350 
SPONTANEOUS  SAPONIFICATION  OF  OILS  IN  SEEDS. 
Fatty  acids,  afterwards  prepared  in  Vienna,  were  pure  white, 
like  those  produced  in  France,  and  their  melting-points  agreed 
pretty  well  with  those  of  the  latter. — Chem.  Gaz.}  from  Sit- 
zun^    er.  der  Akad.  der  Wiss.  zu  Wien,  xii,  p.  80. 
ON  THE  SAPONIFICATION  OF  OILS  UNDER  THE  INFLUENCE 
OF  THE  SUBSTANCES  WHICH  ACCOMPANY  THEM  IN  SEEDS. 
By  J.  Pelouze. 
Since  the  researches  of  M.  Chevreul  have  assimilated  fatty 
bodies  to  ethers  or  salts,  and  made  known  their  decomposition 
into  particular  acids  and  glycerine  by  the  action  of  hydrated  al- 
kalies, it  was  easy  to  see  that  analogous  reactions  would  occur 
under  other  circumstances.  Thus  M.  Fremy  has  shown  that 
the  oils  and  neutral  fatty  bodies  in  general  are  converted  into 
fatty  acids  by  concentrated  sulphuric  acid.  The  previous  union 
of  this  acid  with  the  oleic  and  margaric  acids  and  glycerine  does 
not  at  all  diminish  the  final  distinctness  of  the  phenomenon  of 
saponification.  Beyond  these  two  methods  for  the  saponifica- 
tion of  fatty  'bodies  by  bases  and  by  acids,  nothing  certain  has 
hitherto  been  stated  regarding  their  acidification  by  other  agents. 
I  must  however  indicate  the  state  of  the  question  at  the  period 
when  I  commenced  its  study  : — 
"  The  foreign  substances  with  which  fatty  bodies  are  contami- 
nated exert  the  same  action  upon  them  that  a  ferment  does  upon 
saccharine  fluids  ;  the  alteration  which  they  undergo  excites  the 
decomposition  of  the  glyceric  compounds,  the  fatty  acids  are  set 
free,  as  well  as  the  oxide  of  glyceryle,  which  sometimes  separates 
without  decomposition,  as  in  palm-oil,  but  is  usually  decom- 
posed." (Liebig,  Organic  Chemistry.)  «  The  circumstances  ne- 
cessary for  the  fermentation  of  fatty  matters  are  the  same  as 
those  which  occur  in  all  fermentations.  It  requires  the  con- 
course of  an  albuminoid  body,  water,  air,  and  a  temperature  of 
from  59°  to  86°  F.  Under  these  circumstances  the  substance 
becomes  heated,  and  soon  acquires  all  the  properties  of  a  rancid 
grease."  (Dumas,  Traite*  de  Chimie.)  "Inodorous  and  taste- 
less oils,  when  in  contact  with  air  and  moisture,  acquire  a  dis- 
agreeable odor  and  a  very  persistent  taste.  Fleshy  oleaginous 
fruits  and  crushed  oleaginous  seeds  undergo  a  true  fermentation, 
