'Am*Nov.?i887arm'}    Linimentum  Ammonice  and  other  Liniments.  551 
one  article  in  the  place  of  another — cotton  oil  for  lard,  oleomargarin  for  but- 
ter, glucnse  for  sugar.  If  the  sense  of  honor  of  men  like  Armour  is  not  keen 
enough  to  prevent  them  from  perpetrating  a  fraud  of  this  kind  legislation  is 
not  wi  hout  excuse. 
V  Massachusetts  has  already  passed  a  law,  which  goes  into  effect  October  1, 
compelling  all  adulterated  food  products  to  be  sold  for  just  what  they  are.  The 
act  is  designed  as  a  protection  both  to  consumers  and  to  honest  dealers.  If 
lard  mixed  with  cotton  oil  can  be  s)ld  for  pure  lard,  then  pure  lard  becomes 
an  impo-sibility  for  ihe  reason  that  no  manufacturer  of  pure  lard  can  compete 
in  prices  with  those  who  manufacture  the  adulterated  article.  The  same  holds 
true  of  any  article  that  can  be  successfully  adulterated  beyond  the  power  of  the 
ordinary  consumer  to  detect.  But  what  a  revelation  Mr.  Armour's  frank  admis- 
sion of  his  extensive  use  of  adulterants  furnishes  of  the  low  standard  of  business 
honor  prevalent  among  the  men  who  have  piled  up  fortunes  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  articles  of  such  common  consumption  as  lard,  sugar,  butter  and  cheese.'' 
Again,  an  error  has  doubtless  been  made  (though  small  in  amount), 
in  reducing  the  quantity  of  ammonia  water  to  30  per  cent.  The  gen- 
eral idea  of  the  profession  in  using  ammonia  liniment  is  not  so  much 
to  have  a  nearly  neutral  saponaceous  mixture,  but  one  which  will  pos- 
sess, in  addition  to  those  emollient  features  the  sharply  stimulating 
qualities  arising  from  an  excess  of  ammonia.  Indeed,  some  physi- 
cians go  so  far,  when  wishing  strongly  stimulating  effects,  as  to  make 
their  volatile  liniment  contain  one-half  strong  ammonia  water  (F.  F. 
F.,  sp.  gr.  .933). 
The  statement  has  been  made  that  perfect  saponification  is  largely 
dependent  upon  the  closeness  in  specific  gravities  to  each  other,  of  the 
two  liquids  used.  Nothing  seems  more  in  error.  Olive  oil,  with  a 
specific  gravity  ranging  between  '915  and  "918,  makes  an  infinitely 
better  mixture  with  solutions  ot  alkaline  hydrates  in  general,  and  am- 
monia water  (sp.  gr.  *933)  in  particular,  than  cotton-seed  oil  with  its 
specific  gravity  of  from  "920  to  '930 ;  and  oil  of  lard  (sp.  gr.  '900  to 
•920)  yields  a  very  much  better  product  than  cotton-seed  oil;  whilst, 
on  the  other  hand,  linseed  oil  (sp.  gr.  .936)  yields  most  readily  to  sa- 
ponifying influences.  So  readiness  of  saponification  cannot  depend  so 
much  upon  the  specific  gravities  of  the  two  admixed  liquids  as  it  does 
upon  the  chemical  characters  of  those  constituents,  other  than  that 
trio  of  fatty  proximate  principles — olein,  palmitin  and  stearin,  i.  e.y 
gum,  albuminoids,  color,  extractive,  etc. 
Some  months  ago,  while  making  the  so-called  carron  oil,  according 
to  the  older  formula,  and  noticing  the  immediate  and  complete  saponi- 
fication which  takes  place  between  the  unboiled  linseed  oil  and  the 
solution  of  lime,  that  relatively  weak  alkaline  hydrate,  the  idea  sug- 
