434 
On  Maize  Oil. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Fliaroi. 
\       Aug.,  1892. 
the  quantitative  separation  of  maize  oil  from  other  oils  ;  but  while 
no  other  oil  that  has  been  examined  gives  such  a  high  absorption 
in  the  cold  as  maize  oil,  many  of  them  are  undoubtedly  acted  upon 
under  similar  conditions,  and  concordant  results  could  not  be 
obtained. 
The  higher  fatty  acids  present  in  maize  oil  seem  to  present  no 
unusual  features,  but  exact  determinations  as  regards  the  propor- 
tion in  which  they  are  severally  present  were  not  made  in  the 
present  instance.  The  volatile  fatty  acids,  separated  by  Reichert's 
distillation  process,  in  100  parts  of  the  oil  required  for  their  neutrali- 
zation 0-56  parts  of  KOH. 
A  tendency  to  oxidize  or  to  gum  is  almost  absent  in  this  oil.  No 
decided  siccative  properties  are  communicated  to  it  by  simply 
"  boiling  "  or  by  the  addition  of  litharge  to  it.  On  passing  a  current 
of  air  through  it  for  an  hour  at  a  temperature  of  about  1500  C,  the 
oil  becomes  slightly  darker  in  color,  and  rather  more  viscous,  but 
by  no  means  to  the  same  extent  as  cotton  oil.  If  to  the  oil  so 
treated  a  small  quantity  of  borate  of  manganese  is  added,  the  oil 
acquires  to  a  small  extent  siccative  properties,  and  a  thin  film  on 
lead  dries  in  from  ten  to  twenty  hours,  but  not  completely,  being 
tacky  to  the  feel  at  the  end  of  that  time.  Like  cotton-seed  oil  the 
elaidin  reaction  gives  rise  to  a  mass  having  a  pasty  or  buttery  con- 
sistency. 
The  rise  in  temperature  when  5  cc.  of  strong  sulphuric  acid  were 
mixed  with  15  grm.  of  the  oil  was  89-0°  C.  For  a  non-drying  oil 
this  is  a  high  figure,  but  it  is  in  keeping  with  what  may  be  called 
the  "  tenderness  "  of  this  oil  in  the  presence  of  chemical  reagents. 
The  so-called  qualitative  tests  for  oils  with  sulphuric  and  nitric  acid, 
etc.,  fail  to  give  with  maize  oil  reactions  sufficiently  characteristic  to 
warrant  their  application  in  identifying  or  detecting  this  oil.  Hence 
its  bromine  and  iodine  absorptions,  its  high  Maumene  figure,  and 
the  ease  with  which  it  saponifies  in  the  cold,  must  be  looked  upon 
as  the  feature  by  which  the  oil  may  be  best  recognized. 
Specimens  of  the  potash  and  soda  soaps  were  prepared,  and  both 
of  these  proved  to  be  of  good  quality,  being  light  in  color,  and. 
readily  and  completely  soluble  in  water.  The  soda  soap  is  dis- 
tinctly the  harder  of  the  two,  but  the  potash  soap  is  harder  than  the 
average  "  soft  "  soaps.  Soap-making,  therefore,  is  a  use  to  which 
the  oil  might  with  advantage  be  put.     The  ease  with  which  it 
