8 
Spermaceti. 
(  A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1    January,  1896. 
negative  results,  and  being  well  aware  that  this  peculiar,  concrete, 
fatty  substance  was  not  readily  adulterated,  as  any  foreign  sub- 
stance greatly  disturbed  its  physical  character,  the  writer  was 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  samples  were  genuine.  From  this 
time,  data  were  accumulated  from  various  sources. 
On  carefully  comparing  the  recorded  specific  gravities,  at  I5°C.» 
it  was  observed  that  they  were  practically  derived  from  two  sources. 
E.  Dieterich,1  in  a  tabulated  list  of  specific  gravities  for  a  number 
of  fatty  bodies,  records  0-96  for  cetaceum.  This  has  been  copied 
very  little,  and  Mr.  Dieterich  practically  stands  alone  in  his  observa- 
tion. The  lower  specific  gravity,  0-943,  is  generally  credited  to 
C.  Schaedler,2  but  it  really  originated  in  1820  with  T.  Saussure.5 
Mr.  A.  H.  Allen4  gives  o  942-0-946  as  specific  gravity.  In  several 
instances,  0-945  is  given,  but  no  original  communication  could  be 
found  to  sustain  it. 
The  melting  point  of  spermaceti  received  a  greater  share  of 
attention  by  the  various  workers.  The  reports  are  as  follows : 
T.  Saussure,3  470  C;  E.  Chevreul,5  44°  C;  J.  Stenhouse,6  41-6°  C; 
T.  Wimmel.7  440-44  5°  C;  F.  Riidorfi?  43-5°-44'3°  C.  Mr.  Wim- 
mel,9  in  his  contribution,  reports  the  following  observations  of 
melting  points  by  a  number  of  eminent  workers:  Person,  42-7; 
Berzelius,  44-7;  Liebig,  Bolly,  44-45;  Chateau,  Schubarth,  45; 
Bunsen,  477 ;  Pouillet,  Muller,  49 ;  Dulk,  500  C. 
Chevreul10  obtained  a  body  by  repeatedly  recrystallizing  sperma- 
ceti from  hot  alcohol,  that  possessed  a  melting  point  of  490  C.  To 
this  substance,  in  18 14,  he  applied  the  name  cetine,  to  differentiate 
the  absolutely  pure  substance  from  the  commercial  article,  which 
fused  at  440  C.  The  following  additional  melting  points  for 
cetine  have  been  observed:  Stenhouse,11  48-9°-49-4°  C,  and  W. 
I  1882,  Geschafts-Ber.  v.  E.  Dieterich;  Arch.  d.  Pharm.,  (3),  30,  454. 
2 1883,  Die  Technologie  der  Fette  u.  Oele  des  Pflanzen-u.  Thierreichs,  p.  679. 
3 1820,  Ann.  Chim.  Phys.,  (2),  13,  340. 
4 Diet.  Appl.  Chem.  (Thorpe),  3,  34. 
5 1823^  Recherches  Chemique  sur  les  corps  gras  d'origine  animale,  p.  170,  237. 
6  1842,  Phil.  Mag.,  (3),  20,  271;  J.  prakt.  Chem.,  27,  253. 
7 1868,  Ann.  Pogg.,  133,  121. 
8  1872,  Ann.  Pogg.,  145,  279. 
9  1868,  Ann.  Pogg.,  133,  135. 
10  1823,  Recherches  s.  1,  corps  gras,  p.  176. 
II  See  reference  (6)  above. 
