A YIXOUS SMELL. 311 



even more than enough, since fat is found in the 

 sediment of the wine (p. 240). 



If we remember that in animal bodies compounds of 

 fatty acids containing 8, 12, 16, and 20 times CH + O 4 , 

 with glycyl oxide (glycerine), are formed out of mar- 

 garin; from butter, butyrin",capron, capryl, and caprin, 

 we must first devote our time to the fatty sub- 

 stances of grape skins and juice ; since it is absurd 

 to search for a fat as the product of fermentation, 

 if fat be known to exist in the fermenting sub- 

 stances. 



Now, whether the fat of wine proceed from the 

 stones, from the juice itself, or from the skins, it takes 

 part in the fermentation, and may as easily undergo 

 alteration here as elsewhere. If the oil of the grape 

 stones contain margarin, this may, during fermenta- 

 tion, yield as butter does butyrin, capron, &c., and be 

 the primary source of the many fatty acids, faint 

 traces of whose presence are found in wine. 



The difficulty here is, whether margaric acid, con- 

 sidered by Heintz as a mixture of palmetic, C 32 

 II 32 O 4 , and stearic acid, C 36 H 36 O 4 , could by ab- 

 sorbing oxygen alone form butyric, caproic, caprylic 

 and capric acids, which contain 8, 12, 16, and 20 times 

 CH + O 4 . But as very little fatty acid exists in wine 

 (p. 240), an excess of oxygen would be always present 

 in the air held in solution in the wine. 



The same oxidation would take place by the resolution 

 of margaric into cenanthic acid, whether it be considered 



