l66 ?ALM OIL. 



Action of alco- apon by It. This opinion, however, I found erroneous ; not 

 hoi on expres- only was a small portion of each of them dissolved by being 

 heated with alcohol, but even without the assistance of heat, 

 a minute, yet very evident cjuantity, was taken up by the 

 spirit. A part of the substance di solved in the heated alcohol 

 was precipitated as the fluid cooled, the remainder was sepa- 

 rated by water, or by evaporation. The quantity was so 

 small, that I found it difficult to a^^certain its exact proportion. 

 Method of ma- The method that I pursued with respect to the spermaceti 

 riment. ^ ' ^^^ ^^^ other kinds of wax, was to add them by degrees to the 

 boiling alcohol, until a quantity remained umlissolved. This 

 would nece>sarily be melted, and would form itself into a small 

 globule, which, when the fluid was become cool, might be 

 removed. The fluid, together with that part of its contents 

 which was precipitated by cooling, were then thrown upon a 

 filtre, the weight of which was previously known, and the pre- 

 cipitated part being retained by it, it was easy to ascertain its 

 amount. By weighing the fluid that passed through the filtre, 

 and by permitting the alcohol to evaporate spontaneously, the 

 solid contents that had been dissolved in it were ascertained. 

 In this way were discovered both the whole quantity of the 

 body that the alcohol dissolved, and that part of it which was 

 continued in solution after the fluid had cooled. 

 Results of the Proceeding in this manner, I found that 100 grs. of alcohol 

 action of spirit dissolved 52 grs, of spermaceti, half of which precipitated by 



upon fat sub- ,. ° r , , i ^^ ^ % r i 



stances. cooUng : 100 grs. or alcohol dissolved 2.131' grs. of myrtle- 



wax, 1.334 grs. being precipitated by cooling, and l-8th gr. 

 held in permanent solution. The same quantity of alcohol 

 dissolved only .31 gr. of bees-wax, almost half of which was 

 precipitated. The order in which these substances will stand, 

 recording to their power of resisting the action of alcohol, will 

 be, olive-oil, butter, and tallow, nearly the same, bees-wax 

 spermac'eti, palm-oil, and myrtle-wax. The order of fusibility 

 is, therefore, not exactly the inverse of the order of solubility in 

 alcohol. 



Their attrac- -phe affinity of these several substances for the alkalies nearly 



t»on for alkalies ^ ,, , -^ , ,. , . ^ ., .,. ,, , , ^ 



follows the order of their lusibdity, although not exactly so, 



tallow appearing to unite with caustic pot-ash more readily 



than with palm-oil. 



Hafeiuides of ^j^j^ respect to the resins, their fusibility and their solubility 



in alcohol, differ considerably in tlje different species j in ge- 



neralj 



