Chemical Inquiries into the Natureof sever alfaltyS ulsianccs. 1S3 



and interior lining. In consequence I felt for some time after 

 an unpleasant burning sensation in my throat, but neither 

 purgative nor emetic effect followed. I afterwards repeated the 

 six-grains dose, having previously removed the germ and paper- 

 like lining, and with much difficulty obtained one stool little dif- 

 fering from the natural. 



I have not at present prosecuted these researches further: but, 

 should circumstances admit of my following up these preliminary 

 experiments, I shall lose no time in conmiunicatiug their results 

 to vou for the gencrrd information of t!ie medical world. The 

 nut of the Sand Box is extremely palatable, tasting much like a 

 good filbert. 



An American captain who was in the habit of visiting Saint 

 Kitts, before the war, was in the constant practice of using one or 

 more of the seeds of the common Physic Nut ( Jalropha Curcas) 

 as a purgative when his bowels were irregular, using only the 

 precaution of separating the germ, in which the violently drastic 

 effects seemed solely to reside. 



I have the lionour to remain, 

 With high esteem, sir, 



Your most obedient servant, 



William Hamilton, M. B. 



XXXII. Chemical Inqviries into the Nature of several fatty 

 Subslanccs, and particularly on their Combinations with the 

 Alkalis. By M. Chevreul*. 



Of a neiv Suhstavce, called Margarine, ohlained from the Soap 

 made from the Fat of Fork and Potash. 



I. JL HE combination of a fat substance with an alkali, pre- 

 senting sevyal products which are of great utility in the arts 

 and domestic osconomy, was examined with respect to their 

 usual properties: but in point of theory they were not made the 

 subject of any special incjuiry, so that we are reduced to hypo- 

 tlieses in order to explain one of the most common operations in 

 our manufactories. The chemists of Stahl's school, who thought 

 that the acid obtained from distilled oils was one of their con- 

 stituent principles, generally regarded it as the cause of saponi- 

 fication. This idea was renounced when Lavoisier demonstrated 

 that most of the bodies ]n"oduced from organic matter, uhen di- 

 stilled, resulted from a decomposition produced by caloric. Pre- 

 vious to Lavoisier M. Bertliollet had regarded saponification in 

 a more siniple and accurate manner, by making it depend on 



* Annairs de Cliimie, tome Ixxxviii. p. 225. 



Vol . '1 4 . No. 1 97 . Sept. 1814. N the 



