ON ADIPOCIRE, AND ITS FORMATION. 25 
transformed into fat; but fibrine does not require to lose much substance in the shape of 
ammonia, &c., for this transformation, and there would not be, therefore, a great distur- 
bance in the shape of the fibres of muscle; at any rate, it would be reasonable to expect, 
that with the microscope, traces of an arrangement of the fatty particles into fibres or 
rows would here and there be seen, but this is not the case, and the appearance is that of 
fat particles of equal size among themselves, and of a diameter one-fourth that of the ori- 
ginal fat globules, and indeed presenting all the appearances to be expected from a mass of 
fat undergoing alteration from the decomposition of its oleine and glycerine; and finally - 
in the experiment where adipocire was artificially formed, no gain of fat was observed, 
but a loss of what was purposely left upon the specimen under examination. 
I shall delay an examination of the products in my hands, until the separation of the 
fatty acids is improved. It would be easy enough with the present methods to isolate 
the two principal constituents of the fatty acids from the material in hand; but small 
quantities of new products would inevitably escape observation. 
The desiderata in working the fatty acids at present, are, First, separation of the oleic 
acid, without too much loss of substance. 
Second, a less circuitous method of separating the fatty acids than by Heintz’s method, 
which renders difficult the isolation of small quantities of a different acid, as shown by his 
mistake of anthropic acid. 
It is probable that a crystallization of salts (especially with a base of a high equivalent) 
would effect this purpose, for in crystallization, other compounds and impurities are con- 
centrated in the mother liquids, while in fractional precipitation, in the present case, an in- 
finite subdivision seems to take place, requiring many steps to accomplish a sufficient 
purification; and brilliant as Heintz’s results are, considerable labour was required to arrive 
at them. Heintz’s process of partial precipitation was founded upon the method of frac- 
tional distillation, proposed by Liebig for the separation of the lower members of the series 
‘of fatty acids; in the latter case presence of an alkaline carbonate, in quantity insufficient 
to saturate the mixed acids, alters their volatility, while in the former, presence of a salt in 
insufficient quantity for perfect decomposition changes the relations of solubility of the salt 
formed, and it does not necessarily follow that the chemical affinity, active in both cases, 
will afford as expeditious a method in cases of solubility as in those of volatility. 
VOL. x1.—4 
