230 COMPOSITION AND PRODUCTS OF 



" I treated the margarate of potash with alcohol to see if I 

 could obtain margaric acid fusible at 140° Fall. I submitted 

 a portion of the same salt to five successive treatments, and 

 obtained, first, a portion of the salt whose acid was fusible 

 at 113° Fah. ; and secondly, a portion whose acid was fusible 

 at 132° Fah. This last portion, treated again six times with 

 alcohol, gave, first, an acid fusible at 131° Fah. ; and secondly, 

 an acid fusible at 122° Fah. From this I conclude that it is 

 margaric and not stearic acid which manifests itself in the 

 saponification of spermaceti." 



Chevreul gives the following analyses of the salts of this 

 acid, to which I have affixed the atomic weight of the acid that 

 each indicates, and which differ considerably one from the 

 other. 



Salt. Atomic weight of acid. 



".San { t2e.::::::::::::::::::::::: 10 SS} 265 - 12 



Basalt {0*^":™'-™ »i} 27536 



e , ,. u fAcid lOO.OCn o»k ko 



Strontia-salt ( Bage wm j 255.52 



Lead-salt bibasic. j^^ ^ 00 ^ 262 - 40 



What was considered to be oleic acid could not be entirely 

 separated from the supposed margaric acid, and consequently 

 it was impossible for Chevreul to study accurately its prop- 

 erties. 



The elementary analysis of spermaceti, according to Chev- 

 reul, is 



Carbon 81.66 



Hydrogen 12.86 



Oxygen 5.48 



100.00 



Dumas and Peligot, considering the base of spermaceti to be 

 athal, and its acids margaric and oleic, have proposed the fol- 

 lowing formula. 

 ■| f2 ats. margarate j 2 ats. margaric acid..(Cs4 H32 O3 )2 "| 



of athal. \2 atoms athal (C32 H33 O )2 



2ato m so ] eateof J \ ££ "f^i £ O \ \ ^ ^ ^ 



athal 



i 1 atom athal (C32 H33 O ) 



( 1 atom water ( H O ) J 



* The formula for margaric and oleic acids are those that have lately been 

 given by Varrentrapp. 



