PALM OIL. l65 



points of several of them, I had, on a former occasion*, taken 

 some pains to ascertain with accuracy, on account of their 

 having been so differently stated by authors of the first respect- 

 ability. I now repeated the experiments with every possible 

 care, and obtained the following results : 



Tallow, heated to 120", was perfectly fluid and transparent; Freezing- 

 at 991", a slight tendency to opacity was just perceptible ; at ^^^^s^ofiy J^b. 

 97°, it became very evidently opake round the edges ; and at stances deter- 

 90°, it was no longer transparent ; at 89°, it had acquired a "^''^"^' 

 pretty firm consistence. The thermometer continued to de- 

 scend during the process without any apparent interruption. 

 A quantity of spermaceti was heated to the 120th degree, 

 when it was perfectly fluid and transparent. The mercury 

 descended to the 114-th degree, when a slight opacity was 

 perceptible at the lower edge ; but it continued falling to 

 112^°, when it became stationary. A film then formed on the 

 surface, and very nearly the whole was rendered solid, when 

 the thermometer began to descend again; but, upon agitating 

 the part that remained fluid, the mercury rose to 112^°. When 

 the whole had concreted, the thermometer descended to the 

 temperature of the room. Upon going through a similar pro* 

 cess with myrtle-wax, heated to 120°, the opacity was ob- 

 served to commence at the 116th degree; but the mercury 

 did not become stationary until it arrived at 109:|:°: here it 

 stopped until the whole became solid, when the thermometer 

 again began to descend. Bleached bees-wax showed a slight 

 degree of opacity at 14S°; but 142° or 14-1|° was the point 

 where the mercury became stationary. The wax, however, 

 retained a degree 'of softness at a much lower temperature. 

 With respect to their fusibility, these bodies will stand in the 

 following order — expressed oil; butter, palm-oil, tallow, myrtle- 

 wax, spermaceti and bees- wax. I iiad not an opportunity of Palm-oil melt« 

 making the experiment upon expressed oil ; but butter, palm- ^^ ^°^ ^®^^> 

 oil, and tallow are not only m.ore fusible than the other sub- 

 stances, but they also agree in being liquified in a gradual man- 

 ner ; whereas the others pass more immediately from the fluid 

 to the solid state, at one precise degree of temperature. With 

 respect to the eflfects of alcohol, it is an opinion universally 

 received, that expressed oil, butter, and tallow are not acted 

 R 3 upon 



* Nicholson's Journal, IV. 1S3 and seq. 



