306 Dr. Smith on the Composition of Spermaceti. 



substance. Laurent and subsequently Bromeis have shown, that 

 when oleic acid is oxidized by nitric acid, that suberic acid is 

 one of the most abundant products of this decomposition. Now 

 if spermaceti be oxidized by nitric acid no trace of suberic acid is 

 furnished. 



Having then the support of both direct and indirect evidence, 

 I do not hesitate to affirm that spermaceti contains no oleic acid. 



A question necessarily arising from this fact was, what was the 

 acid that Chevreul had taken for oleic acid ? To decide this 

 the following steps were taken. That portion of the acid obtain- 

 ed from the lime salt, which had not been digested with the ox- 

 ide of lead, was treated with carbonate of soda, this forming a 

 soda salt, which being dissolved in hot water, was decomposed 

 by tartaric acid. The fat acid, thus liberated from the soda, was 

 dissolved in warm alcohol, and upon allowing the solution to cool, 

 a considerable quantity of the acid crystallized out. The alcohol 

 was poured off of this crystalline deposit, and concentrated by 

 evaporation, from which another portion of the acid was allowed 

 to crystallize. The alcohol was decanted a second time, concentra- 

 ted and allowed to cool, and by repeating this four or five times, 

 and at last evaporating all the alcohol away, there was left a small 

 quantity of a solid fatty mass, which evidently still contained a 

 considerable portion of the same acid that had been crystallized 

 from the alcoholic solution. This acid had a melting point of 

 68° F. and consisted of a mixture of a fluid and solid acid, but it 

 was impossible to obtain the former, in a state of purity, and as 

 consequently no accurate examination of it could be made, none 

 was undertaken. 



The fluid acid that composed a portion of this mass, was 

 in too inconsiderable a quantity, to be considered an essential 

 constituent of spermaceti, particularly too as its presence can be 

 plausibly accounted for. Spermaceti, as it exists in nature, is 

 mixe'd with an oil, from which it is separated by pressure for do- 

 mestic use ; now it is impossible that by simple pressure we 

 should be able to deprive the spermaceti completely of this oil, 

 but in Chevreul's analysis, as well as in mine, the spermaceti of 

 commerce was treated with hot alcohol of .820 ; still there are 

 many reasons for supposing that even by this means it is impos- 

 sible to extract all the oil ; either from the fact that the oil is not 

 more soluble in alcohol than the spermaceti, or that the attraction 



