278 MR G. CARR ROBINSON ON THE 
oil was undertaken with the view of ascertaining if the process of converting 
the mixed acids into ethers, and separating these by fractional distillation, 
would give results agreeing with those of other observers, 
One of the most exhaustive memoirs on the constitution of coco butter is 
that by OupEMANS (Journal fir Praktische Chemie, \xxxi.). He saponified the 
coco butter with caustic potash, and from the potash soap obtained a lime salt 
by precipitating with ammonia and chloride of calcium; after treating the lime — 
salt with ether, to remove any unsaponified fat, it is decomposed by hydrochloric 
acid, and the fatty acid, dissolved in alcohol, is subjected to fractional precipi- 
tation with acetate of baryta. In this way OupEMANS obtained nine baryta 
salts ; these were in turn decomposed by hydrochloric acid for the liberation of 
the fatty acids, the melting points of which were taken, and their composition 
arrived at by analysis. By this method OupEMANs found in coco butter capric, 
caproic, caprylic, lauric, palmitic, and margaric acids, and denied the existence 
of cocinic acid (C,,H,,O,). 
Of other investigations of coco-nut oil may be mentioned those of BRoMEIS 
(Ann. Chem. Pharm. xxxv.) and St EvrE (Ann. Chem. Phys. xx.). 
BroMEIs separated the acids by repeated crystallisation from alcohol; Sr 
Evré, in addition to this, prepared lead salts, extracted these with ether, and 
from them separated a body which was subjected afresh to crystallisation. 
Fennec (Ann. Chem. Pharm. liii.) obtained the volatile acids by distilling 
the coco butter with dilute sulphuric acid, saturating the distillate with baryta, 
and separating the baryta salts by their different solubility in water. 
The following is the process employed in this research :—A quantity of 
coco butter, 5 kilograms, is melted with hot water, and boiled with a very weak 
soda lye for a period of eight hours ; on cooling, the hard white soap is broken 
up, steam passed into it, and the soap solution boiled for another period of 
eight hours. After cooling the soap is well washed with cold water, then 
melted, hot water added, and the soap decomposed by the gradual addition of 
sulphuric acid. The fatty acids are separated from the sulphate of soda, 
glycerine, and excess of sulphuric acid, washed several times with boiling water, 
and again saponified, using at first a very weak lye. On cooling, the cake of 
hard soap is washed and decomposed with sulphuric acid as before. 
The fatty acids so obtained, weighing about 33 kilograms, are thoroughly 
washed with hot water, dried, and dissolved in 1:25 kilograms of absolute 
alcohol, and the alcoholic solution saturated with gaseous hydrochloric acid ; 
the ethers, separated from the water, dissolved again in alcohol, and a second 
time saturated with gaseous hydrochloric acid, washed from all trace of hydro- 
chloric acid, dried first with chloride of calcium, and finally with phosphoric 
anhydride. 
The mixture of ethers, dried in this manner, was then submitted to 


