ACID AND THE PRODUCTS OF ITS DISTILLATION. 57 
0:3138 er. of the distilled acid thus purified gave 0°8625 gr. 
carbonic acid, and 0°355 gr. water ; or in 100 parts, 
Found. Equiv. Calculated. 
Pee 0, Sti . 25988... 16 75°92 
Hydrogen. 12°57 . . 34 . . 4243 . . 12:39 
Dee hss st Ul. . 64000 SC «1269 
3423°1 100°00 
Now this is precisely the formula and composition of hydrated 
margaric acid. 
Again, 0°972 gr. of the silver salt of this acid gave 0°271 gr. 
silver, or 0°291 gr. oxide of silver, = 29°95 per cent. of the oxide. 
And lastly, 0°303 gr. of the same silver salt gave 0°598 gr. 
carbonic acid, and 0°243 gr. water: we have, therefore, 
mummers «5457 . . 34 . . 25988...) . 54°57 
ycromen ss. . S92 . . 33... 41108.) . 8°65 
Maxyeenss >. . G56 . . 3... 3000 «). 6:30 
Oxide of silver. 29°95 . .1 . . 14516 . . 30°48 
4762°2 * 100°00 
The composition of this silver salt agrees perfectly with that 
of margaric acid. 
Margaric acid, therefore, is formed by the distillation of stearic 
acid, or what is the same thing, from the acid of ox tallow that of 
human fat is obtained. 
In order to arrive at a knowledge of the accompanying pro- 
ducts of the distillation of stearic acid, a new quantity of that 
acid was distilled, and the matter obtained combined with soda, 
from which a lime salt, by means of chloride of calcium, was 
prepared, since the soda-salt by treatment with zther swelled 
up exceedingly. Boiling ether extracted from this lime salt 
the two substances above noticed, and from which, on cooling, 
the solid crystallized out. After frequent re-crystallizations from 
wether and expulsion of the latter, there remained a white sub- 
stance of a mother-of-pearl lustre, scaly crystalline, and which, 
after being fused, was translucent, brittle, hard, melted at 77° C. 
(171° F.), and had the properties of margarone. 
* Wherein the composition of margaric acid, as here estimated, differs from 
that given by Chevreul, is explained by Dr. Varrentrapp in his treatise on that 
acid, published also in the Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, for July 1840. 
