COMPOSITION AND PRODUCTS OF DISTILLA- 

 TION OF SPERMACETI, 



WITH SOME FEW KEMARKS UPON ITS OXIDATION 

 BY NITRIC ACID. 



Of all the fatty bodies that have been examined there is 

 perhaps not one whose composition has been so imperfectly 

 arrived at as that of spermaceti, and it is a little remarkable 

 that Chevreul, with the accuracy which distinguishes his re- 

 searches upon the fats, should not have ascertained more nearly 

 its true composition. 



Chevreul made the examination of spermaceti in the same 

 way as he did that of other fatty bodies, by digesting it with a 

 solution of an alkali, and examining the products that combined 

 with the alkali and those that did not. In the case of sperma- 

 ceti he obtained a solid substance that did not combine with 

 either soda or potash, resembling strongly in its external char- 

 acters the fats, and upon analysis with bioxide of copper gave 



Carbon 79.76 



Hydrogen . 13.95 



Oxygen 6.29 



100.00 

 From this he calculated its formula (C 32 H 33 O-f HO), and 

 this substance he called, from some peculiarities in its compo- 

 sition when compared with that of alcohol and of ether, athal, 

 or rather hydrated athal. 



That part of the spermaceti which combined with the potash 

 Chevreul considered to be composed of margaric and oleic 

 acids, without apparently any strong grounds for so doing. He 

 gives us no analyses of these acids, and the following is all that 

 is said concerning them : 



"The margaric acid of spermaceti is fusible at from 131° 

 to 132° Fah., crystallizes in little radiating needles, is insipid 

 and inodorous ; at 140° Fah. it dissolves in all proportions in 

 alcohol of 0.820, the solution reddening strongly litmus. 



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