312 Dr. Smith on the Composition of Spermaceti. 



Found. 



Atoms. Atomic wght. Calcul. 



Carbon, 64 388.36 80.18 



Hydrogen, 64 64.00 13.22 



Oxygen, 4 32.00 6.60 



484.36 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 



Distillation of Spermaceti. — The products furnished by the 

 distillation of spermaceti were examined some time since by 

 Bussy and Lecam, but they appear to have fallen into the same 

 error v/ith regard to them as was committed in the analysis of 

 spermaceti, for they state that oleic and margaric acids were 

 among the products. 



To make a correct examination of the products of the distilla- 

 tion of spermaceti, it was necessary that the substance should be 

 in the greatest state of purity, as the presence of the smallest 

 quantity of tallow, sometimes used as a means of adulteration, 

 would serve to lead one into error. The manner of purification 

 here employed, was to dissolve the spermaceti in a mixture of 

 two parts of alcohol of .820 and one part of ether, allowing it to 

 crystallize out, and washing the crystals with boiling alcohol of 

 .820. 



If some of the spermaceti, purified as just mentioned, be placed 

 in a small retort, and this last in mercury heated to its boiling 

 point, the spermaceti will be found to distill over slowly, and in 

 fact this appears to be the lowest temperature at which the dis- 

 tillation takes place — a temperature of about 600'^ Fah. The 

 matter distilled no longer possesses the properties of spermaceti; 

 its melting is at a temperature somewhat lower, and it has a strong 

 acid reaction upon litmus paper, as well as a peculiar smell, which 

 though is not at all that of acroleins.* 



If the products afforded by the distillation be digested with 

 water, and this water be examined, it will be found not to pos- 

 sess the slightest acid reaction, a fact of considerable importance, 

 and one that has been mentioned in a former part of this article 

 as an evidence of the non-existence of oleic acid in spermaceti, 



* If tallow be heated until it distills, it will be found to possess an odor which 

 irritates both the nostrils and eyes, and the substance to which this odor belongs 

 is called acroleine, and is a product of the decomposition of the glycerine in the 

 tallow. It has been found that all bodies that contain glycerine, when heated 

 sufficiently high, give the same odor, and it has therefore become the test for the 

 glycerine. 



