= : . - = — - — Le ee 
OF THE FIXED OILS IN CONTACT WITH SULPHUR. 367 
into the receiver, and at the same time sulphuretted hydrogen passes in torrents 
through the alcohol; it there deposits a certain quantity of oil, and on escaping, 
may be kept burning during the whole operation, with a flame eight or nine inches 
high. The principal difficulty of this process consists in regulating the heat, so 
as to keep up a steady action. Ifthe heat be allowed to fall, the contents of the 
balloon become so viscid, as inevitably to boil over; and at the same time too 
high a temperature causes the whole action to go on with excessive violence. I 
have generally operated on quantities of three pounds, each of which requires a 
complete day for its distillation, during which time the operator must never leave 
it, but constantly attend to the regulation of the heat, and the gradual addition 
of sulphur in small quantities. When a quantity equal to about half the oil em- 
ployed has distilled over, the remaining mass becomes excessively viscid ; and just 
at this point the balloon frequently cracks, the contents escape, and the whole 
catches fire, and blazes off with a bright yellow flame, and smell of sulphurous acid. 
The product of this distillation, which exactly resembled that of the pure 
oleic acid, was rectified, and the crystals which deposited from the latter portions 
were expressed and purified by successive crystallizations in alcohol. They then 
presented all the characters of margaric acid, and gave the following results of 
analysis :— 
14:558 oe carbonic acid, and 
5:275 grains of the acid gave 
lip 
POLS ts. .y water: 
17-548 tn carbonic acid, and 
6-358 grains of the acid gave 
If 
T2002 | water, 
Which gives the following results per cent.— 





Experiment. Calculation. 
poe 
il; 108 
Carbon ily wT V7527 75°40 75°55 Czy 2500-0 
Hydrogen, . . 1251 1266 1259 Hy 425.0 
Oxygen; .|)-) ue 1222 11:94 11-86 O, 400-0 
100:00 100:00 100-00 3325°0 
These results agree completely with the formula for margaric acid, and were far- 
ther confirmed by the analysis of its silver salt and ether. 
4-643 grains of the silver salt gave 1-325 of silver = 28-53 per cent. 
7-926 grains of the silver salt gave 2°284 of silver = 28°70 per cent. 
The calculated result for margarate of silver gives 28:65 per cent. 
VOL. XVI. PART III. G 5A 
