THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
JULY,   1  8  53. 
ON  GLYCEEIN. 
By  IIennell  Stevens. 
{An  Inaugural  Essay,) 
Glycerin,  in  its  chemical  habitudes,  bears  many  analogies  to 
the  alcohols,  but  also  presents  phenomena  which  are  apparently 
irreconcilable  with  such  a  view  of  its  chemical  relationship.  The 
experiments  which  this  essay  is  intended  to  detail,  were  undertaken 
with  a  view  of  throwing  some  light  upon  the  subject,  that  others, 
more  skilled  than  myself,  might  determine  its  true  character  and 
assign  its  real  position  as  a  chemical  substance. 
Glycerin,  C6  H3  06,  is  now  admitted  to  be  the  hydrated  oxide 
of  the  hypothetical  radical  Glyceryl,  C6  H7.  According  to  this 
view  of  its  composition  it  corresponds  w7ith  alcohol,  with  which  it 
also  agrees  in  uniting  with  sulphuric  acid.  Sulpho-glyceric  acid, 
the  resulting  compound,  in  its  salts,  very  much  resembles  the  cor- 
responding salts  of  sulpho-vinic  acid. 
Sulpho-glyceric  acid,  on  being  heated,  froths  up  very  much,  and 
emits  fumes  of  sulphurous  acid,  leaving  in  the  retort  a  thick  reddish 
liquid  smelling  strongly  of  sulphurous  acid.  Several  experiments 
were  tried,  with  a  view  of  detecting  any  ethereal  compound  which 
might  be  produced  during  the  re-action,  but  they  all  failed  to  show 
any  evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a  product.  The  more  im- 
mediate object  of  the  author  had  been  to  prove  the  existence  of  a 
series  of  ethereal  compounds  having  glyceryl  as  their  base.  It 
would,  in  my  estimation,  afford  a  more  satisfactory  explanation  of 
the  composition  of  the  fatty  bodies,  stearin,  olein,  &c,  by  sup- 
posing them  to  be  compound  ethers  of  the  glyceryl  series,  than  by 
the  method  generally  adopted  of  considering  them  as  salts  of  gly- 
cerin. This  theory  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  in  stearin 
and  olein,  and  perhaps  in  others  of  the  same  nature,  we  can  substi- 
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