62 REDTENBACHER ON THE COMPOSITION OF STEARIC 
cal, a radical which Berzelius* had already anticipated and 
spoken of as probable, and the above two oxides of which he 
compared with hypo-sulphuric and sulphuric acids, with chloric 
and hyper-chloric acids, and whose compositions only vary one 
equivalent in the carbon and hydrogen, 
If, therefore, this radical C** H®, which may be called Mar- 
garyl, be represented by R, then margaric (margarylic) acid will 
be = R + O%, and stearic (hypomargarylic) acid = 2R + O°. 
The existence of such a radical is rendered more probable, if 
we consider the conversion of the one oxide into the other, as 
above shown; and thus viewed the composition of margarone 
can be otherwise represented ; it can be considered as the lowest 
oxide of the same radical; its formula in that case would be 
c+ H3O0=R+ 0. This formula is identical with that at 
which Bussy arrived in his analysis. 
The process of the distillation of stearic acid is therefore to be 
explained in a very simple manner, for it contains the elements 
of margaric acid, and the body margarone :— 
3 equiv. Hydrated margaric acid = C'* HOw 
POs. Margarene J 5000/4. (7 == OM aie ae 
Tc Water? ee aioe Hi! 
Or 
2 equiv. Hydrated stearic acid = C'° H5O" 
and the decomposition of margaric acid, when distilled either 
with or without lime, is as clear :— 
1 equiv. Margarone . . . =C*H*O! 
9 .. Carbonicacid. .. =C? O' + 2CaO 
ee Water ye ee eet a ee 
Polymeric carburetted hydrogen = Cs? H:2 
2 equiv. Margaricacid . . =C*H%*O*% 
In an experiment made by Chevreul respecting the nature and 
quantity of the gases developed during the distillation +, it ap- 
peared that 1000 gr. afforded about three gr. carbonic acid; ac- 
cording to this 26,984 gr. = 4 equiv. stearic acid would give 81 
gr. carbonic acid; whilst according to the first formula here 
given, 276 gr. carbonic acid = 1 C O°; and according to the se- 
* Lehrbuch der Chemie, 3te Auflage, 6ter Band, S, 543; 
Chimie (Brussels edition), vol. ii. p. 497. 
+ Recherches, p. 25. 
or Traité de 
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