Royal Institute of France, * ae 393 
M. Chevreul, led by the course of his resear¢éhes on fatty sub- 
stances to examine these subjects, found that the adipocire of 
the biliary calculi gives no soap; whereas spermaceti supplies it 
equally with fat : but it is then a little deteriorated, and in other 
proportions, and with other properties. The fat of dead bodies 
is much more compounded than Fourcroy thought, and there 
have been found in it various fatty substances combined with 
ammonia, potash and lime. It is a fatty substance which has 
already undergone the action of the alkalies. 
Every one must have observed a resinous excretion of an 
_orange yellow colour which oozes from its fissures in the bark 
of the beech-tree when exposed to humidity, in the form of 
threads curled like vermicelli. M. Bidault de Villiers has made 
some chemical experiments on this substance. He dissolved one 
portion in water, another in alcohol, and the residue had several 
of the properties of gluten. The nitric acid converts it into 
oxalic acid, into a very abundant yellowish matter, and into a 
greasy substance ; but it produces in it no mucous acid. It 
yields in the fire much carbonate of ammonia and a fetid oil : 
in short, it must be regarded as resembling, very closely, animai 
substances in its nature. It will be interesting to make some 
inquiries into the causes of its production. 
One of the eras at which chemistry seemed to shine most 
brilliantly, and to be most useful, was that, without contradiction, 
when France, separated for twenty years from those countries the 
productions of which had become so long to us true wants, was 
obliged to supply their place by the productions of her own 
soil. The arts which were known have been perfected; new 
arts have been created. We have seen in succession soda ex- 
tracted from sea salt; alum and copperas formed ; colours ren- 
dered fixed, which were before supposed to be false tints ; indigo 
supplied,and madder taking place of cochineal : while beet-root 
sugar was supplanting that obtained from the cane, 
This last article, the most important of all, has not yet lost 
all its interest. It is true that many manufactories have ceased 
to exist, but those which have been conducted with intelligence 
and skili still snbsist and prosper : and according to Count Chap- 
tal, their products may always rival colonial sugars. This ex- 
perienced chemist gives an irrefragable proof of his assertion, 
since he continues the manufacture with profit: it is true that 
in all the details of the cultivation, the harvesting and the pre- 
paration, as well as in the employment of the various kinds of 
refuse, he has taken advantage of the progress of science and 
experience, so far as not to reject any thing which can be o 
service, and to apply to other purposes whatever he has been 
obliged to reject. He has described his processes in a manner 
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