorded in the Phil. Med. Exam., April, 1847, 

 p. 247, the conversion of the whole body was completed in seven- 

 teen years, though the various parts could still be identified. So 

 that water, or at any rate moisture, would appear to be a factor 

 generally necessary for the transformation. 



Adipocere is, in fact, an ammoniacal and soapy substance, 

 modified by the salts contained in the water in which it has been 

 formed, — first soft, afterwards harder and lighter, and decidedly 

 hard and brittle when dried. It melts at something over 200^ F., 

 and when strongly heated gives off ammonia. It is easily sus- 

 pended in cold water, and with boiling forms an opaque mixture ; 

 acids decompose the solution, forming salts. It is partly dissolved 

 by boiling alcohol. 



Now moth-grease (as extracted by pure ether) is a fixed oil 

 rather than a fat, semifluid under ordinary temperature, even 

 below freezing-point. It melts between 75° and 80° F. It gives 

 off no ammonia when heated. Neither water nor alcohol, cold 

 or boiling, has any effect upon it beyond contact with the hot 

 liquid making it still more fluid, and acids do not afi'ect it. 



Such being the case, it occurred to me to try to produce by 

 the ordinary forces of nature a genuine moth-adipocere, and 

 accordingly I purchased a dozen Sphinx pupse. My first inten- 

 tion was to kill and pin each moth, on its emergence, on to a 

 loaded stage placed under running water, but the effect seemed 

 to be putrefaction and disintegration. I then pinned the re- 

 maining pupae, most of which had dried up, only two or three 

 remaining heavy, upon the stage ; placed them in a wide-mouthed 



