Chap. III Of Operations on Fat Oils
Process I.
To attenuate Fat Oils, and change their Nature, by exposing them to the Action of Fire, and distilling them.
Mix thoroughly three or four pounds of any Fat Oil whatever, with twice its weight of lime flaked in the air. Put this mixture into a large earthen retort, leaving a third part of it empty. Set it in a reverberating furnace, and lute on a receiver. Heat the vessel with a very gentle fire. A little phlegm will rise first, and will soon be followed by an Oil that will fall in drops from the nose of the retort. Continue the distillation very slowly, till you perceive the Oil that comes over begin to be not quite so fluid as before, but rather a little thicker.
Then unlute your receiver, and put another in its place. Continue the distillation, increasing your fire by degrees. The Oil that comes over will grow thicker and thicker, its fluidity will decrease, and it will acquire a dark-brown colour, which at last will become blackish. The Oil will then be very thick. Push the operation till nothing more will come off, though the retort be red-hot. During the whole time this distillation lasts, there rises a good deal of water, in company with the Oil. Keep the second thick Oil by itself.
Mix the Oil that came over first, in this operation, with an equal part of fresh lime flaked in the air. Put the mixture into an earthen or glass retort, of a size so proportioned to the quantity, that a third part thereof may remain empty. Distil as before. The same phenomena will appear: a clear Oil will first come over, and be succeeded by one a little thicker. Then shift your receiver, and distil off all the rest of the Oil with an increased fire. The first Oil obtained by this second distillation will be clearer and thinner than that of the first distillation; and the second Oil will not be so thick, nor of so deep a colour as before.
Distil over again, in the same manner, the thin Oil of this second distillation, and go on thus repeatedly distilling, till the first clear oil come over with a degree of heat not exceeding that of boiling water. Then, instead of mixing your Oil with lime, put it with some water into a glass retort, or into a body with its head fitted on, and distil it, keeping the water just in a simmer. Your Oil will be more and more attenuated, and, after being thus distilled twice or thrice with water, will be so limpid, so thin, and so clear, that you will scarce be able to distinguish it from water itself.
OBSERVATIONS.
Fat Oils, which are naturally mild, unctuous, inodorous, or have at most a scarce perceptible smell, resembling that of the fruit or kernel from which they were extracted, change their natures totally when exposed to the action of fire. If they be but heated so as to boil, they become acrid, lose much of their unctuosity, and acquire a very pungent odour. From several analogies, and by several experiments, recited in a Memoir on Oils which I read to the Academy, I shewed that these alterations of Fat Oils are produced by the fire’s extricating an Acid in them, which before lay concealed and inactive. What I advanced on this subject may be seen in the Memoirs of the Academy for 1745, and in my Elements of the Theory of Chymistry. I shall take occasion to add something more, in my Observations on the following process, by which these Oils are combined with Acids. In this place I shall only examine what passes in the repeated distillations they are here made to undergo.
Fat Oils do not rise in distillation without a degree of heat greater than that of boiling water; and therefore they must be distilled in a sand-bath, or with a naked fire. We prefer the latter method, for reasons elsewhere assigned, and chiefly because the operator is more master of his fire; it being absolutely necessary, in this operation, that he have it in his power to suppress it in an instant, when he finds it too strong: for, in such a case, it will impetuously raise the thin Oil mixed with the thick; nay, the whole will be burnt, as it were, to a coal, if a degree of fire ever so little too strong be kept up but for a few moments. When this accident happens, it is always predicted by a great quantity of white vapours ascending with impetuosity out of the retort, and by drops of Oil following each other very fast, that are scarce limpid at first, and soon become of a dark colour. All this may be prevented by distilling very slowly, and with great patience.
Fat Oils may be distilled and attenuated without any additament: but then the operation, which is tedious and troublesome enough, even when lime is used, as appears from our description of the process, would be much more so if the Oil were distilled alone, without the addition of any thing to divide it, spread it, and enlarge its surface.
Lime is one of the best additaments that can be employed on this occasion; not only because it procures the advantages just mentioned, but also by reason that, being an absorbent of fat matters, it unites with the grosser parts of the Oil, retains them, and so allows the thinnest and lightest parts to be readily separated from the rest. By this means it greatly expedites the operation: and, the more of it is added, with respect to the oil, the sooner is a considerable quantity of thin limpid Oil obtained: and this is the reason of our directing a double quantity of lime to be mixed with the Oil in the first distillation.
Lime slaked in the air is employed preferably to quick-lime; because it is naturally divided into a very fine powder, and capable of mixing perfectly with all sorts of matters.
The water that first appears in the distillation comes from the lime: it is part of the humidity which the lime had imbibed from the air. This water continues to rise with the Oil during the whole distillation, according as the degree of heat is increased: and, if the distillation be finished by keeping the retort red-hot for some time after all is come over, the lime in it will have a greyish cast, and, when water is poured on it, grow almost as hot as quick-lime.
If you resolve to carry on these distillations of a Fat Oil, till it becomes as light as an Essential Oil, it is necessary to begin with a pretty large quantity thereof, as three or four pounds: for the quantity of the Oil is considerably lessened by every distillation; not only because the thickest and grossest part is separated from it every time; but also because a portion of the Oil remains so strongly united with the lime, that the force of fire is not able to separate them. Moreover, there is reason to believe that some of it is decomposed every time it is distilled.
If Oil be distilled by itself, the thickest and heaviest part remains charred, as it were, in the retort, the inside of which is lined with a crust of coal, that is to the last degree fixed: this therefore always occasions a diminution of the Oil.
A Fat Oil must be distilled eight or nine times, even with lime, before it become as light as an Essential Oil, and capable of rising wholly with the heat of boiling water: by that time therefore it must be considerably diminished; and if, at least, the quantity prescribed be not taken at first, there will scarce remain a few ounces capable of being distilled with water.
The portion of thick heavy Oil, obtained in the several distillations, may, if you will, be rectified again. For this purpose you must mix it with fresh lime, and distil it as you did the clear Oil. A portion of this also will be attenuated, and come over first. Thus all the Fat Oil may be subtilized by the action of fire; an absolutely charred black part excepted, that remains fixed, and appears susceptible of no change, but by burning it in the open air, and thereby reducing it to ashes, from which a little Fixed Alkali may be obtained. In this fixed part of the Oil the acid and earthy parts are combined therewith, in a greater proportion than they ought to be in pure Oil.
The portion of Oil that hath become light and thin is nothing but the purest oily part, separated from the gross acids, and from a certain quantity of earth, which made it thick and heavy. This Oil resembles the Essential Oils in lightness, fluidity, and a penetrating agreeable odour: it dissolves in Spirit of Wine. We shall have occasion in the sequel to enlarge further on the qualities of the several sorts of Oils, and their solubility in Spirit of Wine, when we come to treat of Ardent Spirits and of Æther.
Process II
To combine Fat Oils with Acids. The Decomposition of this Combination.
Put any Fat Oil whatever into a glass bason, and set it in a sand-bath very moderately heated. Pour on this Oil an equal quantity of concentrated Oil of Vitriol, which will immediately dissolve it with violence; a considerable ebullition and effervescence will arise, attended with great heat, and a prodigious quantity of black, thick vapours, in which may be easily perceived the smell of burnt Oil, together with that of a Sulphureous Acid. The mixture will become of a deep-red, black, and thick. Stir it with a small stick, till you observe that all is quiet.
OBSERVATIONS.
The Vitriolic and Nitrous Acids unite with Fat Oils, and dissolve them with violence; but these Acids must be sufficiently strong and concentrated, otherwise they will not act upon the Oils. The Vitriolic Acid, in particular, dissolves them pretty thoroughly. If hot water be poured on the mixture described in our process, this water will become cloudy and milky, by dissolving some of it: so that Oils may be rendered soluble in water by the means of Acids. Spirit of Wine, which doth not attack Fat Oils in their natural state, unites perfectly with them, and makes a clear limpid solution of them, when they are thus combined with Acids.
The Acids also suffer a considerable alteration by contracting an union with Oils. They become much milder, and lose almost all their strength. If the mixture described in the process be distilled, there will come over a great quantity of an empyreumatic acidulated phlegm, that smells strong of Sulphureous Spirit; an Oil thinner than the original saponaceous mixture; a weak Oily Acid, and a very thick, black Oil. If the fire be made very strong, when the Oil ceases to rise, it sometimes happens that a little Sulphur sublimes into the neck of the retort.
By this analysis it appears, that the strong concentrated Acid, which was an ingredient in the combination, is not now to be found. The Vitriolic Acid hath changed its nature, and is considerably weakened by the union it hath contracted with the principles of the Oil. The aqueous part of this latter substance weakens the other, and loads it with phlegm; the inflammable part thereof renders it sulphureous, and even converts it into Sulphur.
Hence it follows, that same part of the Oil is decomposed, by the union it contracts with the Vitriolic Acid; for its phlogiston and its aqueous principle cannot be disunited, so as to form a Sulphureous Spirit, or an actual Sulphur, and an aqueous Acid, without the decomposition of a certain quantity of the Oil, in proportion to the two disjoined principles. Another portion of the Oil remains united with the Vitriolic Acid, without suffering any decomposition, and communicates to that portion of the Acid, with which it is combined, a somewhat saponaceous quality, which makes it resemble the Vegetable Acids.
Thus we see, that when the Vitriolic Acid and a Fat Oil are combined together, they both suffer considerable changes; the Acid by the new alliances into which it enters, and the Oil by the decomposition it undergoes. In consequence hereof a much smaller quantity of Oil is obtained, by decompounding this combination, than was at first put in.
If the Oil abstracted by distillation be combined again with a fresh quantity of the concentrated Acid, the same effects will again follow; and by this means any quantity of Oil at pleasure may be entirely decomposed. This single experiment affords an evident proof of many important truths advanced in our Elements of the Theory.
Spirit of Nitre likewise dissolves expressed Oils. With Oil of Olives it forms a white paste, resembling a fine pomatum. This compound is perfectly soluble in Spirit of Wine. The Acid must be very strong and smoking to unite with this, or with any other Fat Oil: but it dissolves some of them with more rapidity than others; in which number is the Oil of Walnuts. It acts on these Oils with so much vehemence that it burns them, in some measure, making them black and thick.
Process III
To combine Fat Oils with Fixed Alkalis. Hard and soft Soap. The Decomposition of Soap.
Take a lixivium of Alicant kelp made more caustic by lime, as we shall shew when we come to speak of Alkalis. Evaporate this lye till it be capable of bearing a new-laid egg. Divide it into two parts; and to one of these put just water enough to weaken it so, that a new-laid egg will not swim in it, but fall to the bottom. With the lye thus weakened mix an equal quantity of fresh-drawn Olive Oil. Stir and agitate the mixture well, till it become very white. Set it over a gentle fire, and continue stirring it incessantly, that the two ingredients of which it is compounded may gradually combine together, as part of the water evaporates. When you perceive they begin to unite, pour into the mixture thrice as much of the first strong lye as you took of Olive Oil. Continue the coction with a gentle fire, always stirring the matter, till it becomes so thick that a drop of it fixes, as it cools, into the consistence that Soap ought to have. By dissolving a little of this Soap in water, you will discover whether or no it contains more Oil than ought to be in the composition. If it dissolves therein wholly and perfectly, without the appearance of the least little drop of Oil floating on the water, it is a sign that it doth not contain too much Oil. If, on the contrary, you perceive any of these little globules, you must pour into the vessel, containing your matter, a little more of the strong lye, to absorb the redundant Oil. If there be too much of the Alkali it may be discovered by the taste. If the Soap leave on your tongue the sensation of an Alkaline Salt, and produce an urinous savour, it is a sign that there is too much Salt in proportion to the Oil. In this case a little Oil must be added to the mixture, to saturate the super-abundant Alkali. An excess in the quantity of Alkali discovers itself likewise by the Soap’s growing moist in the air, on being exposed to it for some time.
OBSERVATIONS.
Fixed Alkalis, even when resolved into a liquor, that is, when loaded with much water, unite easily with Fat Oils, as appears from the experiment just recited, and require but a moderate heat to perfect that union. This combination may even be completely effected without the aid of fire, and by the heat of the sun only, provided sufficient time be allowed for that purpose; as Mr. Geoffroy found upon trial. It only requires the mixture of the Oil and Alkali to be kept five or six days in digestion, and stirred from time to time. A lixivium of pure Alkali, not acuated by lime, may also be used to make Soap: but it is observed, that the combination succeeds better, and that the Alkali unites sooner and more perfectly with the Oil, when it is sharpened by lime.
The Oil is first mixed with a weaker and more aqueous lye, to the end that the combination may not take place too hastily, but that all the particles of the two substances to be compounded together may unite equally. But as soon as the Alkali begins to dissolve the Oil gradually and quietly, the dissolution may then be accelerated; and that is done by adding the remaining lye, which is stronger and less diluted than the other.
Soap made with Olive Oil is white, hard, and hath not a very disagreeable smell: but as that Oil is dear, others, even the fat and oils of animals, are sometimes substituted for it. The Soaps made with most of these other matters are neither so hard, nor so white, as that made of Olive Oil: they are called Soft Soaps.
Oils thus associated with Fixed Alkalis are by that means rendered soluble in water; because the Alkaline Salts, having a great affinity with water, communicate part thereof to the Oils with which they are now incorporated. Yet the Oil is not for all that rendered thoroughly miscible with water, or perfectly soluble therein; for the water in which Soap is dissolved hath always a milky cast: now there is no other criterion of a perfect solution but transparency.
Alkalis also lose part of their affinity with water, by the union they thus contract with Oils: for, when the combination is properly made, they no longer attract the moisture of the air, nor doth water dissolve them in such quantities as before. The composition of Soap is plainly a saturation of an Alkali with an Oil; and, in order to make perfect Soap, we are forced, as was said in the process, to grope, in a manner, by repeated trials, for this point of saturation; just as when we prepare a Neutral Salt by saturating an Alkali with an Acid. The union which the Oil contracts with the Alkali makes it lose, in part, the readiness with which it naturally takes fire; because the Salt is not inflammable: the water also, which enters in pretty considerable quantities into the composition of Soap, as we shall presently see, contributes a good deal to hinder the accension of the Oil.
Soap may be decompounded either by distilling it, or by mixing it with some substance that hath a greater affinity than Oil with Alkalis.
If we decompound it by distillation, a phlegm, or transparent spirit, of a somewhat yellowish colour, first comes over. This liquor is the aqueous part of the Soap, quickened by a little of its Alkali, which gives it an acrid taste. It is followed by a red Oil, which at first is pretty thin and limpid, but thickens as the distillation advances, grows black, and has a very disagreeable empyreumatic smell. This Oil is soluble in Spirit of Wine.
When the distillation is finished, that is, when the retort being kept red-hot for some time will discharge no more, there is left in it a saline mass; which is the Alkali of the Soap, crusted over with some of the most fixed parts of the Oil, that are charred to a coal. This Salt may be restored to the same degree of purity it had before its combination with the Oil, by calcining it in a crucible with a naked fire, that may consume this burnt part of the Oil, and reduce it to ashes.
It is plain that the Oil contained in Soap is affected by distillation, much in the same manner as that which we mixed with lime and distilled.
Mr. Geoffroy, by analysing Soap with care, discovered that two ounces thereof contain ninety-six grains of Salt of kelp, freed from all Oil and moisture; or two drams and forty-eight grains of that Salt, as it is used in manufacturing Soap; that is, containing water enough to make it crystallize; one ounce three drams twenty grains of Olive Oil; and about two drams four grains of water.
As Acids have a greater affinity than any other substance with Alkalis, they may be very effectually employed to decompound Soap.
If you propose to decompound Soap by means thereof, you must first dissolve it in a sufficient quantity of water. Mr. Geoffroy, who made this experiment likewise, dissolved two ounces thereof in about three gallons of warm water, and to the solution added Oil of Vitriol, which he let fall into it drop by drop. Every time a drop of Acid falls into it, a coagulum is formed in the liquor. The vessel in which the solution is contained must then be shaken, that the Acid may equally attack all the Alkali diffused in it. When no new coagulation is produced by a drop of the Acid, it is a sign you have added enough. The liquor then begins to grow clear: and if another quart of water be added, in order to facilitate the separation of the oily particles, you will see them rise and unite together on the surface of the liquor.
This is a pure, clear, true Olive Oil, hath its taste, its smell, and, like it, is fluid in warm weather, and becomes fixed by cold. Yet it differs in some respects from that which never hath been united with an Alkali in order to form a Soap; for it burns more vividly and more rapidly, and is soluble in Spirit of Wine. We shall account for these differences when we come to treat of Ardent Spirits.
Not only the Vitriolic Acid, but all others, even those obtained from vegetables, are capable of decompounding Soap, and separating the Oil from the Alkali. In the liquor wherein Soap is thus decompounded is found a Neutral Salt, consisting of the Acid made use of, united with the Alkali of the Soap. If the Vitriolic Acid be used, you will have a Glauber’s Salt; a quadrangular Nitre, if the Nitrous Acid be used; and so of the rest.
The facility with which Acids decompound Soap is the reason that no water, but what is very pure, will dissolve it, or is fit to be used in washing with it.
Water that doth not dissolve Soap well is usually called Hard Water. Such waters contain a certain quantity of saline matters, washed out of the earths through which they pass. The hardness of water is generally occasioned by selenitic particles.
The hardness of all the well-water in and about Paris is owing to a considerable quantity of Selenetic Gypsum with which the Soil abounds. The Selenites, we know, are Neutral Salts, consisting of the Vitriolic Acid united with an earthy basis. If therefore Soap be put into water in which a Salt of this kind is dissolved, it is evident that the Vitriolic Acid in the Selenites, having a greater affinity with the fixed Alkali of the Soap than with its own earthy basis, will quit the latter to unite with the former; and thus the Soap will be decompounded instead of being dissolved. Accordingly we see, that, when we attempt to dissolve Soap in our well-water, the surface of the liquor is in a short time covered with a fat oily pellicle. However, this decomposition of Soap is not complete; at least, but a small part of it is perfectly decompounded; because the great quantity of Selenites, with which the water is impregnated, hinders the Soap from mixing so thoroughly with it, as is requisite to produce a total decomposition thereof.
All mineral waters are likewise hard, with regard to Soap; for as most of them owe their virtues to the efflorescences they have washed off from pyrites, that have grown hot and begun to be decomposed, they are impregnated with the saline matters produced by pyrites in that state: that is, with aluminous, vitriolic, and sulphureous substances, which have the same effect on Soap as the Selenites have.
Mineral waters containing Neutral Salts only, such as Sea-salt, Epsom Salt, Glauber’s Salt, are nevertheless hard with regard to Soap, though the Acids of those Salts, being united with Fixed Alkalis, are incapable of decompounding it. The reason is, that those Neutral Salts are more soluble in water than Soap is; so much indeed as even to exclude it: because each of the two principles that composed them hath a very great affinity with water; whereas only one of the principles of Soap, namely, its Alkali, hath that affinity; the other, to wit, the oily principle, having none at all. Thus water impregnated with an Acid, or with any Neutral Salt, is hard with regard to Soap, and incapable of dissolving it; and hence it follows, that Soap is a sort of touchstone for trying the purity of water.
Wine dissolves Soap; but imperfectly, because it contains an acid or tartarous part. Spirit of Wine also dissolves it: but neither is this dissolution perfect; because it contains too little water: for its spirituous part can dissolve nothing but the Oil of the Soap; and the Alkali is not at all, or at least in a very small quantity, soluble in this menstruum. The true solvent of Soap is therefore a liquor that is partly spirituous, partly aqueous, and not acid.
Brandy has these qualities: and accordingly it is the solvent that unites best with Soap, dissolves the greatest quantity, and makes the most limpid solution thereof. Yet even this solution hath something of a milky cast, occasioned by its not being entirely free from an Acid, or the tartarous principle. This fault may be easily corrected, by mixing with it a little Alkali to absorb the Acid. A dram of crystallized salt of kelp mixed with three ounces and a half of good brandy, renders it capable of dissolving an ounce and two drams of good hard Soap, into a perfectly limpid liquor. This experiment also we owe to Mr. Geoffroy.
Some years ago it was discovered that Soap might be used with great success in Medicine, and that it possesses the property of dissolving the stony concretions that form in several parts of the body, particularly in the kidneys and bladder. Soap is the basis of the composition known by the name of Mrs. Stephen’s Remedy, and in this one ingredient its whole virtue resides.
From what hath been said on the nature of this compound, as well as on the cause and phenomena of its dissolution, it plainly appears to be of the last consequence, in administering it to a patient, that his constitution be considered, and a proper regimen ordered. All Acids should be absolutely forbid him; as we know they hinder the Soap from dissolving, and decompound it; and if the patient have any acidities in the first passages, matters capable of neutralizing them should be prescribed him: as prepared crabs eyes, and other absorbents known in Medicine: in such cases those with which the Soap is compounded in Mrs. Stephen’s remedy may be of use.
Process IV
To combine Fat Oils with Sulphur.
Put any Fat Oil whatever into an earthen vessel; add to it about the fourth part of its weight of Flower of Sulphur, and set the vessel in a furnace, with lighted coals under it. When the Oil hath acquired a certain degree of heat, the Sulphur will melt, and you will see it fall immediately to the bottom of the Oil, in the form of a very red fluid. The two substances will remain thus separated, without mixing together, while the heat is no greater than is necessary to keep the Sulphur in fusion. Increase it therefore; but slowly and with circumspection, lest the matter take fire. When the Oil begins to smoke, the two liquors will begin to mix and look turbid: at last they will unite so as to appear one homogeneous whole. If you keep up the heat so that the mixture shall always continue smoking and ready to boil, you may add more Sulphur, which will perfectly incorporate with it: and thus may a pretty considerable quantity thereof be introduced into this composition.
OBSERVATIONS.
The Phlogiston and the Vitriolic Acid have each an affinity with Oils. It is not therefore surprising that Sulphur, which is a compound of these two substances, should be soluble in oily matters. Yet it is remarkable, that Essential Oils, which are much thinner than the Fat Oils, dissolve Sulphur with much more difficulty; as will be shewn when we come to treat of those Oils; and that Spirit of Wine, which contains an exceeding subtile Oil, doth not act upon Sulphur at all.
Oil, by contracting an union, with Sulphur, produces a considerable alteration in that mineral: a phenomenon so much the more surprising, that we know it to be in some sort unalterable by any other solvent, of what kind soever, add, that its nature admits of no change but by burning. We shall say more on this subject under the head of Essential Oils.
Process V.
To combine Fat Oils with Lead, and the Calces of Lead. The Basis of Plasters. The Decomposition of this Combination.
Into an earthen vessel put granulated Lead, Litharge, Ceruse, or Minium; and pour thereon twice its weight of any Fat Oil whatever. If you set the vessel over a brisk fire, the Lead at bottom will melt before the Oil begin to boil. When it boils, stir the matter with a stick: the Lead, or the Calx of Lead, will gradually disappear, and at last be totally dissolved by the Oil, to which it will give a very thick consistence.
OBSERVATIONS.
Fat Oils dissolve not only Lead, but its calces also: nay, they dissolve the latter more readily than Lead in substance; probably because they are more divided. The result of a combination of these matters is a thick, tenacious mass, that grows in some degree hard in the cold, and soft by heat. This composition is known in Pharmacy by the name of Plaster. It is made up with several drugs into plasters, which partake of the virtues of those drugs; so that it is the basis of almost all plasters.
Lead itself is seldom used to make plasters: Ceruse, Litharge, or Minium, are preferred to it; because these matters unite, as hath been said, more readily and more easily with Oils.
It sometimes happens, that the Oil is burnt in the operation, and that the calx of Lead is partly resuscitated: and this gives the plaster a black colour, which however it ought not to have. This accident is occasioned by an excess of heat: and as it is very difficult to keep the Oil and the Lead in the proper degree of heat, seeing both these matters are apt to grow very hot, it hath been contrived to put into the vessel, in which the coction is to be performed, a pretty large quantity of water; which being susceptible only of a much smaller and a certain degree of heat, that is constantly the same when it boils, procures the advantage of having the composition very uniform and very white.
It is necessary to stir the mixture incessantly, in order to prevent the burning of the combined Oil and Lead; which, as they unite, sink in the water by their greater weight. If the water happen to be wasted before the Oil hath dissolved all the Lead, or before the plaster hath acquired a proper degree of consistence, you must remove the vessel from the fire, and let the mixture cool, before you add more: for, if this precaution be neglected, the heat of the matter, which is now much greater than that of boiling water, will occasion a considerable explosion and extravasation thereof, though the water poured into it be as hot as possible.
The combination of Fat Oil with a Calx of Lead may be considered as a sort of metallic Soap, having a metalline Calx, instead of a Fixed Alkali, for its basis. Mr. Geoffroy hath observed, that if a pound of Litharge, rubbed very fine and well washed, be incorporated with two pounds of Olive Oil, in the same manner as plaster is made, keeping water enough in the vessel to hinder the mixture from burning, there rises a smoke, while the Oil is uniting with the Calx of Lead, smelling much like that which rises from Soap.
The Oil may be separated from the Calx of Lead, by the methods used to separate it from a Fixed Alkali: and when it is so separated, it hath the same properties as that separated from common Soap.
This species of metallic Soap, formed by the union of a Fat Oil with the Calx of Lead, is not soluble in water, and communicates nothing to it but a greasy taste. Therefore, if you would decompound it by the means of an Acid, you must pour that Acid immediately on the compound. The Acid will attack and dissolve the Calx of Lead; and the Oil, being thus set at liberty, will rise clear and limpid to the surface of the acid liquor. Distilled vinegar effects this separation better than any other Acid, because it is the true solvent of Lead.