ACID AND THE PRODUCTS OF ITS DISTILLATION. 55 
Found. Equiv. Calculated. 
Sy Eg: a a; 1 0a 
Semereren. 11°34 . . (G6. ....823'6 . .. 11°88 
eter rss. fo. sO 4 SS ORD 
Rae trad ks ee. | OLS, |. TORO 
73030 100°00 
With respect to the products of the distillation of stearic acid, 
it had been supposed with Chevreul, that the acid passed over 
unchanged, for the product obtained had the same melting point 
as the undistilled acid. Chevreul, indeed, in his “ Recherches,” 
page 25-26, describes the process of the distillation as perfectly 
as possible ; nothing escaped his notice, not even the evolution 
of carbonic acid and water in such minute quantities. The di- 
stillation yielded to me also, with the same phznomena, a pro- 
duct having a melting point the same, or at most one degree 
lower than that of the unchanged acid; it was besides as white 
and crystalline as that employed, but possessed a very weak em- 
pyreumatic odour. 
This curious and scarcely to be expected circumstance in an 
ordinary decomposition, as well as the ignorance at that time of 
the existence of margarone, was doubtless the reason why Che- 
vreul did not explain truly a process which he described so cor- 
rectly. ‘The substance obtained by distillation when boiled with 
water, communicated to ita weak acid reaction, without deposit- 
ing sebacic acid on cooling, or yielding the reactions of that 
acid. [The source of sebacic acid I shall show in a future me- 
moir. | 
An analysis of this distilled acid was undertaken with the ex- 
pectation that it would give the same results as stearic acid ; 
however, 0°3025 gr. of the substance gave 0°842 gr. carbonic 
acid, and 0°335 gr. water, that is, in 100 parts, 
aria ites ct tig iver) AG 
Tiydrorem:, fei sis 49) eh 225 
A Sete | Mee gan ane On Ten Be OE! 
a result which differs from that of stearic acid by a half per cent. 
of hydrogen, although no loss can be pointed out. 
The silver salt of this distilled acid was prepared in the same 
