152 
COMMERCIAL  VALUE  OF  ANIMAL  CHARCOAL. 
We  thus  arrive  at  the  conclusion,  that  the  entire  series  of  the 
fats  of  the  fatty  acids,  from  butyric  acid  to  butic  acid,  the  composi- 
tion of  which  may  be  expressed  by  the  general  formula  C4n  H4n  O4, 
is  contained  in  butter,  with  the  single  exception  of  pichurmeic  acid 
(C24  H24  O4  ),  and  that  all  those  members  of  the  series  in  which 
the  number  of  equivalents  of  carbon  are  not  divisible  by  4,  but 
only  by  2,  do  not  occur  in  it ;  a  conclusion  already  arrived  at  by 
Gorgey  for  cocoa-nut  oil. 
Butter  consequently  consists  of  a  mixture  of  oleine  with  buty- 
rine,  caproine,  capryline,  caprine,  myristine,  palmitine,  stearine 
and  butine. — London  Chem.  Gazette,  Dec.  1,  1853,  from  Benefit- 
der  Mad.  der  Wiss.  zu  Berlin,  Aug.  1853,  p.  503. 
NEW  PROCESS  FOE  DETERMINING  THE  COMMERCIAL  VALUE 
OF  ANIMAL  CHARCOAL. 
By  M.  CORENWINDER. 
At  present,  when  it  is  desired  to  determine  the  value  of  animal 
charcoal,  it  is  usual  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  decolorizing  power 
as  compared  with  that  of  a  charcoal,  of  which  the  properties 
are  known,  placing  it  as  far  as  possible  in  the  same  physical  con- 
dition as  that  which  serves  for  comparison. 
The  decolorizing  power  of  the  charcoal  ought  undoubtedly  to  be 
taken  into  consideration;  but  this  substance  possesses  another  pro- 
perty, to  which  no  serious  attention  has  been  paid,  namely,  an  ab- 
sorbent power. 
In  the  present  state  of  the  sugar  manufacture,  the  latter  is  cer- 
tainly of  more  consequence  than  the  decolorizing  power,  since,  by 
means  of  centrifugal  apparatus,  the  crystals  of  sugar  may  be  com- 
pletely freed  from  the  colored  syrup  which  adheres  to  them. 
Moreover,  the  absorbent  power  of  the  charcoal  produces  the  same 
effect  as  the  decolorizing  power,  which  is  evidently  due  to  the  ab- 
sorption of  the  colored  matters  in  solution  in  the  syrup. 
The  comparative  value  of  animal  charcoal  may  consequently  be 
determined  from  the  quantity  of  lime  which  is  absorbed  by  a  given 
weight  of  that  substance.  This  quantity,  which  is  considerable 
with  new  charcoal,  is  much  less  with  charcoal  that  has  been  re- 
vived ;  a  process  may  therefore  be  founded  upon  this  property, 
which  will  serve  to  give  a  determinate  value  to  animal  black;  and 
