198 M. Chevreul on Fatty Bodies, and [Se1>T. 



different varieties of it, and first upon adipocire that is fusible 

 at 113°. He saponified 60 parts of this adipocire by half its 

 weight of potash dissolved in water ; the soap that was formed 

 was soft and opaque ; a mother-water was left of an orange 

 colour. The soap was diluted with cold water, when 40 parts 

 of the pearl-like matter were extracted from it ; what remained 

 in solution being decomposed by tartaric acid, 16 parts of a 

 reddish matter were procured, and 1*5 of a white, flocculent 

 matter. The mother-water was then examined ; by distillation 

 a quantity of ammoniac and an oily matter were obtained, and 

 by using different re-agents, an odorous principle, and a bitter, 

 yellow matter were also procured ; by analyzing the pearly 

 matter of the soap of adipocire, this body was found to consist 

 of margarine, of a fatty matter which is fluid at 44-5°, of a yellow, 

 colouring principle, and of an odoriferous principle. An adipo- 

 cire which is fusible at 129° was then subjected to the same 

 series of operations with the preceding, when it was found to 

 contain the same principles, but in different proportions ; it dif- 

 fered especially in containing more margarine than the former. 



The author then compares the margarine of the fatty matter 

 from dead bodies with that from the soap of hog's-lard. They 

 are both soluble in the same proportions in boiling alcohol ; the 

 solutious both of them redden litmus, and deposit brilliant crys- 

 tals as they cool. They are similarly affected by heat, they 

 combine with potash in the same proportions, and they form 

 soaps which exhibit very nearly the same properties. The 

 points in which they differ are their fusibility, and the form 

 which they assume when they pass from the fluid to the solid 

 state ; but these differences are not considerable, and, perhaps, 

 are not sufficient to induce us to regard the substances as essen- 

 tially dissimilar. 



In his third memoir, M. Chevreul has shown, that hog's-lard, 

 in its natural state, has not the property of combining with 

 alkalies ; but that it acquires it by experiencing some change in 

 the proportion of its elements. This change being induced by 

 the action of the alkali, it follows that the bodies of the new 

 formation must have a decided affinity for the species of body 

 which has determined it. If we apply this foundation of the 

 theory of saponification to the change into fat, which bodies 

 buried in the earth experience, we shall find that it explains the 

 process in a very satisfactory manner. In reality, the fatty 

 matter is the combination of the two adipose substances with 

 ammonia, lime, and potash ; one of these substances has the 

 same sensible properties with margarine procured from the soap 

 of hog's-lard ; the other, the orange-coloured oil, excepting its 

 colour, appears to have a strong analogy with the fluid fat. 

 From these circumstances it is probable that the formation of the 

 fatty matter may be the result of a proper saponification produced 

 by ammonia, proceeding from the decomposition of the muscle, 



