Dr. Smith on the Composition of Spermaceti. 301 



Aet. IV. — The Composition and Products of Distillation of 

 Spermaceti, with some few remarks upon its oxidation by Ni- 

 tric Acid ; by J. Lawrence Smith, M. D. of Charleston, S. C* 



Of all the fatty bodies that have been examined, there is per- 

 haps no one, whose composition has been so imperfectly arrived at 

 as that of spermaceti, and it is a little remarkable that Chevreul, 

 with the accuracy which distinguishes his researches upon the 

 fats, should not have ascertained more nearly its true composition. 

 Chevreul made the examination of spermaceti in the same 

 way as he did that of other fatty bodies, by digesting it with 

 a solution of an alkali, and examining the products that com- 

 bined with the alkali, and those that did not. In the case of 

 spermaceti he obtained a solid substance that did not combine 

 with either soda or potash, resembling strongly in its external 

 characters the fats, and upon analysis with bioxide of copper gave 



Carbon, 79.76 



Hydrogen, - - - - - 13.95 

 Oxygen, 6.29 



100.00 

 From this he calculated its formula (03^113 gO-f-HO), and this 

 substance he called, from some peculiarities in its composition, 

 when compared with that of alcohol and of ether, athal, or rather 

 hydrated athal. 



That part of the spermaceti which combined with the potash, 

 Chevreul considered to be composed of margaric and oleic acids, 

 without apparently any strong grounds for so doing ; he gives us 

 no analyses of these acids, and the following is all that is said 

 concerning them. 



"The margaric acid of spermaceti is fusible at from 131° to 

 132° Fah., crystallizes in little radiating needles, is insipid and 

 inodorous ; at 140° Fah. it dissolves in all proportions in alcohol 

 of .820, the solution reddening strongly litmus. 



" I treated the margarate of potash with alcohol to see if I could 

 obtain margaric acid fusible at 140° Fah. I submitted a portion 

 of the same salt to five successive treatments, and obtained first 



* Communicated by the author to this Journal. 



