1824, 
his advantages from the constancy 
with which M.C. has laboured at. this 
novel mass of chemical studies. He 
will thereby previously note the sub- 
stances that give distinct qualities to 
the different sorts of soap, also the na- 
ture of those substances, the action 
which they excite and exercise on one 
another, and the extraordinary effects 
that may make their appearance. He 
will not be at a loss to account for the 
physical causes of these, and will act 
with certainty and science, no longer 
guided by. the false and erring rays of 
speculation. 
The naturally fat substances that 
had always been considered as pecu- 
liar species, as immediate principles, 
are now found to be only mixtures of 
Several principles, on the quantity of 
which depend all the qualities that 
distinguish them. In fatty matter, 
the most firm and solid, stearine or 
margarine, predominate; in what is 
more liquid, oleine, and their scent or 
odour is chiefly owing to fat volatile 
acids. The art of the candle-maker 
will, also, gradually gain strength, as 
it will draw forth and be accompanied 
with a management that will proceed 
throughout with confidence and suc- 
cess. It will find itself able to call in 
means more direct and simple, to trace 
the cause of the numerous diversities 
observable in the consistence, colour, 
and taste, of the tallow; diversities 
which, no doubt, depend on the keep 
or food of the animal. He will better 
judge of places, times, and other cir- 
cumstances, that have influence in its 
production. 
M. C.’s discoveries will furnish the 
means of making more accurate en- 
quiries in animal physiology. Life 
forms the object of this science, and to 
its immediate principles only must be 
referred the mysteries of that general 
power which produces, immediately, 
such objects as form the basis of all 
physics and organic chemistry. It 
has been supposed, and not unreason- 
ably, that later observations on the 
facts relating to these adipose bodies, 
will display a measure of increasing 
light upon every part of comparative 
anatomy. This regards the structure, 
but the others enter into the intimate 
composition of the organs and: their 
functions, the dedalean process of the 
secretions. Many points of this sci- 
ence, are, at present, hypothetical and 
arbitrary, obscure and superficial, 
It should be observed, that, in che- 
Montary Mac. No. 399. 
Analysis of Fat Animal Substances. 
25 
mistry, an immediate principle denotes 
an organic compound, the different 
sorts of matter of which cannot be 
separated without evidently changing 
their nature. : 
There have not been wanting cele- 
brated observers that have submitted 
to a more accurate examination, some 
immediate productions of organization. 
These productions were few in num- 
ber, the facts were isolated, and called 
for no calculations that could throw 
light on the vast apparatus of the 
others. To these succeeded Messrs. 
Gay Lussac and Thenard, who made 
public their processes, by which they 
ascertained the proportions of consti- 
tuent elements in organic substances. 
By these, the entire class of living bo- 
dies was truly subjected to the opera= 
tions of chemistry. But the pursuit 
of these studies, though the principal 
objects were copious and interesting, 
could never lead the mind’ to make:an 
undiverted and steady survey of the 
products of life. It tended to cont 
found those between which nature had 
formed differences, a sort of inexplica+ 
ble chasm not to be filled up. For 
instance, sugar, gum, and starch, ap- 
pear to be compounded, in proportions 
nearly similar, of hydrogen, carbon, 
and oxygen. To distinguish these 
products, we must study them, with- 
out attempting to transform and repro- 
duce the fundamental articles indis- 
pensably requisite to constitute and 
compose their character. Their na- 
ture must not be changed; and, after 
the different disguises and modifica: 
tions which may have been given them, 
we should ever find them uniformly 
on the side of that particular influence 
to which they owe ‘their existence. 
But these products of life, these imme: 
diate principles, are intermixed in all 
directions, so as to be separated with 
difficulty, and no ordinary means will 
operate their disunion. The elements, 
however, of which they consist, are not 
so strongly contbined; though in defi- 
nite proportions, but that, when sub- 
stracted from the vital influence, they 
tend to a separation, and to form other 
combinations conformable to the new 
forces that are acting on them. In 
this case, the slightest foreign action 
will favour such tendency. And, 
moreover, their physical qualities will 
not suffice to distinguish between 
them; their real characters are only 
found in their chemical action, and are 
only manifested by their affinities, 
The 
