312 SUBSTANCES FOUND TO POSSESS 



to be C 14 H 14 O 3 , or as Delffs* writes, C 18 H 18 O 4 , that 

 is pelargonic acid. I can here state nothing positively, 

 since the transformation of margaric into oenanthic 

 or butyric acid, &c., during fermentation, has never yet 

 been ascertained. An examination of this subject 

 appears to me of importance. Fatty substances are 

 easily resolved into one another, and in wine this 

 cannot be otherwise. 



Another explanation of the origin of fatty acids in 

 wine, may be found in the supposition that they are 

 products of the fermentation of sugar or other ferment- 

 ing substances, or perhaps of one of the components 

 of ferment itself. An observation of Scharling's,t 

 which concerns the production of butyric acid, may be 

 mentioned in connexion with the formation of fatty 

 acids. Grated potatoes (that is, potato cellulose), freed 

 by water from all starch, yield butyric acid in three 

 days, at a temperature of from 30 to 35 (86 to 95 p.) 

 Carbonic acid is at the same time developed. 



If in such a case it is really the cellulose which 

 ferments, and not the fat of the cellulose which is 

 resolved into butyric acid, then attention should be 

 paid to this matter in every case in which the pulp or 

 skin is allowed to ferment in wine ; since both of these 

 bodies are principally formed of cellulose. 



But Pelouze and Gelis J saw butyric acid formed 



* Ann. der Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 80, s. 290. 

 t Ann. der Ch. u. Pharm. Bd. 49, s. 313. 

 J Ann. de Ch. et de Ph. torn. x. p. 434. 



