Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variationsin hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all otherspelling and punctuation remains unchanged.
Temperatures ranges, variously expressed as 54°-55°, 54°, 55° and 54°55°, have been standardised as 54°-55°. Fractional temperatures havebeen standardised as XX.X°.
[Pg 1]
ON
ADIPOCIRE, AND ITS FORMATION.
BY CHARLES M. WETHERILL, PH.D. M.D.
[From the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.]
The formation of fat is interesting, both from a chemical and a physiological point ofview. The relation of lignine starch and sugar to alcohol, afforded reasons for Liebig’stheory of the formation of fat in the body. Recent experiments by Liebig, Bopp, Guckelberger,Keller and others, on the formation of the lower terms of the series of fatty acids bythe oxidation and putrefaction of the blood-forming substances, rendered possible theformation of the higher members, from albumen, fibrin and caseine, by similar means,[1] forexample, by a less intense degree of oxidation. It was thought that the study of adipocire,with a view to this question, would perhaps throw some light upon it; and upon readingall the articles within my reach, upon this body, from the time of its discovery by Fourcroy,I find a considerable difference of opinion with regard to it.
In 1785, Fourcroy examined a portion of a liver which had hung for ten years in the airin the laboratory of de la Salle; it was fatty, smooth, and unctuous to the touch. Potashlye dissolved a portion of the liver completely, forming a soap. Subsequently, when hehad examined the fat of grave yards, and spermaceti, he proposed to name these three fats,[Pg 2]viz.: of biliary calculi, spermaceti, and from grave yards, adipocire, considering them tobe identical, and possessing an intermediate nature between fat and wax. Chevreul, in hisfifth Memoire, corrects this error, and calls the fat of gall stones cholesterine, and that ofspermaceti cetine.
In 1786-7, Fourcroy had an opportunity of studying the fat of grave yards, in the removalof the bodies from the Cemetière des Innocens, a work which lasted for two years,and which was supervised by Dr. Thouret, who was placed there to care for the health ofthe workmen. The substance was abundantly found, and especially in the “fouilles,” orditches, where the slightly made coffins of the poorer classes had been piled one uponanother; the trench being open for some time until it was filled with bodies, when it wascovered with a slight quantity of earth; on opening the trenches after some fifteen years,the bodies were converted into adipocire; they were flattened by mutual pressure, and hadimpressions on their surface of the grave clothes. Fourcroy’s analysis proved it to be asoap of ammonia, with phosphate of lime, and the fat, melted at 52.°5° C.[2] He supposedadipocire to arise from the putrefaction of all animal matter, except hair, nails, and bones,for he states that in the carcasses of all animals exposed upon the borders of pieces ofwater, a fatty, white, fusible substance resembling spermaceti is found.
Perhaps the earliest record on this change from flesh to fat, is to be found in Lord Bacon’sSylva Sylvarum, where he says, (article Fat,) “Nearly all flesh may be turned into a fattysubstance, by cutting it into pieces and putting it into a glass covered with parchment,then lettin