ON   THE  COMPOSITION   OF  BUTTER. 
151 
exactly  the  quantity  of  baryta  attributed  by  Bromeis  to  the  buty- 
roleate  of  baryta.  By  minute  separative  methods,  however,  he  at 
length  succeeded  in  obtaining  pure  oleate  of  baryta,  the  composi- 
tion of  which  agreed  exactly  with  the  formula  C36  H33  O8,  BaO. 
From  the  solid  portion  of  the  acids  obtained  from  the  butter, 
the  author  procured  a  remarkably  large  quantity  of  pure  palmitic 
acid,  by  the  process  already  described  by  him  for  the  separation 
of  mixtures  of  fatty  acids.  He  had  however  to  contend  with 
greater  difficulties  in  preparing  the  stearic  acid,  which  had  been 
shown  by  previous  experiments  to  exist  in  butter.  These  difficul- 
ties arose,  to  a  considerable  extent,  from  the  small  quantity  of 
stearic  acid  existing  in  butter,  but  more  especially  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  that  substance  contains  another  acid,  which  is  richer 
in  carbon,  more  difficult  of  solution  in  alcohol,  and  more  readily 
precipitated  by  acetate  of  magnesia.  This  the  author  was  unable 
to  separate  in  a  state  of  purity,  in  consequence  of  the  small  quan- 
tity of  it  present ;  he  ascertained,  however,  that  it  must  contain 
more  than  38  atoms  of  carbon.  From  his  investigations  it  appears 
very  probable  that  its  composition  is  to  be  expressed  by  the  for- 
mula C40  H40  O4.  For  this  new  acid  the  author  proposes  the 
name  of  butic  acid.  The  solid  portion  of  butter  consequently  con- 
tains butine  and  stearine  in  addition  to  palmitine, 
Lastly,  the  author  succeeded  in  procuring  from  the  fatty  acids 
of  butter  a  small  quantity  of  an  acid  which  fuses  between  118° 
and  172°  F.,  and  which,  although  it  was  not  obtained  perfectly 
pure,  agrees  so  exactly  in  its  properties  and  composition  with  my- 
ristic  acid,  that  no  donbt  can  be  entertained  that  this  acid  also  is 
contained  in  butter.    Butter  consequently  contains  myristine. 
According  to  the  investigations  of  Lerch,  butter  contains  com- 
pounds of  glycerine  with — 
Butyric  acid,  formula  C8  Hs  O4 
Caproic  acid,  formula  C12  H12  O4 
Caprylic  acid,  formula  C16  H16  O4 
Capric  acid,    formula  C20  H20  O4 
The  author  found  in  addition  compounds  of  glycerine  with — 
Myristic  acid,  formula  C23  H28  O4 
Palmitic  acid,  formula  C32  H32  O4 
Stearic  acid,  formula  C36  H36  O4 
Butic  acid,     formula  C40  H40  O4 
