PURIFICATION  OF  GLYCERINE. 
519 
ON  THE  PUKIFICATION  OF  GLYCERINE,  AND  ITS  EMPLOYMENT 
IN  THE  ARTS. 
Report  by  M.  Chevalier  on  a  Paper  by  M.  Bruere-Perrin. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  discovery  of  glycerine  dates  from 
3782  or  1783  ;  that  it  is  due  to  Scheele,  who  made  known  the 
fact  that  oils  and  fats  contain  a  saccharine  matter  which  is  ob- 
tained by  treating  two  parts  of  oil  with  one  part  of  litharge, 
adding  some  water,  and  applying  heat,  and  afterwards  separating 
and  purifying  the  saccharine  matter  which  is  found  in  the  mother- 
liquor.  Scheele  published  the  results  of  his  investigation  on  this 
subject  in  a  communication  bearing  the  title  Be  Materia  Sac- 
cliarina  peculiari  Oleorum  expressum  et  pinguedinum,  which  ap- 
peared in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sweden,  in 
1783.  In  this  publication  Scheele  gave  the  name  of  sweet  prin- 
ciple of  oils  to  glycerine,  from  the  fact  of  its  having  a  saccharine 
character,  and  of  its  solution  yielding  a  syrupy  product  on  being 
evaporated. 
The  discovery  of  Scheele  was  circulated  through  the  scientific 
journals,  and  especially  Crell's  Journal  for  1784,  and  afterwards 
the  Chemical  Works  of  Bergmann,  edited  by  Guyton  de  Mor- 
veau. 
By  the  subsequent  extension  of  scientific  investigation  it  was 
established  that  oils  are  composed  of  fatty  acids  and  glycerine, 
and  that  the  latter,  which  plays  the  part  of  a  base,  is  separated 
in  saponification. 
Glycerine,  although  it  has  been  well  known  to  Chemists,  and 
although  it  has  been  produced  in  very  large  quantities  since  the 
development  of  the  industrial  arts  in  France,  was  not  employed  ; 
being  considered  a  product  of  the  laboratory — curious,  but  not 
susceptible  of  any  useful  application. 
The  first  use  to  which  glycerine  was  applied  was  in  medicine ; 
in  fact,  the  sweet  principle  of  oils  was  first  employed  as  a  remedy 
for  diseases  of  the  ear  by  an  English  surgeon.  This  application 
of  it  having  been  made  known,  the  attention  of  medical  men  wTas 
directed  to  glycerine,  and  soon  afterwards  it  was  recommended 
as  a  valuable  application  for  diseases  of  the  skin.  Trials  of  it 
were  made  in  Paris  by  Bazin  and  Cazenove  ;  in  London  by 
Yearsley,  Wakley,  and  others  ;  in  Kussia  by  Dr.  Dallas,  of  Odessa, 
who  without  any  hesitation  pronounced  glycerine  to  be  the  best 
